Building the Industrial Cloud Interoperability Standard
The journey so far: The Cloud Initiative’s initial phases:
Phase 1: Ramp up with 6 cloud suppliers, 11 end-users and 8 automation suppliers
In early 2024, the cloud suppliers Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Huawei, Microsoft and SAP aligned to initiate joint activities under the roof of the OPC Foundation. Additionally, leading industrial automation companies like ABB, Beckhoff, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Yokogawa joined. It all started with the official announcement of the OPC Foundation Cloud initiative during Hannover Messe 2024. Since then, participation has been extended with the end-user counsel, which includes Boehringer Ingelheim, ContiTech, Danone, Equinor, L’Oreal Operations, Miele, Mondelez, Renault-Group, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), Tetra Pak, and Volkswagen. At SPS trade show in Nuremberg, Germany, the end-user council was announced. The details of the initial announcements can be read here.
Phase 2: Sharing information with end-users
From the end of January until early March 2025, the end-users had the opportunity to listen to presentations from experts, receiving valuable information firsthand. Everyone also appreciated the lively discussions that followed:
- Jan 24th: “Better Together: Digital Product Passport powered by AAS, EDC and OPC UA”
- Jan 31th: “Secure, standardized connectivity to cloud systems: OPC UA over MQTT Activities in OPC Foundation Working Groups”
- Feb 7th: “Accessing OT Information with the OPC UA WebAPI”
- Feb 14th: UA Cloud Library
- Feb 21st: OPC UA Metaverse
- Feb 28th: OPC UA WoT Connectivity/Binding
- March 7th: OPC UA for AI
Phase 3: Introducing the reference architecture
On March 14th, the cloud suppliers will share the new reference architecture with the end-user group for the first time and will collect their feedback. This way, the OPC Foundation ensures the reference architecture meets real industry requirements.
Presenting results to the public: The cloud conference on April 2nd, 2025, at 1:00pm
Manufacturers require OT data to be integrated with IT data and presented to customers through concepts like the Digital Product Passport, including Product Carbon Footprint data and digital nameplates. These digital twins can then be shared via data spaces and leveraged in industrial metaverse, AI training and inferencing as well as other use cases. These use cases are what the Cloud Initiative enables.
At the OPC Foundation cloud conference on April 2nd, industry experts will share their experience in the context of the Cloud Initiative about AI, data spaces, and the new reference architecture in cooperation with Alibaba, AWS, Google, Huawei, Microsoft and SAP. Check out the details here.
Erich Barnstedt
Senior Directory & Architect, Corporate Standards, Microsoft
Chairperson OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative