I was impressed with the Ignition by Inductive Automation product release webinar. The Inductive Automation team did a first class job introducing the company, Ignition product platform and architecture, and the motivation behind the shift to OPC-UA. In a nutshell, their vision of the future of industrial software is: standards based, IT friendly, and platform independent. Get DCOM out of here! We want a top notch, secure SCADA system that runs equally well on Linux, a mac, or any flavor/service pack of the Windows rainbow. The demonstration included a full server installation, which took about 2 minutes, and highlighted the drag and drop ease of the new SQLTags History feature, which is deceptively simple, yet powerful.We've been getting a huge number of hits to the new website by a number of companies across the world. We've also been getting a lot of interest in when more drivers will be available, like Siemens, Modbus, and Automation Direct in addition to the existing Allen Bradley suite. I suppose this isn't surprising considering that we're the only cross-platform OPC-UA server available. While it shouldn't be too long before we get those drivers developed, this brings me to my next point...
Where are the other OPC-UA servers? We're really looking forward to a more vibrant marketplace for OPC-UA products. Kepware says they'll be releasing their OPC-UA server soon - we're looking forward to being able to test it with Ignition. This really excites me because it brings their extensive PLC product line to the table via OPC-UA. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be cross platform.
So, how about it? OPC vendors: the gauntlet has been thrown. The industry wants OPC-UA products! And if they're cross platform, all the better. When will we start seeing them?
