[#sps_live] Schneider Electric endorses the OPC Foundation to extend communications to the field level and harmonize interoperability from Machines and Process units to Cloud

Recognition of standards-based unified communication architecture and data models will help drive Industrial IoT automation adoption on industrial sites through OT and IT interconnectivity

Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, welcomes the OPC Foundation recognition of industry efforts to bring interoperable communications to field level industrial operations.

In the fast-changing industrial space, operations technology and information technology are becoming increasingly interconnected to enable more flexible and agile manufacturing and processing operations to meet evolving market requirements.

The recognition of the importance of standards-based communication between operational technologies and information technologies (OT & IT) across device, machine to machine, process units and cloud infrastructure as the basis for industry to achieve the full benefits of automation is a vital step.

“The benefits OT and IT connectivity can only be realised through open, deep interoperability. This drives an urgent need to move away from proprietary communication protocols in favour of open, unified, standards based, Industrial IoT (IIoT) communications between sensors, actuators, controllers and cloud platforms,” says Fabrice Jadot, Senior vice president, Technology & Innovation and CTO for Industry business at Schneider Electric.

Schneider Electric has been working to bring open interoperable communications between devices and systems with a number of market leader partners and supports the Open Platform Communication Foundation (OPC F) as the organisation sharpens its focus to deliver interoperability, flexibility and security between vendors’ automation and control systems at all levels.

OPC UA over TSN (Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture over Time Sensitive Network) is a flexible architecture offering new levels of performance and certified interoperability which will enhance interoperable, standard communication down to the field level.

As the layer that unifies the way data is exposed and exchanged, OPC UA is one of the major achievements of the OPC Foundation community. OPC UA along with TSN is a foundational platform for fully secure systems, delivering a new single set of end-to-end natively secure communication profiles for industrial control, safety and motion built on real time Ethernet to drive automation in factory, plant and process environments.

By opening secure communication possibilities within devices, process units, across machine to machine and up to major cloud infrastructure platforms, industry customers also benefit from common device services (e.g., discovery, configuration), true open communications and vendor agnostic data models which enable agile business and industrial operations.

Fabrice Jadot of Schneider Electric, continues: “At the field level it is connected IT and OT that will be the foundation of the IIoT or 4th industrial revolution. For industrial customers to realise the value of automation at every level requires technology interoperability. We believe open standards-based communications system architectures are key to future success.”

Schneider Electric is committed to the continued evolution of the OPC Foundation, the open standards body for industry, and welcomes the growing influence and recognition of OPC UA over TSN as a de facto standard. As part of its continued belief in open standards as the future for Ethernet-based industrial communications, Fabrice Jadot, Senior Vice President, Technology & Innovation and CTO, Industry Business, at Schneider Electric is to take a seat on the board of the OPC Foundation.

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