Skip to content

December 2017

2017 Wrap: End-Users Pushing OPC UA

    “We are experiencing an incredibly successful rate of global adoption,” says Stefan Hoppe, Global Vice President of the OPC Foundation, looking back on the SPS show. End-users are putting pressure on their machine suppliers to implement OPC UA for their production processes. In the last year alone, 100 new members have joined the Foundation in a wave of member acquisition. In Germany, the VDMA and its 38 trade associations in particular are pushing forward the idea of OPC UA Companion Specifications.

    Secure Configuration and Operation of OPC UA

      How to realize secure data exchange and communication in industry? The OPC Foundation Security User Group answers this question by publishing its first white-paper “Practical Security Recommendations.”

      Industrie 4.0 Communication Guideline – VDMA

        The VDMA prioritized its activities on OPC UA and hereby presents an important position paper to the machine and plant engineering sector. The VDMA guideline “Industrie 4.0 Communication Guideline Based on OPC UA” should be understood as a practice-oriented tool. It shows actionable steps that help to implement the Industrie 4.0 communication in a company using OPC UA.

        CLPA Announces OPC UA Companion Specification

          The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA), in association with the OPC Foundation, has announced an OPC UA companion specification for the CLPA’s new “CSP+ for Machine” technology to further ease the implementation of Industry 4.0 type applications.

          Enabling Bigger Thinking with Artificial Intelligence

            New technologies such as artificial intelligence may seem exciting, but without consistent standardization, problems will arise. Artificial intelligence requires data, and involves working with this data to gain insight. OPC UA acts as the standard interface to the data sources companies need to gain true insight.

            A Beginner’s Guide to OPC

              Are you new to operations technology & automation and have practical questions about how OPC terminology, how things work, what kinds of things are possible with OPC. Read this beginners guide to practical OPC questions to help you get started.

              TwinCAT OPC UA Server Now Integrated into Visual Studio

                In the latest version, the TwinCAT OPC UA Server includes a so-called “configuration namespace”, which permits the full remote configuration of all server features via a secure OPC UA channel. In order to ensure a graphical, easy-to-use frontend for the configuration namespace, Beckhoff provides a software plug-in package for Microsoft Visual Studio.