OPC UA (Unified Architecture)

What is OPC UA?

Interoperability and Standardization are what OPC is all about. While conventional OPC solved the device interoperability problem at the Control level, the demand for that same level of standardization was required for the Enterprise layer. Classic OPC is based on the Microsoft DCOM which can introduce vulnerabilities at these layers. Urgency to find simplicity, maximum interoperability, and security drove the OPC foundation into creating a unified method of data communication for parts of the existing OPC specifications for DA, HDA, A&E, and Security.

OPC Unified Architecture extends the highly successful OPC communication protocol, enabling data acquisition and information modeling and communication between the plant floor and the enterprise reliably and securely.

The key features and benefits for OPC UA are:

OPC UA is designed to deliver a true Universal Connectivity based on a secure and simple platform to address Enterprise level challenges.

OPC UA Principles:

	Unified Access OPC UA integrates existing OPC specifications DA, A&E, HDA, Commands, Complex data, and Object Types in one specification. This reduces system integration costs by providing a common architecture for accessing information.
	Access via Firewalls and across the Internet OPC UA uses message based security which means messages can be relayed through HTTP, UA TCP port or any other single port available.
	Reliability OPC UA implements a configurable timeouts, error detection, and communication failure recovery. OPC UA allows redundancy between applications from different vendors to be deployed.
	Security OPC UA is Secure-by-default, encryption enabled, and uses advanced certificate handling.
	Platform Independence OPC UA is designed to be independent of the platform. Using SOAP/XML over HTTP, OPC UA can be deployed on Linux, Windows XP Embedded, VxWorks, Mac, Windows 7, and Classical Windows platforms.

Learn more about our OPC UA product suite here…