November 6, 2018 - In an announcement published by the OPC Foundation, the organization states its vision of becoming the worldwide industrial interoperability standard. This IIoT communication standard, called Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture will apply for all levels of industrial automation. Combined with Time Sensitive Networking (OPC UA over TSN) it will be able to replace a myriad of different fieldbus systems. Forecasting the end of disparate protocols, it will enable devices from different vendors to talk to each other - from the field level to the controller level all the way to the cloud.
ABB is committed to support the industry-wide adoption of OPC UA over TSN. At the vanguard of driving interoperability in industrial automation, ABB and B&R - the acquired and integrated solutions provider for machine and factory automation - have played a role in bringing together industry stakeholders to establish an open standards based communication for Industrial IoT. Additionally, ABB will take up a designated seat on the board of the OPC Foundation in 2019 to further help accelerate development of the new technology.
As OPC UA over TSN is vendor neutral, customers will no longer see their efforts complicated by incompatible protocols or proprietary ecosystems. This will facilitate integration and spur innovation – an imperative as the Fourth Industrial Revolution accelerates digitalization via the interconnection of billions of smart devices worldwide.
Adoption of the OPC UA over TSN standard will allow companies to leverage the benefits of multi-vendor, peer-to-peer communications and control between sensors, control devices, programmable logic controllers and distributed control systems without the need for costly and time-consuming software development and cumbersome gateways and bridges.
About ABB
ABB is a specialist in power grids, electrification products, industrial automation and robotics and motion, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees.
