Hello from the OPC Foundation Technical Seminar at sunny Long Beach, CA.   I’m working.  Really.   I had meant to blog a little bit all day, but of course things always turn out to be busier than expected.   There was a great turn out of end users representing such industries as pharmaceutical, petrochemical, refining, steel manufacturing and many others.  There is also a good sampling of system integrators and OPC vendors.  The presentations covered the standard gambit of OPC Basics, OPC DA, HDA, A&E and OPC UA, OPC Certification and several talks focusing on OPC architectures and the problems they solve.   I’d say the presentation on OPC HDA was the most interesting, but since I gave it, I’m hardly an unbiased source.  :)   If you were one of the many readers who were there, feel free to leave a comment on which presentation you particularly liked.

Personally I enjoy the chance to talk with end users, and hear how they are using OPC.   No matter how many seminars or training courses I attend, I always hear of someone using OPC in a new way.   There where the usual queries on how to overcome cross-domain issues, guaranteed data delivery architectures and accessing OPC on non-Windows platforms, but also some new ones.   One user was looking for an OPC A&E client to notify management whenever one of the dozen emergency showers in their facility is activated.   When one of these things are used, it’s generally not a good scenario.  When working as a summer student at a chemical plant, I once had a 5 gallon bottle of fuming Sulfuric Acid explode in my hands.   Even when wearing safety goggles, air respirator and industrial work cloths, I was glad the emergency chemical shower was only steps away.  I survived.  My gloves didn’t.

Accidents can happen and OPC be used to monitor and notify users when they do.  Better yet, OPC is a key component in any preventative maintenance system, which can help to avoid accidents in the first place.   Speaking of accidents, I wonder if we will ever find out what really happened at FPL this week.  Anyone out there hear the real story?