Roadmap to adopting OPC UA

This paper highlights a roadmap, consisting of three alternative paths, to adopting OPC UA, a new generation OPC specification. The OPC UA specification aims to improve and extend the scope of OPC in system integration. It introduces SOA paradigm and platform independence into OPC world, enabling a wide variety of new applications. It also provides integration from an embedded device up into the ERP level. This paper details ways to adapt existing systems to utilize OPC UA in order to timely take advantage of the new possibilities. Novel key features and application possibilities offered by OPC UA are also discussed. At last a small sample OPC UA application is presented as a proof of concept.