SPONSORED BY: TAKEBISHI
Takebishi Corporation has been providing the industrial communication software product “DeviceXPlorer OPC Server” also called “DxpSERVER” all over the world since 1998. DxpSERVER has connectivity to multi-vendor controllers in production facilities to read and write data from these controllers and also has connectivity to OPC client systems, such as SCADA, that can access this data via an OPC interface. DxpSERVER is widely accepted in the market with more than 40,000 licenses installed worldwide. The current series Ver.6 was released in 2019. We have been improving its functionality every few months in order to meet our customer requirements and to implement the advancements of the OPC technology.
Takebishi will launch its first new major upgrade of DxpSERVER in 3 years, which is planned for release at the end of 2022.
The upgrade features planned for DxpSERVER Ver.7 are as follows:
- Extension of OPC UA Server function
- Support Cloud interface
- Improvement of usability and performance
- Expansion of Connectivity
- Introducing of Cloud license and Subscription license
Further details are follows:
- Extension of OPC UA Server function
In addition to Real Time “Data Access” to devices which we provide as current OPC UA function, Ver.7 also supports “Historical Access” of data which enables you to store or query historical data, and make use of “Alarm and Conditions” which notifies the status of alarms and events. This enables leveraging DxpSERVER as a communication platform that manages real-time status, log data and alarm notifications of the facility, and not just a simple communication driver to devices.
- Support Cloud interface
OPC Classic (DA, AE) and OPC UA are very popular in the manufacturing industry and it is one function area in which DxpSERVER is used. However, Ver.7 will also support cloud interfaces such as MQTT and HTTP (REST API) which are widely used in connection between cloud applications and production sites. Real-time device data from production sites can be streamed directly and seamlessly to analytical dashboards and big data analytics platform. It can enhance productivity across the enterprise.
- Improvement of usability and performance
DxpSERVER Ver.6 provides a runtime and configuration tool in a single application. As a next step in its evolution, Ver.7 provides it in separated applications: runtime and configuration tools. In a single application, there is some complicated work necessary to deactivate the service each time the user must change settings. This is due to Windows service operation restrictions. By separating the application, it allows for smooth operation running as a service application. Furthermore, the overall design of communication processing and log processing are refactored, improving the performance of DxpSERVER.
- Expansion of Connectivity
DxpSERVER Ver.6 supports connectivity with more than 80 vendors and 230 series of devices. Ver.7 will support more than 100 vendors and 300 series of devices by expanding the connectivity for robots, CNCs, analyzers and others. Not only for this version upgrade, but continuously Takebishi is working on expanding connectivity with further devices which are used in the market.
- Introducing of Cloud license and Subscription license
In an advanced redundant system with no downtime and considering the innovations of cloud technology, DxpSERVER must always be able to operate in a variety of environments. Also, the side conditions how to use DxpSERVER are also diversifying, such as the need to reduce initial installation cost or the need to always use the latest version. Therefore, Ver.7 is able to provide cloud licenses which do not depend on the actual host machine. Also, subscription licenses will be available.
With our slogan “Connecting the world with TAKEBISHI technology”, Takebishi will continue to expand its functions to meet the market and customer needs, and provide high value-added products which contribute to the improvement of customer productivity.
* The updates described in this article are plans, and the actual functions to be implemented may be subject to change.