OPC Foundation and EtherCAT Technology Group to cooperate regarding common Industrie 4.0 interfaces

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OPC UA is about scalable communication with integrated security by design up to MES/ERP systems and into the cloud, EtherCAT is about hard real-time capability in machines and factory control systems. Both technologies complement each other perfectly.

Industrie 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) architectures require consistent communication across all levels while using Internet technologies: both in as well as outside of the factory, for example to cloud-based services. That exactly is what the OPC Foundation and the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) want to account for by defining a common definition of open interfaces between their respective technologies.

Martin Rostan (left) and Tom Burke.

At the Hanover Fair Thomas J. Burke, president of the OPC Foundation and Martin Rostan, executive director of the ETG signed a memorandum of understanding in which both organisations agree to co-operate in the development of these interfaces.

Tom Burke: “OPC UA has established itself as standard technology for incorporating fieldbus systems in Industrie 4.0 and IoT environments. With EtherCAT Technology Group one of the leading industrial ethernet technology organisations, specifically the one with the most members globally has decided for OPC UA. The co-operation between both organisations will soon lead to mature interface definitions, in the way they are being requested by users.”

“We regard OPC UA as an ideal extension to our technologies. EtherCAT is and will stay the technology of choice for high real-time requirements and particularly lean implementation thanks to hardware integration. OPC UA provides a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with authentication and secure communication into the cloud and to MES systems. Both standards are open and internationally recognised. Combined they are complete, and as such we look forward to the common interface specification,” adds Rostan.

For more information contact Thomas J. Burke, OPC Foundation, +1 330 357 8012, [email protected], www.opcfoundation.org

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OPC Foundation and EtherCAT Technology Group to cooperate regarding common Industrie 4.0 interfaces

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