Houston, Tex.— The OPC Foundation announced Sept. 11 at ISA 2001 that it and several partners are developing the OPC data exchange (DX) standard for Ethernet. ControlNet International, Fieldbus Foundation, Open DeviceNet Vendor Association, and Profibus International have agreed to support the OPC working group that will produce the DX specification.

"Automation market developments have resulted in multiple communication protocols that do not communicate," says Dave Bauman, technology leader, corporate engineering, Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati, O.). "Automation systems that we have been designing and developing over the last several years require the exchange of data between and among systems using different protocols. With the OPC Foundation expanding its scope to develop a standard for exchanging data between Ethernet-based communication protocols, users will be provided with a simple solution to real-world needs."

OPC DX standard will provide interoperable data exchange and server-to-server communications across Ethernet networks. OPC DX is an extension of the existing APC data access specification, which provides interchange of HMI and controller data, and is backed by a majority of today's leading automation suppliers. The standard extends this data sharing exchange during run time, independent of the real-time application protocol being used. Tom Burke, president of the OPC Foundation, explained that reaching an agreement with the leading fieldbus organizations to extend OPC data across access specification was crucial.