Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) enables the platform-independent, interoperable, and cross-vendor collaboration of production machines and makes communication between machines and systems possible — both in closed networks and via internet. For the first time, this company has incorporated OPC UA into IO-Link masters and is now introducing the ICE 2 (EtherNet/IP) and ICE3 (Profinet) master series in addition to the ICE1 masters that are used for PLC-based systems and time-critical applications. Both new IO-Link master series come with an OPC UA interface and a realtime fieldbus protocol, making them an ideal solution for cloud-based applications that are less time-sensitive. — Pepperl+Fuchs AG, Mannheim, Germany