Foxboro’s new OPC server software boosts its I/A Series interoperability

Foxboro, Mass. – Foxboro , a unit of Invensys Process Systems , recently introduced its new Aim*OPC server software that expands the existing interoperability of its I/A Series control system. As part of the I/A Series Information Suite, the new software can access both real-time and historical data, and share it with any OPC-compliant application to help simplify the exchange of information across an enterprise.

‘With the introduction of the standards-based I/A Series system in 1987, Foxboro established itself as the leader in open and interoperable systems,’ says Brian Barry, Invensys’ Application Software marketing manager. ‘Today, many companies are standardizing on OPC as a way to easily share data across their organizations. Aim*OPC server enhances Foxboro’s existing OPC client functionality by allowing real-time and historical information to be seamlessly integrated into other OPC-compliant process control and business applications.’ Two versions of the OPC Server software are available: DA, for real-time data access, and HDA, for historical data access.

Aim*OPC DA server complies with the OPC data access specifications for the exchange of data between an OPC-compliant application and either the I/A Series system or Aim*Historian. It provides read and write access to real-time object data in the I/A Series control system via either UNIX or Windows NT-based workstations. A single OPC server can provide access to data from multiple I/A Series workstations.

Aim*OPC HDA server supports OPC standards for historical data access and processing interface, providing historical data access interfaces to the Aim*Historian. The main interface helps users retrieve item attributes (data type, instance, high/low range, etc.), aggregate data (average, standard, deviation, etc.), raw historical data and historian status, as well as browse the server for available OPC item IDs.

OPC is based on Microsoft’s OLE (now Active X), COM (component object model) and DCOM (distributed component object model) technologies. OPC consists of a standard set of interfaces, properties, and methods for use in process-control and manufacturing-automation applications.

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