OPC UA FX™ Interoperability in Action at Festo (Germany)
The four-day OPC UA FX™ PlugFest at Festo in Esslingen, Germany (September 7–10, 2026) successfully brought together 28 participants from 16 companies across the OPC UA® ecosystem. A major focus of the event was the integration and validation of controllers and field devices for the new OPC UA FX Demo Wall, which will make its debut at SPS in Nuremberg, November 24–26, 2026. The demonstration will showcase both Controller-to-Controller (C2C) and Controller-to-Device (C2D) communication.
One of the key achievements of the PlugFest was the successful interoperability of controllers from multiple vendors, controlling virtual machines that are dynamically combined into a complete production line. UAFX™ C2C connections were established and closed on demand, while prototypes of I/Os, drives and other field devices were connected to their parent controllers via UAFX C2D connections. All UAFX C2C and C2D communication paths tested during the event were successful.
The PlugFest also demonstrated interoperability for important networking features including UDP multicast communication, priority-based QoS using VLAN tagging and gPTP time synchronization across different implementations.
The successful results provide a strong foundation for the next OPC UA FX interoperability activities and for the upcoming Demo Wall presentation at SPS 2026.
Industrial TSN PlugFest at ISW, University of Stuttgart
ISW at the University of Stuttgart will host a two-day Industrial TSN (IEC/IEEE 60802) PlugFest on September 28–29, 2026, ahead of the TSN/A Conference at Stuttgart Airport (Mövenpick Hotel Stuttgart Messe & Congress) on September 30–October 1.
The PlugFest will bring together industrial TSN endpoint prototypes, including OPC UA FX-enabled devices, and connect them through a 60802-ready TSN network. Participants will have the opportunity to perform base TSN component tests derived from Avnu certification activities, as well as additional integration tests, including tests from the OPC Foundation.
The event provides an opportunity to validate interoperability across different implementations and to gain practical experience with industrial TSN technologies in a multi-vendor environment.
Participation is free of charge and open to all interested parties — including participants who do not bring their own devices.
Registration is available here:
https://forms.gle/Y4G66aTYBEp5WoDBA
Deadline for Registration: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Meet the OPC Foundation at TSN/A Conference 2026
The OPC Foundation is proud to sponsor the TSN/A Conference 2026, taking place on September 30 and October 1, 2026.
Join leading experts from industry and standardization to explore the latest developments in Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), OPC UA and OPC UA FX.
The conference program features several OPC UA FX-related sessions covering key topics such as deterministic industrial communication, IEC/IEEE 60802, 5G integration, embedded devices, security and testbed activities.
A special highlight is the hands-on workshop “Inside a TSN-Powered Factory: A Hands-On OPC UA FX Industrial Automation Workshop”, offering practical insights into how OPC UA FX and TSN can enable flexible, interoperable and future-ready industrial automation.
Full agenda and registration:
OPC UA FX Maintenance Release V1.00.04 Published
On July 27, 2026 the OPC Foundation has published OPC UA FX Specification Maintenance Release V1.00.04, updating Parts 10000-081 and 10000-084. The new release includes a range of corrections and enhancements to Part 81, including improved Asset and FunctionalEntity linking, support for multiple GDS addresses, additional DataSetReader and DataSetWriter identification, configurable communication intervals, and updated Publisher and Subscriber capabilities.
Part 84 has also been updated with new Conformance Units covering the functionality introduced in Part 81, together with improvements and clarifications related to Descriptor content.
The maintenance release further refines the OPC UA FX specifications and supports more consistent implementation, testing and interoperability.
https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/documents/?type=Specification
APL/SPE Port Specification Revision 3.1 Released – Advancing Interoperability for Industrial Ethernet
Another important milestone has been reached for the APL/SPE ecosystem: on September 1, 2026, the APL/SPE Port Specification Revision 3.1 was officially approved and released.
The APL/SPE Port Specification defines the framework for standardized industrial ports to ensure full interoperability across Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) and Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer (Ethernet-APL) networks. It is managed jointly by leading Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), including the FieldComm Group, ODVA, OPC Foundation, and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI).
The release of Revision 3.1 represents another important step toward a consistent, interoperable and future-ready physical infrastructure for industrial Ethernet, helping technology providers and users deploy SPE and Ethernet-APL solutions with confidence.
The next milestone is already underway: the Conformance Test Specification is currently being finalized by the Conformance Team and is expected to be completed around November 2026. With these developments, the participating organizations continue to advance a common ecosystem that enables seamless connectivity and interoperability across industrial automation networks.
https://opcfoundation.org/developer-tools/specifications-other