OPC UA stands for Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture. It is a standard used for industrial communication in Industry 4.0 that operates independently of the manufacturer and platform. It enables data and applications to be accessed on a vertical and horizontal level. Vertical means from machines or field devices through to the cloud, while horizontal means from machine to machine (M2M).
It does not matter which operating system, application, or programming language you are using: OPC UA operates independently as an open communication standard. Your advantage: Secure communication directly in the protocol without additional hardware. OPC UA integrates security mechanisms for the encryption, marking, and authentication. In short: OPC UA offers the best requirements for industrial networking and digitization.