MTConnect Companion Specification Release Candidate Available

The MTConnect Institute and the OPC Foundation have announced the availability of the MTConnect-OPC unified architecture (UA) companion specification release candidate (RC). The specification has been developed to create a uniform information model compatible with both the MTConnect and OPC UA standards. The model can be used by the manufacturing technology equipment, devices, software and other products that implement the standards.

MTConnect is an open, royalty-free communications standard for interoperability between manufacturing equipment and devices, while the OPC UA standard provides secure high-speed communications with a defined set of interfaces, methods, and an extensible set of objects for process control and manufacturing automation applications. The companion standard will provide a uniform information model that can be shared by both standards, and will be able to evolve without jeopardizing backward compatibility with previous versions.

The specification is the result of a 2010 memorandum of understanding signed by both institutions with the goal of extending manufacturing data exchange standards and implementation technologies. The MTConnect-OPC UA companion specification RC is available for download from the MTConnect Institute’s Companion Specifications page.

The MTConnect Institute, visit mtconnect.org.

The OPC Foundation, visit opcfoundation.org.