Foreword by Tom Burke
are the architectural and development leaders who have enabled OPC to be so
The OPC Unified Architecture was developed by over 30 companies over
approximately 5 years. Complete reference implementations and technology were
developed to validate the specifications and prove the technical feasibility. The
purpose of the OPC Unified Architecture was to enable a platform-independent
interoperability standard for moving data/information between the factory floor
and the enterprise. During the course of the development it was obvious that the
OPC Unified Architecture was well positioned to expand beyond industrial auto-
mation. OPC has expanded into areas of building automation, security, home
automation, power generation, packaging, and petrochemicals. Because of the
highly scalable architecture of OPC UA, it is also well-positioned for deployment
in intelligent embedded devices.
OPC UA is a collaborative effort with other standards organizations as well.
OPC UA is also built on the premise of do not reinvent technology that already
exists. OPC pulls all the pieces together as necessary for true secure reliable inter-
operability.
This book provides you a solid foundation to learn everything you could ever
want to know about developing world-class products for multi-vendor interopera-
bility based on OPC UA.
The OPC Foundation is proud to recognize the achievements and quality work
that the authors have put together in developing and assembling this book. I
encourage you to read this book multiple times and use it as a constant preference
as you develop or use OPC-based products in your respective domain. You as a
reader are very fortunate to have obtained this book.
I encourage you to constantly refer and take advantage of this book for all your
OPC needs.
Tom Burke
President and Executive Director OPC Foundation
The OPC Foundation is very honored to endorse this superior book and the excellent
The authors of this book, I have been pleased to know for many years, clearly
work that the authors have put together. This book provides a solid framework
widely successful. The readers of this book are fortunate to be able to learn from
specifications and technology.
operability standard, that being the OPC Unified Architecture.
the experts who actually developed the OPC Foundation Unified Architecture
the beginning of OPC up through and including the most important OPC inter-
of understanding about the OPC Foundation specifications and technology from
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