OPC Foundation
Assembly Line
Google Cloud and Major Manufacturers Join the OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative
Following the successful launch of the OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative in April 2024, the OPC Foundation is pleased to announce the participation of leading cloud providers and industrial automation companies in the ongoing effort to enhance interoperability in IT and cloud environments leveraging OPC UA.
The OPC UA Cloud Initiative steering committee includes prominent cloud suppliers, such as Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and SAP Cloud. Additionally, leading industrial automation companies like ABB, Beckhoff, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Yokogawa are actively participating.
Twenty-five companies participated in the kickoff meeting of the End-User Counsel, including Boehringer Ingelheim, ContiTech, Danone, Equinor, L’Oreal Operations, Miele, Mondelez, Renault-Group, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), Tetra Pak, and Volkswagen.
OPC-UA: the Universal Language of Industry 4.0
Forgive the obscene title of this article, for implying OPC-UA is nothing but a simple communication protocol is a great injustice. Indeed, OPC-UA encompasses this, but also so much more. It is a living, breathing, specification: one that outlines an information-centric architecture that is interwoven with security systems-systems which permeate a definitive rule-set for device modelling and communication.
At its essence, OPC-UA is a platform-independent, machine-to-machine communications architecture that focuses on providing an object-oriented approach to modelling data.