OPC Server Products & Technology DNP3 & IEC870OPC is heavily used within the process industries, it can be, and is, widely used in discrete manufacturing as
well. It specifies the communication of real-time plant data between control devices from different
manufacturers. OPC was designed to bridge Windows based software applications and process control
hardware. Standard defines consistent method of accessing field data from plant floor devices. This method
remains the same regardless of the type and source of data. OPC servers provide a method for many different
software packages to access data from a process control device, such as a PLC or DCS. Traditionally, any time
a package needed access to data from a device, a custom interface, or driver, had to be written. The purpose
of OPC is to define a common interface that is written once and then reused by any business, SCADA, HMI, or
custom software packages.