Microsoft has announced their contribution of an open-source, cross-platform OPC UA Global Discovery Server (GDS) to the OPC Foundation. The greatest value of an OPC UA GDS deployment is its certificate management capability thereby simplifying security.
Samsung Electronics, one of the largest manufacturers in the world, becomes a Corporate Member to enable an interoperable Industrial IoT edge platform in its manufacturing infrastructures, powered by the OPC UA framework.
Due to the relevance of OPC UA to Industrie 4.0 and German Industry, the BSI performed an in-depth security analysis of the OPC UA specifications and a selected reference implementation. An extensive analysis of the security functions in the specification of OPC UA confirmed that OPC UA was designed with a focus on security and does not contain systematic security vulnerabilities.
Welcome to the April edition of the OPC connect newsletter!
2017 has already started off by being a banner year in terms of OPC technology and marketing activities. I have attended and presented at numerous different events in the first three months of the year. 2017 is shaping up to be a very busy year for the OPC Foundation. We are eager to keep you abreast of the expansion of the OPC UA technology and progress made on the collaboration front. We appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to check out what we have been up to.
Two important Memorandums of Understanding were signed in recent months. First, OPC UA is finding itself used in applications beyond traditional manufacturing. In this case, commercial professional kitchens. Second, an MOU was signed with the VDMA Robotics organization. Here, OPC UA was chosen as the easiest route to M2M integration.
The OPC Foundation membership really is a diverse set of companies developing products and/or services for many different domains and vertical markets. Corporate members that are Class A members are recognized here that have joined since November 1, 2016.
Also, the OPC Foundation is proud to announce the availability of our new European Certification Test Lab.
Finally, the next OPC interoperability workshop is scheduled for the week of April 24th, 2017 in Phoenix, AZ.
At OPC Day Europe, there were many interesting talks about OPC UA and its applicability into a variety of environments. If you weren’t able to make it to the event, relevant videos are released here for catching up. Make sure to find the OPC Foundation at an event near you and check out the OPC YouTube Channel for more.
The OPC Foundation is making its certification program, previously only available to OPC Foundation members, completely open and available to non-members. They will be able to use the OPC Foundation certification tools and certify their OPC enabled products as such. Also, the OPC Foundation is opening new certification labs with Ingenieurbuero Allmendinger in Salach, Germany and at the Beijing Institute of Technology in China.
The MDIS Companion standard will be released in December and has completed a full function Interoperability test (IOP) which included a demonstration to Operating companies of the MDIS standard. Its goal is to standardize the interface between subsea systems and the platform DCS system. This includes both the communication (OPC UA) and the information model that is transferred.
These are incredibly exciting times in Industrie 4.0 and this new open-source cross-platform reference stack will enable the next generation of connected OPC UA products. It enables the creation of single-source OPC UA applications that will run unmodified on Linux, iOS, iPhone, most Windows platforms, and Android. Sample applications for clients and servers are also provided, making it easy to get started.