Welcome to OPC Connect September 2019! I hope that you have relaxed during the summer holidays and that you are fully prepared for the next challenges ahead. Before we look to the future, let me briefly summarize what has happened since our last issue in June. A lot is going on around the world and there have been great successes with various Companion Specifications. Read on to learn more!
With umati, the machine tool industry, for the first time, has a vendor-neutral communication interface specification. In addition, because OPC UA is its underlying technology, umati will be capable of being deployed in future end-to-end solutions spanning entire process chains in the manufacturing industry.
In early 2018, Part 14 of the OPC UA Standard, aka “Publish-Subscribe” or “PubSub” was released, helping to encourage further interaction between OPC UA and communications protocols such as MQTT.
No matter in which part of the world you are, as a representative of the OPC Foundation you are always welcomed, since the challenge of industrial interoperability exists worldwide and can only be solved together. Global cooperation and harmonization are key tasks for the OPC Foundation going forward -not just across borders but inside vertical industries as well.
Connecting OPC Classic clients and servers when the Windows computers are not on the same version, not in an Active Directory or domain, and having everything work well takes skill, and keeping it secure involves a lot of details. OPC UA makes such situations infinitely more workable by taking the limitations, pitfalls, and inconsistencies of DCOM out of the equation. However, the security of an OPC UA connection is only as good as the encryption algorithm being used to encrypt it.
It is an honor and I am happy to send you my first “President’s Welcome” greeting! We all are pleased to announce that OPC UA is omnipresent in magazine articles, industry fairs, manufacturer events, conference contributions, social media, and more. OPC UA is rightly being called the key or enabler for Industrie 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the various initiatives from the USA (IIC), China (Made in China 2025), Korea (Manufacturing Industry Innovation 3.0), Japan (Industrial Value Chain Initiative) and others. I am therefore looking forward to the exciting times ahead and working together with you.
Intel recently rejoined the OPC Foundation to participate in the OPC UA Field Level Communication Steering Committee and help develop specifications that will enable OPC UA to seamlessly communicate with field devices. We view OPC UA as well positioned to provide communications solutions for smart manufacturing as well as other verticals.
One of our more popular posts was our OPC Frequently Asked Questions article. Since publishing that story, we have heard from readers with additional questions and challenges they were facing, so we thought it was time we share a “V2” with some more common questions and answers.
Dear colleagues,
Another exciting edition of the OPC Connect newsletter has arrived. The OPC Foundation has been busy these past few months and the remainder of 2018 is shaping up to be no different. Learn about all of the activities, past and present, happening in North America and Europe, our new IPR Policy 2.1, and how to get involved with the OPC Foundation.
Thank you for taking time out from your busy day to read this edition of the OPC Connect newsletter.
Welcome to the August 2018 OPC Connect newsletter. The word is out… OPC UA continues to be recognized as the international communication and information standard for Industrie 4.0; end-users all across industrial segments and beyond are demanding OPC UA information interoperability from their suppliers. Collaborations with diverse organizations are pushing the release of companion specifications to enable the use of OPC UA in other vertical markets.
Read more and thank you for taking time out from your busy day to explore this edition of the OPC Connect newsletter.
Examples of the benefits of IIoT era open data sharing throughout the plant or factory shop-floor and the rest of the enterprise are easy to come by. What is not as obvious is how important (and difficult) it is to preserve and utilize the context of the shared data so systems can interpret and use the data they receive from 3rd party sources.
Welcome to this edition of the OPC Connect newsletter. Hannover 2018 in April was a smashing success, as was the recent OPC Day Europe. Everywhere you looked OPC UA was prominently displayed and being demonstrated showing commitment to OPC UA technology.
IIoT is not just a buzzword, but a real phenomenon that is being driven by standards organizations like OPC Foundation, OMAC and AMT. Both the PackML and the MTConnect companion specifications include standard OPC UA information models so that all machines look and act the same.