The OPC standard brings plug-and-play connectivity to industrial automation. Before OPC, application vendors had to develop custom software for every third-party device and application that needed to be integrated into the automation system. With OPC, you get open connectivity across products, independent of your hardware or software platform. OPC defines the standard way for sharing real-time data, historical data, and alarms & events, reducing your integration and total life cycle costs for system implementations.
The Industrial Interoperability Standard™