OPC continues to be the standard of choice for interoperability between software and hardware in the multi-vendor real world, with wide adoption of OPC DA Classic still in the majority compared to OPC UA. Accessing remote OPC Classic data sources (i.e. OPC clients and servers are on separate machines and, sometimes, even networks) can be challenging due to a reliance on Microsoft DCOM technology for security and authentication on remote OPC connections.
Anyone who has ever heard of or dealt with configuring DCOM security for remote OPC connections knows it has its challenges. The good news is that there is an alternative to DCOM for remote OPC Classic connectivity - a solution referred to as OPC tunneling. In the blog post, we'll discuss five of the key considerations to remember as you're evaluating the best OPC tunneling solution for your projects.