There was some scratching of heads when ExxonMobil teamed with The Open Group last year, announcing the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) with the goal of establishing a new standard for process control. After all, OPC, the Open Process Control standards body had been touting its Unified Architecture (OPC UA) as the interoperability standard for industrial automation for some years. Moreover OPC UA targets specific use cases in the Exxon initiative including the internet of things and PLC systems across industries including oil and gas.
Spotting an opportunity, OPC has produced a position paper, ‘OPC Unified Architecture: The Interoperability Standard for Industrial Automation,’ arguing that OPC UA ticks all the boxes in the OPAF spec. OPC argues that oil and chemical companies are already developing standard object models that plug directly into the OPC UA architecture.
Moreover ‘these companies have formed a community of end-users and suppliers closely working together under the umbrella of standards organizations.’ To further its case, the OPC Foundation has joined The OpenGroup to ‘actively participate’ in OPAF.
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