Welcome back after the summer! This year, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in certification testing, and it’s coming from a new direction. Instead of the traditional automation vendors we routinely see in the certification labs, more and more machine builders are certifying their machine interfaces.
This uptick is largely driven by automotive end users who now mandate OPC UA interfaces for all their suppliers—and not just any implementation, but ones that are tested and certified. These requirements are creating a ripple effect across the supply chain, bringing new players into the certification process.
We are also seeing an increase in utilization of the Compliance Test Tool (CTT) by machine vendors, which clearly indicates that more are preparing for certification early in their development process. This proactive approach helps reduce surprises during formal testing and accelerates time-to-market for OPC UA-enabled products.
The impact goes beyond numbers. These certification efforts are improving the quality of OPC UA interfaces. Issues discovered during testing are being resolved, and the resulting robust implementations are now available to all users of these machines—not just the initial customers. This strengthens the entire OPC UA ecosystem and ensures better interoperability for everyone.
Through these activities, we’ve also identified that some aspects of the machine builder’s journey—from implementing to certifying an OPC UA interface—are not well documented. We are now working to close these gaps and make the process clearer and easier to follow.
We are also seeing some initial registration for O-PAS products. O-PAS is a standard provided by The Open Group, that utilizes OPC UA and requires certification. Again end users coupled with requirement for certification is driving these initial registration.
If you have ideas, insights, or experiences that could help others prepare their OPC UA-enabled applications for the market, we’d love to hear from you. Your feedback will help us create better guidance and tools for the entire community.
Together, we can make OPC UA adoption smoother and certification easier for all stakeholders.
Paul Hunkar and Alexander Allmendinger