"Matrikon’s OPC Server for Modbus has enabled us to connect our PLC to any OPC compliant client application and provided us with an easy to implement and reliable connection."
Philippe Le Sauze,
Project Manager, Sydel
Though it was originally developed to meet connectivity needs within the process control industry, the use of OPC is proliferating throughout other industries, including building automation, discrete manufacturing and the food processing industry. Sydel, a major supplier and integrator of supply-chain management software to European clients, used Matrikon’s OPC Server for Modbus to connect 5 PLCs to multi-vendor HMIs at a new plant for Rovagnati, a leader in the production of premium meats based in Italy.
For the integration at Rovagnati's plant in Milan, Sydel integrated their own custom PLC with an embedded Wind River VxWorks operating system and an ICS Triplex IsaGRAF IEC61131-3 virtual machine. Because both are open systems, Sydel was able to develop and install a Modbus server on the PLC. The client applications that would interface with this PLC would vary both in type and vendor, so using a non-standard protocol to interface with each individual application would be both costly and time consuming. To overcome this issue, Sydel looked to Matrikon OPC. The essence of OPC is to provide a published communication standard that enables multi-vendor devices and data sources to interface with multi-vendor client applications. Using OPC makes initial integration easy by providing plug-and-play technology, and it leaves the