The OPC Foundation (www.opcfoundation.org) announced on March 23 that it has officially opened a North American Certification Test Lab in Scottsdale, Ariz., to validate and certify OPC products. The new lab joins the first OPC Test Lab opened in Erlangen, Germany in 2008.
As uncertain economic times force new demands on every industry, companies that want to maintain their leadership position need to make future-facing decisions when considering their network architectures. No company can afford to take chances, and that is the underlying premise behind creating a local North American test lab: local experts, testing local products, in a local environment, said the OPC Foundation, which oversees the OPC communications standard.
“With the opening of the new Test Lab comes a change in OPC Foundation policy. Vendors who wish to use the term ‘OPC UA’ (for Unified Architecture) in their product name must pass certification through the Test Lab. This strict certification process is designed to provide a new level of mandatory quality assurance and a peace of mind for end-users of OPC UA products,” said OPC President Thomas Burke.
As with the existing test lab in Germany, the North American Certification Test Lab will reference hardware and software from many OPC Foundation members including ABB, Rockwell Automation, Siemens, and Wonderware, among others.
OPC Foundation
www.opcfoundation.org
