WebOPC Announced as a Remote User Interface for Any OPC Server

As a way to allow manufacturers Web-enable access to their control system data from remote sites, Intuitive Technology Corp. announced the release of WebOPC as a general purpose OPC client for any OPC server. Combining the convenience of a Web browser with the widely available OPC standards for manufacturing Data Access, WebOPC de-couples the HMI from the sources of manufacturing data. Using Internet standards and Windows NT technology, WebOPC can provide secure data access to employees, while permitting the sharing of appropriate information with business partners, or even the public, anywhere in the world.

"WebOPC provides good performance even over dial-up lines. The result is a browser-based human-systems interface that can truly be remote from any system to any individual in the universe, without the need to install any special software on the remote device," says Dave Copeland, president of Intuitive Technology (Marlboro, MA), a supplier of Web-based and client/server products used in process manufacturing operations.

WebOPC provides dynamic, animated visualization of manufacturing data, without installing client software, and without modifying Windows system files. According to the company, TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is minimized, while both pictorial and graphical data representations are accessible from any and all Web browser equipped PCs on the Intranet.

"With the Plug 'n Play capability of OPC, we were able to quickly and easily interface WebOPC with Think & Do software,'' says Ken Spenser, president and CEO of Think & Do Software. "Many of our customers want to access their control system data from remote sites, and using WebOPC allows them to do that with just a Web browser. In fact, we believe so strongly in the value of Web-enabled data access, we are working with Intuitive Technology to bring WebOPC into the Think & Do AMIGOS program."

WebOPC works in cooperation with Web servers, most often Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS), and uses COM/DCOM to access data though OPC servers. WebOPC enables the display of both real-time and historical data, both as animated graphics and as time-based charts with integral pan-and-zoom.

The WebOPC Server Edition is available for 10, 25, and 50 users version, as well as an unrestricted version. For Web page developers, the WebOPC Designer Edition includes an Animation Editor, for the creation and maintenance of 2D, dynamically animated drawings, and the WebOPC Wizards, which facilitate the creation of Web pages with strip charts, bar charts and historical trends.