OPC Unified Architecture Companion Specification for Analyzer Devices Released

Scottsdale, AZ November 16, 2009 - The OPC Foundation is pleased to announce the release of the OPC Analyzer Devices Integration (ADI) Specification as a companion specification to OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA). The completion of the OPC ADI specification provides industries such as the Pharmaceutical industry with a common method of data exchange for: analyzer data models and process / laboratory analyzers. Developed as a logical extension of the OPC UA specifications, the OPC ADI Specification serves as an information model for analyzer devices which enables true plug-and-play multivendor interoperability. Analyzer integration based on this standard offers end-users a seamless experience in data management and integration for solutions such as Process Analytical Technology (PAT).

This highly anticipated release follows the OPC Foundation’s founding principles of providing end-users with the ability to implement "Quality by Design" in their manufacturing systems. Analyzers will no longer be isolated proprietary systems. They will be based on OPC UA specifications and have the ability to easily interact with complete plant systems through open communications. “The release of the ADI specification enables us to provide the industry with analytical products based on open connectivity which will seamlessly interoperate with manufacturing systems to provide an enhanced degree of efficiency and reliability, " according to Thomas Buijs, Product Manager at ABB.

“The specification is truly a pragmatic one whose development was motivated by the end-user community. A prototype of the OPC UA client for OSIsoft PI System collected the ABB ADI server’s spectral data, which was then visualized in Excel using PI DataLink. The ABB ADI server and subsequent integration confirmed that the ADI specification can be easily implemented. This ability to quickly integrate ADI data demonstrates the flexibility and interoperability of the OPC UA standard and the PI System,” commented Alisher Maksumov, Software Engineering Group Lead at OSIsoft.


The list of companies that have committed to developing products using this new specification are: ABB, Abbott, Arla Foods, Bristol-Myers Squibb, BRL Consulting, Bruker Optics, CAS, FOSS, GlaxoSmithKline, Kaiser Optical Systems, Inc., Malvern Process Systems, Mettler-Toledo Autochem, Inc., Novartis, Pfizer Inc., Sentronic GmbH, Siemens AG, Software Toolbox, Inc., Sympatec GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Umetrics, Yokogawa.

OPC Unified Architecture provides a base foundation of services for discovery, read, write and subscription for information that is described by industry standards organizations focused on information modeling. The OPC Unified Architecture Analyzer Device Specification will leverage the information model architecture of OPC UA facilitating complete data access and exchange services with secure transactional capability via the SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) for configuration data, diagnostic data, and runtime operational data for all analyzer devices.

"Siemens contributed to the ADI working group with great emphasis in order to represent the needs of process gas chromatographic applications in the OPC communication standard. The process market will show the real demand for such a powerful communication concept in the next years. Of course Siemens continuously adapts its product development to the market requirements,” said Dr. Otto Graf, Siemens Industry Automation Division.

“OPC ADI is an exciting step forward in establishing an industry standard for integrating process analyzers with production control systems. Based on this new standard, we will release a new software package (iC PAT) in 2010 for our spectroscopy (ReactIR) and particle (FBRM) analyzers that will provide OPC ADI support. The OPC ADI initiative dovetails nicely with the iC Suite platform development project that we started five years ago to create a unified software platform for all our process analyzers. Taken together, we believe we can offer our customers efficient, pragmatic solutions that streamline process development from lab to production,” said Jay Cincotta Software Marketing, Mettler-Toledo AutoChem, Inc.

“OPC ADI will enable seamless interoperability between analytical devices and data processing systems allowing vendors to focus on adding business intelligence to data thereby realizing such industrial initiatives as Quality by Design through Process Analytical Technology (PAT) on a system wide vendor independent basis” said Mark Zugelder, ABB xPAT Product Manager

About The OPC Foundation:

The OPC Foundation, dedicated to interoperability in automation and enterprise computing, is an independent, non-profit organization that comprises leading manufacturers and solution providers in factory and process automation as well as providers of enterprise solutions. The OPC Foundation's charter is to develop worldwide industry-standards for data transfer offering multi-vendor interoperability and seamless connectivity of measurement and automation devices, systems, networks, and enterprise computing solutions used in the manufacturing and process industries, by leveraging open computing technologies. Board members and Officers are unpaid volunteers. Development of specifications is undertaken by volunteers from 410+ members worldwide. For more information about the OPC Foundation visit http://www.opcfoundation.org. 

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