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OPC servers can exist for anything that generates data, which include serial devices.
Therefore, the idea of OPC Genie technology is to standardize the way that information is
broken up within the protocols and convert it to OPC. So instead of contracting companies to
write custom OPC interfaces, Integrators can simply breakup their protocols using preprogrammed
Wizards. These Wizards enable Integrators to describe each proprietary protocol.
For example, a specific protocol may have a Header and a Body, but no footer. The second
byte of the Header may disclose how many items will be in the Body. The items in the body may each have a value, but no description. The protocol might require a request to activate the
device to send data, but no acknowledgement. Once the Integrator completes the
configuration wizard, the result is an OPC server that interfaces with a serial device – all done
without any programming. Since there is no custom source code to debug, Integrators can now
create their own OPC server, without programming, in a matter of hours where previously the
task would take weeks of custom development time.
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