April 2017

President’s Welcome

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.

OPC UA in South Korea and Hannover Messe, Germany

Industrie 4.0 with its mandatory requirement of OPC UA is focused on security and high efficiency in manufacturing. Therefore it is no wonder that the OPC Foundation has created an official office in South Korea and will be making waves at Hannover Messe later this month.

Data is the New Currency

A central challenge of Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of things (IIoT) is secure standardized data and the exchange of information between devices, machines, and services from various industries. The OPC UA standard is the only mandatory protocol required in the criteria checklist of “Product capabilities for Industrie 4.0 Products” provided by the German Industrie 4.0 Platform.

OPC UA Information Modeling Enables Industry Collaborations

As information workflows cross competence domains in several directions, users and providers start looking for a way to coalesce those standards into a farther-reaching, whole-encompassing interoperability “grammar”.
That is one of the main reasons why OPC UA was created.

Using Nodeset Files to Exchange Information

Any client that needs to work with an OPC UA Server has to understand the information model present in the server and discover the instance of the model to be able to wire up to the correct nodes to exchange data. The usage of NodesetFiles [sic] greatly simplifies the exchange of OPC UA information models and the configuration of clients and servers. Users can be assured that their configuration is correct and it can minimize testing of systems.

OPC UA Unleashes a Whole New Dynamic

Machine tool builder exeron is convinced that OPC UA is the way forward. The specialist in electrical discharge machining (EDM) has started down that path by developing a communication solution based on the open IEC standard. The solution eliminates the proprietary interface between the HMI systems and CNC controllers of the company’s EDM line.

Fast Tracking System Control with BIM Import

For one large European transportation customer, it was critical to be able to leverage existing Building Information Modeling (BIM) models in order to quickly and easily integrate its building systems into its monitoring and control systems, as well as continue to work with its existing connected equipment and processes. As shown at an event in Paris, ICONICS is able to keep its customer’s operations on the right track.

Secure OPC UA Connectivity

Managing security certificates is one of the most important parts of establishing an OPC UA connection. Cogent’s DataHub makes it easy to accept or reject certificates using its built-in management tool. Plus with its latest release, they’ve added the ability to act as both an OPC UA Client and Server.

New Collaborations Update

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.

New Products – April 2017

New products this month include DataHub version 8 from Cogent; a new OPC UA SDK from Matrikon; an embedded OPC UA toolkit from Softing; safety plus OPC UA from B&R; and OPC UA communication for power supplies from Siemens.