Introduce a PI OPC UA Server
The OPC landscape is shifting away from DA/HDA and towards UA servers. A significant number of OPC client tools are being created that connect to OPC UA servers, and none of these are compatible with PI without the use of a third party UA wrapper since we only provide DA and HDA servers.
Kelsey Duffy
shared this idea
We have been gathering use cases and information about OPC UA Server functionality as it pertains to OSIsoft products.
There are a number of different requirements to consider, and as such we’re changing the status back to “UNDER REVIEW / RESEARCHING” to more accurately reflect the current status of the work.
At this time, we are not committing to bringing this capability to market.
We will update this thread if the status changes.
32 comments
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rpalmen
commented
Currently all access methods to PI have limitations in the quantity and fidelity of the data that can be accessed. OPC DA/HDA is the only exception where we can access streaming data (PI Web API has limitations), but OPC DA/HDA is less and less sustainable.
OPC UA should be able to support access to all streaming and historical data, and supporting the context provided by PI AF.
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crickwaters
commented
Advanced analytics layers adding additional AI/ML value to PI data require access to and from the PI System. An OPC UA server from PI to advanced analytics layers increases the value of the PI System to our/your customers. Returning that enhanced data as insights to the PI System increases the value that OSIsoft provides to its customers by orders of magnitude.
Presently, third party providers are incentivized to bypass OSIsoft PI Systems and provide their own data lakes and historization because of the technical/cost challenges of data sharing from PI, thus separating both the data and insights from PI. Further, these systems bypass the PI System user interfaces e.g. PI Vision) and provide insights through their own dashboards or third party BI tools.
An OPC UA server would enable OSIsoft to retain a role in the future of predictive production control while increasing the value of OSIsoft's customers' PI Systems.
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Martin Halsey
commented
customers are migrating from OPC to OPC UA and require support for Alarms and conditions
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Yong The
commented
Recent discussions with a number of customers during a seminar coffee break in Auckland, New Zealand, there was concern about analysis of alarms and events from PI.
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Riccardo Tenaglia
commented
Glencore Coal - Clermont Mine have requested an OPC UA connector to PI for a third party application to do analysis based on PI data using OPC UA
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Ellin Tjondrokusumo
commented
I have a customer calling today expressing interest in getting data out of their vendor's OPC UA client into PI.
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Jason Kurdziel
commented
I have a few customers requesting this functionality too as they need to expose their operational data to other UA brokers.
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Michael Bartlett
commented
Given that OPC UA is a developed standard data exchange protocol in the marketplace, and the evolution of COM based OPC, it should not be dependent on use cases to drive development; supporting the import AND export of data via OPC UA should be in our product portfolio by default. Customers outside of the US are becoming heavily invested in OPC UA connectivity to integrate equipment to time series databases, equipment that is less integrated with control and more Industry 4.0/IoT centric. Increased focus on security necessitates this change as well since OPC UA is inherently more secure than COM based OPC. Cloud based technologies are leveraging OPC UA as a standard mechanism for data exchange to and from on premise systems. While we tout the fact that we support over 200+ interfaces and have built over 500 in our history, OPC has by far been the biggest seller over the past 15 years and OPC UA connectivity is naturally poised to take over the top spot. We have multiple large opportunities that will be assisted by supporting the movement of data with context in and out of PI via this technology, so we need to support it in both directions.
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Keith Bouvier
commented
If you have voted here for the product, please go to the following link to vote. I do not know which link has precedence, just making sure.
https://feedback.osisoft.com/forums/555145-pi-developer-technologies/suggestions/18844639-introduce-a-pi-opc-ua-server -
SAF@APA
commented
Me too! An OPC UA server would be great.
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Nebojsa
commented
Hello,
Any update on the subject?
Nebojsa -
Stephen Woodward
commented
Both Dow and Whirlpool are requesting the OPC UA Server. Whirlpool would like to expose data from PI to Ignition via OPC UA. Dow uses OPC UA as a common integration protocol to their business systems. Happy to schedule a meeting with product development and the customer to discuss further.
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Clay Kalter
commented
The US Midwest sales region has several customer users requesting, including one of the world largest chemical company and worlds largest heavy equipment maker.
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Anonymous
commented
In response to Raymond Verhoeff, "We have started work on an OPC UA server..."
Inductive Automation has a UA Client that would utilize this : OPC-UA Connections and Settings - Ignition User Manual 7.9 - Ignition Documentation
This link has the connection information you may need for testing with there demo. -
Nebojsa
commented
Please you have to include security.To have the ability to set access rights to OPC clients, not everyone should be able just to use a client an access the OPC.
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marcogiunti
commented
The main requirements is that the OPC UA does not require a specific requirement, it is an industrial protocol that finally bring all OPC functionalities in an unique framework and platform independent, also represented with an international standard - IEC62541. Many business applications leverage on the real time data, the most recent is the IoT and the OPC UA server capabilities make them easily accessible for instance...
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marcogiunti
commented
Fully agree! the PI must be able to work with the OPC UA server specifications;
in order to meet the cyber security requirements as well. -
Anonymous
commented
In response to Raymond Verhoeff, "We have started work on an OPC UA server..."
Ideally, would want to use Pi as BOTH an OPC / UA client and server.
From a client perspective, the Pi OPC / UA connector could be used to either poll OPC / UA based comm mgmt. servers (like Kepware) or subscribe to published events via OPC / UA from comm managers capable of that or eventually edge based PLCs, etc. that can act as OPC / UA servers.
From a server perspective, once data is collected into PI Server, would like to be able to stream it (via OPC / UA over MQTT or AMZP) up to an IoTHub in Azure for more advanced analytics. It looks like this piece may be doable in the upcoming version of the Pi Integrator for Azure. -
Nebojsa
commented
Hello,
Any update on the subject? It is 2018!!! -
Michael Tippett
commented
In response to Ray's comment asking for OPC UA Clients. One use case I have heard from customers is to expose PI data via OPC UA to Siemens SINCAL.