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OPC Fights Recession by Maximizing Resources
 Thomas Burke, president and executive director of the OPC Foundation, explains how OPC technology can combat an economic downturn by providing tools that maximize resources and improve productivity, communication and decision-making.
Welcome to the May 2009 edition of OPConnect, the official newsletter of the OPC Foundation. I'm pleased to promote the new look-and-feel of our newsletter. This new format is driven from the feedback we've received from our regular readers, and includes more need-to-know information on OPC news, technology and applications.
There are a lot of things going on in our global economy, and the importance of OPC and industry standards is even more significant than ever before with respect to helping maximize our use of resources and technology. An example of this is the momentum enjoyed by the adoption of the OPC Unified Architecture standard
The OPC Foundation is really moving forward with OPC UA by facilitating vendors and end-users to actively develop and deploy products and services based on the technology. I encourage you to check out the OPC Foundation website, www.opcfoundation.org, and the list of companies that are currently developing products or have already released products based on the technology. OPC UA is the enabling technology for moving data/information from devices and applications all the way through the enterprise. It is truly multiplatform, secure, reliable interoperability, and will help your operations perform at their best by streamlining information sharing and decision-making... Read more
 OPC Centralizes Historian Data for Regulatory Inspections
A petroleum products pipeline in the western United States uses OPC-HDA historian and trending products from Canary Labs to consolidate data for regulatory reporting and monitoring requirements.
The Kinder Morgan Pacific Liquids Pipeline Operations unit operates a 3,000-mile refined petroleum products pipeline on the West Coast, serving Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas. Kinder Morgan started using products from Canary Labs on the Pacific Liquids Pipeline in 2000. Wheatland Systems was contracted to provide control systems at each of the pumping stations and bulk storage terminals, which included Canary as a reliable historian and trending facility. Each of the 27 locations has dual systems, a primary and secondary historian for data collection and storage of the stations operations and performance parameters... Read more
 Top Five OPC Questions Integrators Need To Ask
Eric Murphy, P. Eng., of Matrikon OPC, Alberta, Canada, outlines the important questions integrators need to ask and get answered to ensure the success of any major OPC implementation.
As the saying goes, there's a fine line between success and failure. System integrators, who face the challenge of delivering projects that handle more information, give more functionality, faster and easier while being on time and budget, understand how fine the margin really is. While OPC connectivity should reduce system complexity and save project time, there is the potential for expectations and cost to go astray if certain project risks aren't properly managed. There are important questions integrators need to ask and get answered to ensure the success of any major OPC implementation... Read more
 OPC Aids in Precision Measurement Application
SCHOTT Tubing, a subsidiary of the SCHOTT Group, relies on Softing's OPC technology as a reliable link between its process control system and a precision measurement instrument.
Whether flat screens for TV sets or displays for computer monitors, notebooks and mobile phones, hardly any other special glass application has experienced a similarly dynamic development as Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs), the background lighting for Liquid Cristal Display Thin-Film Transistors (LCD TFTs).
SCHOTT Tubing, a subsidiary of the SCHOTT Group, is one of the leading manufacturers of glass tubing worldwide with a product range of more than 60 different special glass types and a production capacity of more than 110,000 tons. SCHOTT Tubing offers tailor made products and services for international growth markets such as pharmaceutics, electronics, automotive and environmental technology. The SCHOTT Group employs 16,700 people worldwide and has sales of approximately US$ 3 billion... Read more
 OPC Empowers Green IT Decision Making
Software Toolbox worked with Hitachi Consulting, a partner with Microsoft in its Green IT initiative, to connect OPC data sources to Visio 2007 drawings for improved energy efficiencies.
Data centers accounted for 1.2 percent of energy usage in the United States in 2005 and are expected to grow to 2.5 percent by 2011. Worldwide, data centers consume 0.5 percent of the world's energy. A Forbes study of 36 data centers showed efficiency upgrades in data centers generated ROIs of 400 percent in the first year.
There are many simple ways that Information Technology professionals can improve data center efficiency, including raising overall temperatures, using outside air for cooling, adjusting inter-rack airflow, and more. However, to make informed decisions about changes to the facilities systems that make improvements without negatively impacting system reliability and uptime, the IT staff needs real-time operating data. Microsoft has launched an initiative for Green IT using Visio 2007 that allows Data Center managers to build system diagrams and tie them to process data... Read more
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