September 14, 2009 – Opto 22 released PAC Project 8.5, the latest version of the company’s automation software suite that includes control programming, HMI development, OPC connectivity, and database integration components. Opto 22 recently announced new additions to its extensive line of Ethernet-based components—specifically, intelligent SNAP I/O processors (“brains”) and SNAP PAC standalone and rack-mounted programmable automation controllers with wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) capabilities referred to as Wired+Wireless hardware.
PAC Project version 8.5 supports all of these new components, thereby providing industrial wireless networking capabilities that offer several benefits to users, such as the ability to deploy the hardware in remote areas, areas that are inaccessible, or where network wiring is difficult or impossible to install. Control system designers can also use the new Wired+Wireless hardware to design and build systems with traditional Ethernet wiring, Wi-Fi, or any combination of the two, thereby establishing a new level of networking flexibility that’s impossible to achieve using the standard components of any other industrial automation vendor. Wireless networking capabilities also offer an opportunity for major savings through reductions in wiring.
PAC Project 8.5’s Wired+Wireless-related features include support for configuring wireless communications, such as assigning IP addresses to the wireless LAN interface, configuring secure WPA (TKIP) and WPA2 (802.11i/AES encryption, and testing wireless signal strength. PAC Project 8.5 and SNAP PAC Wired+Wireless hardware are both available now from Opto 22 and a worldwide network of authorized distributors.
About PAC Project
The complete list of PAC Project components:
- PAC Control—an intuitive flowchart and scripting control programming software for developing control strategies that run on SNAP PAC controllers, and ideal for sequential control, batch and process control, motion control, complex math, conditional branching, string handling, subroutines, PID loop control, and more.
- PAC Display—a Microsoft® Windows®-based human-machine interface (HMI) development application used to create graphical interfaces that mimic a process.
- PAC Manager—a configuration and maintenance tool used to inspect and view control strategy variables and I/O data in real time.
- OptoOPCServer (included with PAC Project Professional or available separately)—an OLE for Process Control (OPC) 2.0-compliant server used to consolidate and publish SNAP PAC System data to OPC-aware clients, including third-party HMIs such as Wonderware’s InTouch, Intellution’s iFix, and Iconic’s Genesis.
- OptoDataLink (included with PAC Project Professional or available separately)—connectivity software used to enable bidirectional data transfer between the SNAP PAC System and enterprise databases—such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, and MySQL—without brokering the data through an HMI.
Support for alarm management, recipe handling, operator logging, real-time and historical trending, multimedia, and unlimited tags puts PAC Display on par with competing HMI development applications costing thousands of dollars more per seat.
About Opto 22
Opto 22 develops and manufactures hardware and software for applications involving industrial automation and control, remote monitoring, and data acquisition.
Opto 22 products use standard, commercially available networking and computer technologies, and have an established reputation worldwide for ease-of-use, innovation, quality, and reliability.
Opto 22 products are used by automation end-users, OEMs, and information technology and operations personnel.
The company was founded in 1974 and is privately held in Temecula, California, USA.
Opto 22 products are available through a worldwide network of distributors and system integrators.
