OPC Foundation unveils architecture; expands vision upward
Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/1/2003 7:00:00 AM
OPC Foundation, a nonprofit standards organization focused on interoperability in industrial automation, announced at ISA Expo 2003 its aim to transition its specifications away from component object model (COM)-based connectivity toward a unified architecture. The move follows OPC's announcement in August of a new specification based on XML.
The specification—OPC XML Data Access (XML DA)—provides the gateway to the Internet for OPC data and information and removes the limitation for information to be isolated behind a corporate firewall. The spec is a lynchpin for the unified architecture, which foundation leaders say will help translate raw factory-floor data into useful information for functions or "services" in areas such as asset management. The foundation expects plant automation suppliers to quickly start using the services of the unified architecture for new product launches.
"The trend toward a unified architectural environment has been clear for some time, as end users have been demanding interoperability between vendor applications in support of building complex systems that span multiple platforms and the Internet," says OPC Foundation President Tom Burke. "What OPC brings to the party is an open methodology for delivering the benefits to everyone."
Burke says he sees "no overlap at all" between the OPC Foundation's architecture and those from industrial automation software vendors. Burke says vendor architectures will be able to use the XML DA spec, and add value over and above what OPC is aiming at.
Foundation leaders also say use of COM-based OPC communications on the plant floor won't go away. There are more than 3,000 OPC products, and many millions of installed systems.
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