OPC, an interoperable communications standard, enjoys widespread adoption, according to a recent survey of industrial manufacturers and software developers. Of the more than 880 survey respondents, 77 percent use the OPC standard in their operations and an additional 17 percent plan to use OPC in the future.
This level of acceptance and use—nearly 95 percent of respondents—is almost unprecedented among industrial standards, and mirrors the universal adoption of such commercial standards as Microsoft Windows, Ethernet and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
Ten years ago, a group of software developers and users, with the support of Microsoft, began work on an OPC standard to leverage OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) connectivity for process control, with the goal of minimizing custom drivers for disparate applications.
Since that time, OPC standards have evolved for the functions of: data access, batch applications, alarming, historians, eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) data exchange and security. As well, the OPC model has incorporated new standards, such as Microsoft’s Distributed Common Object Model (DCOM) and Web Services, and will deploy Microsoft .NET attributes in the OPC Unified Architecture (UA) specification, scheduled for release in late 2005.
Used at multiple levels
While OPC is deployed at multiple levels within a manufacturing organization, survey respondents cite greatest use at the supervisory and control system levels. Nearly 620 respondents, or 70 percent, use or plan to use OPC-certified products at the supervisory control level. Fifty-five percent use or plan to use OPC at the Distributed Control System (DCS)/Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) level.
However, OPC is working its way both up and down the automation hierarchy. Twelve percent of respondents use or plan to use OPC to exchange data with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and 32 percent use or plan use of OPC at the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) layer. Moving lower in the hierarchy, the OPC standard is deployed by 15 percent of respondents at the subsystem level, for communication among loop and logic controllers, and 8 percent use or plan use of OPC at the sensors and components level.
Of the various functions OPC provides, data access is the leading contender, with use or plans for its use among 65 percent of respondents. In addition to data access, respondents are using or plan to use OPC functionality in the following order of preference: alarms and events; historian data access; XML data exchange; Web Services; batch; and security.
The OPC Survey was sponsored by the OPC Foundation and Automation World. The 880 survey respondents represent a cross-section of industry, with nearly 50 percent who are members of the automation, control and instrumentation businesses that develop and deploy OPC in their automation solutions. The remaining 50 percent are users of OPC technology, and work in manufacturing industries ranging from food and beverage to chemicals, utilities and petroleum.
For more information, contact the OPC Foundation at www.opcfoundation.org.
