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IIC and OPC will collaborate to promote the IIoT
Published:  25 February, 2019

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the OPC Foundation have agreed to work together to advance their shared interests. Under a deal signed in the US, they will collaborate to promote the digital economy by preventing fragmentation and harmonising various aspects of the industrial Internet.

Under the agreement, the IIC will supply the OPC Foundation with IIoT requirements such as problem statements or use cases related to IoT and similar markets. The OPC Foundation will adopt these when developing their specifications, and share use cases for the IIC to consider in its work.

The liaison was announced at a joint workshop held in the US on 14 February. “A formal relationship with the OPC Foundation is a natural fit for the IIC,” said IIC executive director, Dr Richard Soley. “The OPC Foundation OPC Unified Architecture standard is widely used in several of our IIC testbeds, which are generating feedback for standards organisations. We’re happy to formalise this relationship with the OPC Foundation.”

OPC Foundation president Stefan Hoppe said that “there are a lot of opportunities between IIC and Industrie 4.0. Consequently, a formal liaison between the OPC Foundation and the IIC is strategic for the OPC Foundation membership.”

IIC executive director Dr Richard Soley: a natural fit

“The OPC Foundation recognises the important value of the IIC and of a close cooperation between our organisations,” says Tom Burke, the OPC Foundation’s strategic marketing officer and former president. “The OPC Foundation members are actively engaged in a multitude of initiatives and testbeds at IIC, and this liaison between our organisations formalises our relationship.”