TE Connectivity Has Joined the OPC Foundation

23rd September 2016

Enaie Azambuja

0 0

TE Connectivity has joined the OPC Foundation, a vendor-independent non-profit organisation which drives the development, maintenance and promotion of Openness Productivity Connectivity – Unified Architecture (OPC UA). This engagement reflects the company’s commitment to the concepts of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)/Industry 4.0 (I4.0), the key elements of which are semantic interoperability and transmission integrity, the essential aspects of OPC UA.

OPC UA is an industrial communication architecture for the secure, reliable, and semantic interoperability between sensors, field devices, controllers and applications at the shop-floor level (operational technology, OT) as well as between the OT and enterprise IT (cloud) systems.

OPC UA is standardised within the IEC 62541 series. Additional companion standards detail the requirements for specific systems.

OPC UA is also used in the “Smart Manufacturing Connectivity for Brownfield Sensors – Sensor to the Cloud (SttC) Testbed”, a project carried out by TE together with SAP, ifm and the OPC Foundation under the umbrella of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) to develop an experimentation platform with the objective of seamlessly integrating IO-Link sensors with IT systems in existing facilities. This project will also deliver essential input to an IO-Link/OPC UA Companion Standard that sensor manufacturers and connectivity providers are about to work on.

TE’s Industrial business unit’s Global Leader Standards and Consortia Günter Feldmeier considers the engagement with the OPC Foundation as essential to drive TE’s IIoT/I4.0 strategy that aims at extending TE’s portfolio of connectivity solutions beyond passive infrastructure components towards OT/IT communication.

He says: “OT/IT connectivity is the basis for the communication of an OT asset with its virtual representation implemented and maintained at IT level. OPC UA has been thoroughly analysed by the Platform Industry 4.0 and confirmed as important technology to implement the 'Communication Layer' of the 'Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0' (RAMI4.0)”.

Manager Consortia and Standards Dr. Michael Hilgner adds: “Security is one of the main concerns regarding Industry 4.0. A recent analysis by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has confirmed OPC UA’s robustness here. Acknowledging this concern and reacting by integrating this technology in our products will preserve the confidence of our customers in our products.”