Leveraging OPC UA for Secure, Highly Integrated Machines

I’ve been talking about and writing about OPC UA and its advantages over the technologies currently used on the factory floor for years now. I’ve described how it’s secure, flexible, and open with vastly superior data modeling. I believe it to be the foundational technology for the coming transformation of the factory floor from an isolated component of a company’s network into an indistinguishable, integrated component of the entire enterprise.

When focusing on all the details of UA, the big picture isn’t always apparent. It gets lost in the details of the technology. When you’re immersed in these details, it’s near impossible to look at and understand the big picture: how OPC UA is going to transform the factory floor environment to achieve true ease and speed of integration. And that’s the article I just posted on www.automation.com.