Since OPC is used in many countries and across all industries I follow a slew of RSS feeds to keep tabs on things.   So often times when someone has a question on industry trends they’ll ask me if I’ve heard anything.   Just the other day one of our sales guys mentioned that there seemed to be a lot of interest in the OPC Server for DNP 3.0 and the OPC Server for IEC 60870, and was wondering what might be driving it.

I’ve posted on OPC and DNP before, but in a nutshell they are both open, standards-based protocols used in for telemetry SCADA architectures.  They are popular in the electrical industry, but are also used for water utilities, wastewater and sewage treatment.   There are a few news stories on these industries floating about:

• Critical Transmission Grid Expansion Plans Advance – DNP and IEC60870 are both used for monitoring electricity transmission infrastructure.
• Protecting The Nation’s Water Sector From Security Threats. – Security is always a popular topic when talking about infrastructure.
• State hopes to boost energy efficiency at water, sewage treatment plants – “if communities cut energy use at their plants, they could save big money on their electric bills and help the environment at the same time.”   In order to optimize anything, you first need to have the data.  OPC definitely helps with that.
• House panel advances bill to study, manage Idaho aquifers – Money to study, monitor and develop plans for future management of 10 aquifers scattered across the state.  The telemetry-based SCADA OPC servers where designed for exactly these types of architectures.

These all deal with projects that could make use of OPC and DNP 3.0 and/or IEC 60870.   Anyone else out there have any ideas why the interest?  Is there some recent or pending legislation that would have an impact on monitoring the utilities sector?