Summary and relevant links

OPC Alarms and Events defines in addition to OPC Data Access another standard for superior alert management via process control systems. OPC A&E is used to guarantee the coupling with other control systems and to guarantee the display of alerts/events in a hierarchical system. Therefore, the OPC A&E server and client exist in WinCC OA:

WinCC OA OPC A&E server: WinCC OA provides alert data to superior third-party systems and accepts acknowledgements from these systems.

WinCC OA OPC A&E client: Sub systems return alert data in WinCC OA - the alert data is shown and processed centrally (the acknowledgements are passed to the sub systems).

As an example the WinCC OA OPC A&E server could be used in the highest layer of a hierarchical structure and could provide alert data to OPC A&E clients of other manufacturers or to the WinCC OA OPC A&E client. Vice versa the WinCC OA OPC A&E client can communicate with OPC A&E servers of other manufacturers.

OPC (OLE for Process Control) means the use of the OLE/COM and DCOM technology for control systems. The specifications needed for this purpose are defined by the OPC foundation.