The letters O - P - C get thrown around a lot these days in the context of the industrial automation industry. But it's important to understand that OPC is not a one-size-fits-all standard. There are different specifications under the OPC umbrella and it's not a safe assumption that they are all just compatible with each other because they typically are not.
This blog post will discuss how important it is to know which OPC specifications you have in use and whether the OPC tunneler solution you have or are considering can handle them all.
When you're considering an OPC tunneling solution for sharing data in your control system, one of your first steps should always be to learn which OPC specifications your OPC clients and OPC servers support. The latest technology is the OPC UA specification, but don't assume that all of your OPC clients and servers support OPC UA or that all OPC tunneling solutions do either.
Most commonly, though, when someone says they need OPC, they typically need OPC Data Access (OPC DA). Now there are still a few additional consideration even beyond that.
Currently in the process of choosing a tunneling solution? Learn more about OPC considerations and other variables in our free whitepaper "25 Considerations when choosing a tunneling solution".
OPC DA has 3 major versions 1.0, 2.05 and 3.0. When evaluating an OPC tunneler solution, you'll want to make sure the solution supports the version or versions of OPC DA that your servers and clients support in order to ensure compatibility and proper operation.
Now, remember I mentioned OPC UA a few moments ago? The adoption of OPC UA is also growing among OPC software vendors. If you happen to have an OPC server that is OPC DA and a client that is OPC UA (or vice versa), will the OPC tunneler support converting between the two different specifications?
Since some tunneling solutions transfer actual OPC calls and not just the raw data, it's even more important to discuss with the vendor of the solution you are considering what OPC specifications they support and how they can interact together. Alternately, solutions that transfer only the raw data and not the OPC calls themselves are only limited by the OPC specifications they support - in other words, data can easily be shared between different OPC specifications, as long as they are supported.
If your control system is as diverse as most control systems, the likelihood of OPC software using different specifications needing to interact is a real consideration. Make sure to select a tunneling solution that provides the OPC specifications and compatibility your system requires.
OPC specifications support and compatibility are just one considration - learn about the other variables you should be considering in the free whitepaper “25 Considerations when choosing a tunneling solution”.
