Good morning, good afternoon, good evening – wherever you are in the world!
OPC UA evolving from connectivity to the foundation of digitalization
As we approach the middle of 2026, it is exciting to see how rapidly industrial digitalization continues to advance across the globe. What was once a discussion about connectivity has evolved into a much broader conversation about interoperability, digital twins, artificial intelligence, data spaces, and autonomous operations. At the center of this transformation stands OPC UA.
Today, OPC UA is no longer viewed simply as a communication protocol. It has become the trusted foundation for industrial digitalization, enabling secure and semantic interoperability across devices, machines, systems, enterprises, and ecosystems. This evolution is reflected in the growing number of industries, organizations, and technology providers that are adopting OPC UA as their common language for digital transformation.
Making OPC UA AI-Ready: Enabling AI Access to OPC UA Knowledge
AI is transforming both our personal lives and the way we work. It is also changing how technical information must be provided and consumed. I am proud that technical colleagues such as Randy Armstrong are leading the way in making OPC UA specifications AI-ready: The OPC UA Online Reference has been enhanced based on user feedback and now offers improved accessibility for both humans and AI systems. New capabilities include an MCP server for agentic AI, as well as the ability to download specifications in multiple formats for use with offline LLMs.
As a result, AI systems can now access, understand, and utilize OPC UA information more effectively than ever before. Excellent work, Randy and the entire team!
Read more here (link to article)
Easy (done within 2 days only!) – Digital Battery Passport powered by OPC UA
At Hannover Messe 2026, Fraunhofer FFB and its partners demonstrated the Digital Battery Passports powered by OPC UA that connect manufacturing, operational, and recycling data throughout the entire battery lifecycle. The result is far more than regulatory compliance—it creates the digital foundation for transparency, circular economy initiatives, and sustainable battery ecosystems. This solution is fulfilling all requirements by CENCENELEC JTC24 – and it has been done within 2 days only.
Read more here about OPC UA as the interoperability backbone for the Digital Product Passports
Expanding the OPC Ecosystem: Collaboration with the LoRa Alliance
One important milestone this month is the announcement of a new collaboration between the OPC Foundation and the LoRa Alliance. LoRaWAN has become one of the world’s leading technologies for low-power, long-range wireless connectivity, supporting millions of sensors deployed in industrial facilities, smart infrastructure, utilities, and environmental monitoring applications. Through our new joint working group, we will define a standardized mapping from LoRaWAN to OPC UA, enabling seamless integration of distributed sensor networks into industrial digitalization architectures.
Read more here (link to article)
The OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative
In every newsletter edition, we highlight a different aspect of the OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative:
- 2025-06: Introduction to the initiative and participating members President’s Welcome – June 2025 – OPC Connect
- 2025-09: Partnership with Catena-X Cloud Corner – September 2025 – OPC Connect
- 2025-12: Cloud Reference Architecture Cloud Corner – December 2025 – OPC Connect
- 2026-03: OPC UA Cloud Library – the world’s largest repository of industrial information models Cloud Corner – March 2026 – OPC Connect
This edition, Erich Barnstedt (Microsoft), lead of the OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative, focuses on a critical topic: Industrial Connectivity Solution Criteria for Industrial Gateways.
For many years, gateway vendors have claimed to “support OPC UA.” In practice, however, industrial digitalization requires much more than protocol connectivity. One of the biggest challenges remains transferring OT knowledge and context into IT systems without costly manual integration efforts. To address this challenge, the OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative has defined a comprehensive set of requirements for gateway solutions that enable secure, semantic, interoperable, and scalable integration from the shop floor to enterprise, cloud, and AI applications.
The response from the industry has been remarkable. Already 14 gateway vendors have entered the race to meet the complete set of criteria. These solutions are listed in the latest Cloud Initiative brochure (download the brochure here.) on pages 34-35.
Special congratulations go to Prosys OPC for delivering the first commercial gateway, OPC Forge, that fulfills the complete requirements. At the same time, the community should not overlook the fully featured open-source alternative, UA Edge Translator, which demonstrates the strength of the OPC UA ecosystem.
Read Erich’s article to learn “what industrial users should really expect from modern connectivity solutions” here (link)
Read more details about the OPC Foundation open source offerings “UA Edge Translator” here (link to article)
The OPC Foundation Field Initiative
Following the successful completion of the OPC UA FX Controller-to-Controller (C2C) specifications, the the technical working groups are now continuing to push the extensions to support Controller-to-Device (C2D) communication and seamless integration of motion devices, remote I/O systems, sensors, actuators, and other field devices.
One of the major highlights for 2026 will be the next-generation OPC UA FX Demonstrator at the SPS exhibition in November. I encourage all members to participate and contribute to this exciting demonstrator. Learn more in the article from Peter Lutz, lead of the OPC Foundation Field Initiative – Link here
CTT Lite: Simplifying Information Model Compliance
Ensuring that OPC UA information models are implemented correctly has often required significant expertise and effort. With the new UACTT Lite, the OPC Foundation provides a free and easy-to-use tool that helps developers, system integrators, and end users quickly validate information model compliance, identify implementation gaps, and reduce integration risks. The result is faster deployment, improved interoperability, and greater confidence that products and systems will work together as intended.
Read more here
Activities in April, May and June
Since the last newsletter, we have participated with our own exhibition booths at numerous industrial trade shows, including Global Industrie in Paris, Hannover Messe in Germany, IoT Tech Expo in the United States, SPS Italia in Parma. In addition, we participated in conferences such as Digital Energy Strategies in Madrid and hosted Virtual OPC Day International, featuring more than 33 outstanding presentations from across the OPC UA community.
Let me summarize these events:
- Hannover Messe
We showed completely new demonstrators like the Digital Battery Passport and AI & MCP enabled equipment gaining the live value from an OPC UA enabled pH-Meter was demonstrated by Maximillian Wiens, from the startup company Synefex (see recording here https://youtu.be/NJQvxOt8aVg) and showed the impact of OPC UA to allow AI to automatically understand real world data. The OPC UA FX “ball-catcher” demonstrator showing the Controller-to-Controller (C2C) use-case was another great eye-catcher.
Read more here - SPS in Italy
The SPS show in Parma, Italy first time including also a sponsor Systerel with a partner pod. Demonstrators for OPC UA FX and OPC UACX have attracted visitors.
Read more details here - OPC Day International – slides and recordings are available for download
The complete list of presentations and the video recordings can be found here.
During the sixth time of virtual OPC Days International I noticed incredible content presented in the 30+ presentations. I can’t name a specific presentation as THE highlight:- The end-user stories form Renault and Asfinag? For sure!
- OPC UA as foundation for cross life-cycle interoperability for the Digital Battery Passport? No question yes!
- First OPC UA enabled vending machines? Cool!
- Security updates – too deep? Attendees love it!
- The new CTT Lite tool for implementers and end-users? We deliver!
- All about OPC UA and AI, dataspaces? Cutting edge information!
- Six PLC suppliers (Beckhoff, CoDeSys, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider-Electric, Siemens) demonstrating how to load UA information models into their PLC’s? No longer any excuse to complain about suppliers!
- Testbeds and industry insides form China and Korea? International!
- My interviews with David Rehbein, the 1st President of the OPC Foundation 1996-1998, Dr. Reinhold Achatz, the 1st Vice President of the OPC Foundation 1996-2012 and Jim Luth, the CTO of the OPC Foundation?
While everything is amazing and showing the growth of this OPC eco system, my interview with David Rehbein (https://youtu.be/Cp75l85nzrk) and Dr. Reinhold Achatz (https://youtu.be/pW5Kz-kyEiM) was unique for sure! Thank you David & Reinhold!
Adoption (1) – OPC UA as base to digitize Finland’s Energy Future
Read the full story here Case Studies – OPC Foundation
Helen, one of Finland’s largest energy providers, is transforming its energy infrastructure into a decentralized, data-driven system powered by OPC UA. By standardizing connectivity across diverse assets, OPC UA enables secure, scalable, and real-time data exchange between production units and central systems. In partnership with Wapice, Helen leverages an OPC UA-based data platform to integrate renewables, optimize operations, and support automation across its energy network. Read this article including high cybersecurity, interoperability, and flexibility as a —key for managing increasingly complex and distributed energy systems. The result is a future-ready, carbon-neutral energy ecosystem, demonstrating how OPC UA drives digital transformation in critical infrastructure worldwide
Adoption (2) – congrats to Yokogawa
My congrats to company Yokogawa for being the first company on the market with a fully certified O-PAS enabled product! Read more here
Who Is Still Reading Content?
I sometimes wonder who still takes the time to read articles like this. My perception is that the increasing pace of our daily work leaves little room for longer-form content. My (rather large 😉) gut feeling is that many people assume most content today is generated by AI anyway and therefore see less value in reading it.
However, that is not the case here. This newsletter is personally written by me -not AI-generated- and it reflects the latest developments, achievements, and activities of our community. More importantly, it captures the contributions, ideas, expertise, and commitment of the people behind OPC UA. Thank you to all of you for your continued engagement and for helping drive the success of the OPC UA ecosystem worldwide.
Upcoming Events
I invite you to explore the articles in this newsletter, participate in upcoming OPC Foundation events (Events – OPC Foundation), and stay engaged in shaping the future of industrial interoperability.
Meet OPC UA experts at Automate in the USA at the end of June, join us for OPC Day India during the week of July 9, or participate in Interoperability (IOP) China in mid-July. These events provide excellent opportunities to exchange ideas, learn about the latest OPC UA developments, and connect with the global OPC UA community.
Looking Ahead
Before the busy second part of the year begins, I will take some time away from screens, meetings, and social media. Over the years, I have become increasingly frustrated by how many online platforms have shifted from enabling meaningful discussions to amplifying noise, opinions, and self-promotion. Too often, arguments are replaced by algorithms, and dialogue is replaced by camps.
Sometimes it is worth stepping back, recharging, and focusing on real conversations and fresh perspectives.
I wish all members of the OPC UA community a wonderful summer, relaxing holidays, and quality time with family and friends. I look forward to reconnecting with many of you in the months ahead and continuing our journey toward Industrial Digitalization together.
Have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in the world!
Stefan Hoppe
President OPC Foundation