Director of Technical Marketing

Industrial automation and industrial internet of things (IIoT) manufacturer Opto 22 has named Josh Eastburn as Director of Technical Marketing. In this position, Eastburn will lead the creation of useful and engaging customer content, discover and highlight Opto 22 customer applications, and work closely with industrial automation media outlets.

Josh Eastburn

“This new position builds on my interest in people as well as my experience as an automation engineer,” says Eastburn. “I’m looking forward to working more directly with customers, finding out their concerns and helping them use Opto 22’s products—especially the new line of groov EPIC® edge programmable industrial controllers and I/O—to solve their automation and IIoT challenges."

Eastburn comes to the new position after 12 years in process automation, DCS/PLC integration, HMI/logic design, engineering team leadership, and project management, most recently at Genentech. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Spanish from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, (CA USA).

#PAuto @opto22

Hands on training!

This complete functional system lets engineers and developers train, experiment and even develop proof of concept projects right on the workbench

The groov EPIC® Learning Center has been announced by Opto 22. This is a comprehensive hardware and software benchtop system for learning and development. The fully operational package lets engineers, technicians, and developers initialize, configure and program the control, visualization and communication aspects of their groov EPIC systems. The Learning Center is an ideal companion for Opto 22’s free online self-guided groov EPIC learning modules, and it includes two seats for premium on-site training at company headquarters in Temecula, California.

Hardware in the Learning Center includes a groov EPIC processor, power supply, four-position chassis, DC input and output modules, a temperature input module and an analog input module. Hardware is assembled on a desktop operator load panel accessorized with two illuminated pushbuttons, a potentiometer, a temperature probe, a Sonalert alarm and a red/blue/green LED indicator. All of this is delivered in a robust Pelican™ case, and it even comes with a screwdriver for releasing and tightening terminal connectors.

The groov EPIC processor pre-loaded with software packages enabling a wide range of functionality. groov Manage — to configure, commission and troubleshoot the processor PAC Control Engine —a real-time control engine to run flowchart-based control programs CODESYS Runtime Engine —a real-time control engine to run IEC-61131-3 compatible control programs groov View —to build and view mobile and browser-based operator interfaces Ignition Edge® —from Inductive Automation®, provides drivers to PLCs MQTT with Sparkplug —a secure, bi-directional, lightweight publish/subscribe protocol Node-RED —an open-source, multi-platform IIoT tool to connect databases, cloud apps and APIs SSH —Secure Shell access to download and run your custom application written in languages like Python, C/C++ and others Free software packages to perform development and testing available to download. PAC Control —a flowchart-based industrial automation programming tool PAC Display —to build HMI operator interfaces for Microsoft® Windows®-based computers CODESYS Development System —a software platform for factory automation, providing IEC-61131-3 support Opto 22 Library Package for CODESYS —a library package to add to the CODESYS Development System

The groov EPIC processor is supplied pre-loaded with software packages enabling a wide range of functionality (see box).

Whether taking advantage of free self-guided OptoU Online Training learning modules or experimenting on their own, engineers will benefit from the practical hands-on experience gained with the Learning Center. Some initial steps include organizing access levels, establishing network connectivity, calibrating the integrated touchscreen and using groov Manage to configure I/O.

Comprehensive control programs can be developed and executed using PAC Control or any IEC 61131-3 compliant language, including ladder logic. Simple examples are provided, and engineers can build and create their own applications as desired. Even more advanced custom programs are possible using the optional SSH access to the Linux operating system. Rich HMI displays with graphics and trends can be developed using groov View and viewed using the integrated display, mobile devices and web browsers.

Communications are easily set up using Ignition Edge Gateway for connecting to legacy PLCs. The Learning Center is an ideal environment for exploring the collecting and publishing of tag information to cloud services with MQTT and Sparkplug, as well as obtaining other cloud data like database and weather information through Node-RED.

Engineers can create Proof of Concept projects, like confirming how to install hardware on a machine, using the integrated touchscreen display as an HMI, connecting an external monitor, and establishing remote connectivity to a computer or mobile device. The Learning Center is thus perfectly suited for supporting pilot project development.

The Learning Center is an essential and complete way for engineers and developers to fully understand the many ways that groov EPIC can improve their automated operations and connectivity. Based on Opto 22’s 45 years of experience as an automation manufacturer, the Learning Center is not just a product sample, but instead delivers the same actual field-proven hardware and full-featured software used all over the world to automate and communicate with various machines and processes.

Bridging the gap between industrial infrastructure and the digital world!

Opto 22 has been accepted into the IBM® Watson IoT™ Partner Ecosystem. This partnership provides developers with a full stack toolset for building applications that connect real-world signals and data from industrial “things” to the digital world of information technology, mobile, and cloud computing.

Tapping A $6 Trillion (€5.7 trillion) Opportunity
A Business Insider report forecasts there will be $4.8 trillion (€4.5 trillion) in aggregate IoT investment between 2016 and 2021. Billions of sensors, machines, and devices already exist in industrial infrastructure but are currently unable to connect to the Internet of things and cloud-based applications, like the IBM Watson IoT Platform.

This legacy equipment holds valuable untapped data that is needed to improve business processes and decisions in almost every enterprise and every industry. The partnership between IBM and Opto 22 enables developers to rapidly design, prototype, and deploy applications to connect existing industrial assets to the IBM Watson IoT platform and share their data, capabilities, and resources with other connected systems and assets, to build the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Building IIoT applications has historically been complex, requiring multiple layers of expensive middleware and significant developer manpower. IIoT applications built from the ground up can take months or even years, and require expertise in both the operations technology (OT) domain, where industrial assets live, and the information technology (IT) domain, where digital and cloud computing assets exist. These long development cycles increase cost, slow time to market, and increase risk of IIoT project failure for customers. Together these problems delay and reduce the return on investment for implementing IIoT applications.

Streamlining and Simplifying IIoT Application Development
Through this new partnership between IBM and Opto 22, developers and systems integrators have a concise toolset for connecting the OT and IT domains. The partnership combines over 40 years of OT domain expertise and innovation from Opto 22 with over 100 years of IT domain expertise and innovation from IBM. Combining open technologies like RESTful APIs and Node-RED with powerful and proven computing platforms like the IBM Watson IoT platform decreases development time, eliminates the need for expensive middleware, reduces risk for customers, and gets solutions to market faster.

According to Evans Data Corporation, 79% of Internet of Things app developers spend at least 25% of their time on developing analytics tools.The Watson IoT Platform reduces the need to focus on developing analytics systems and provides everything needed to harness the full potential of the Internet of Things. Rather than reinventing the wheel, developers can tap into the already built toolset provided by the IBM Watson IoT Platform.

Developers can connect, set up, and manage edge processing devices like programmable automation controllers from Opto 22 and apply real-time analytics, cognitive services, and blockchain technology to the data generated by these devices. Cognitive APIs deliver natural-language processing, machine-learning capabilities, text analytics, and image analytics to help developers realize the potential of the cognitive era with the IBM Watson IoT Platform.

An Open Industrial Platform
Connecting existing industrial assets to IT systems requires translating the electrical signals (voltage and current) in the physical world to the bits and bytes of the digital world. Opto 22, respected worldwide for its 42-year history of product quality and innovation, manufactures the I/O and controllers that translate signals at the network edge from industrial assets into the language cloud computing systems like the Watson IoT Platform understand.

With a rich history in industrial automation, process control, building automation, industrial refrigeration, remote monitoring, and data acquisition applications, Opto 22 products provide robust industrial automation protocol support, including Modbus/TCP, EtherNet/IP and OPC UA. These industrial products also communicate and support well-known Internet technologies to support IIoT applications.

Where edge computing, decision making, autonomous control, data collection, and logic solving need to occur, Opto 22 products fuse together a rugged industrial control platform with open technologies like a built-in HTTP/HTTPS server, RESTful API, and Node-RED nodes to easily collect data from the edge and move it into the IBM Watson IoT Platform.

“The industrial automation and control industry is in transition right now,” says Benson Hougland, Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy. “A product development strategy based on proprietary and closed technologies is outdated. The future of industrial automation and process control lies in the rising API and data economies made possible through open standards-based technologies. Our objective in partnering with IBM is to enable IIoT developers to build their applications faster using well-known and proven Internet tools and technology like Node-RED, RESTful APIs, and the IBM Watson IoT Platform.”

Designed on open standards and built for harsh industrial environments, Opto 22’s SNAP PAC System integrates hardware and software to simplify the typically complex process of understanding, selecting, and applying an automation system. The SNAP PAC System consists of these integrated components:

SNAP I/O™—analog, digital, and serial I/O modules for wiring directly to field devices, machines, and sensors. Wide variety of signal types; 1 to 32 I/O points per module; most I/O modules are guaranteed for life. SNAP PAC brains—intelligent I/O processors for distributed control on Ethernet and serial networks SNAP PAC controllers—standalone or rack-mounted industrial controllers with networking options and a RESTful API, or a software-based controller PAC Project™ Software Suite—easy-to-use flowchart-based control programming, HMI (human-machine interface) development and runtime, plus optional OPC server, database connectivity software, and software-based controller for PC-based control groov—an easy-to-use tool for building and using custom mobile operator interfaces and system dashboards to monitor and control systems and equipment from any web-enabled device

Getting Started With Opto 22 and IBM Watson IoT

Opto 22 has provided a recipe for developers to get started in connecting industrial systems to the Watson IoT Platform, as well as a video walking developers through the steps. Developers can access a trial version of the Watson IoT Platform on the IBM website.

@opto22 #PAuto @IBMIoT #IoT

New graphics capabilities and OEM customization for HMI system.

New image library, gadgets, and screen options in groov 3.1 help engineers and OEMs build custom mobile smartphone and tablet interfaces for their automation systems and IoT applications.

Opto 22 has announced groov 3.1, an update to its mobile operator interface system that adds integrated image management, new image uses, and new on-screen and project options so users can create a unique operator interface that’s customized for the application. groov connects machines, equipment, and control systems with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

With groov 3.1, industrial automation engineers, system integrators, and machine OEMs can create highly customized operator interfaces that meet their needs, including data-rich dashboards for IoT (Internet of Things) applications.

New Graphics Capabilities
Graphics features added in groov 3.1 include a new Image Indicator gadget that uses multiple images to indicate states or ranges of values. For example, four different images of a stack light could indicate a machine status of running, stopped, paused, or needing attention. Likewise, different images could indicate various tank fill levels. Another new feature is applying images to button gadgets, typically used for on/off or start/stop controls, while new page navigation links let you create custom navigation controls anywhere on the groov page.

A new Image Library in groov 3.1 manages all the graphics used in a groov project for easy uploading, accessing, and handling. When a graphic is imported into a groov project, it is added to the Image Library. During interface development, the same image can be used throughout your project, saving time and disk space. When the image is updated or changed in the library, all instances of the image throughout the project are updated as well.

These new graphics features result in a significantly more visually appealing and functional mobile interface, along with a greater degree of customization than ever before.

Customize Your Application
For OEMs, machine builders, and anyone who needs to customize an operator interface with a specific logo and color scheme, groov 3.1 project options let you change default menu and caption bar colors, freeze the menu bar, and replace the default “groov” logo at the top of the screen with your own graphic.

Additional improvements in groov 3.1 include new options to precisely adjust text size, color, style, font, and background color in gadgets; to size gadgets like LEDs smaller to achieve greater detail and density; and to select and change properties of multiple gadgets simultaneously. A new tag overview screen shows all tags in use and the events for each tag. Also, groov systems that connect to Modbus/TCP devices can now access individual bits within Modbus registers.

@opto22 #PAuto #HMI

Growing team of hardware and software engineers has new leader

Opto 22 has promoted Engineering Manager Ken Johnson to company Vice President of Engineering. In his new post, long-time employee Johnson will expand his current leadership of the company’s Engineering group with an increased role in corporate strategic planning.

During his two-year leadership of the Engineering group, Johnson managed a growing team of electrical engineers and software developers in planning and building Opto 22 I/O and control products, including the recent groov, which simplifies mobile interface development and use for industrial automation.

Johnson says bringing groov to market was his biggest accomplishment in that time. Opto 22 CEO and President Mark Engman agrees, saying “groov was a challenging product in terms of hardware and software development. Getting the groov Box hardware appliance out the door, followed shortly by groov Server for Windows software, was a technical and management challenge that Ken really stepped up to.”

Johnson has been with Opto 22 since 1994, serving briefly as Network Manager and then as Senior Project Engineer until becoming Engineering Manager in 2011. Johnson holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego.

"Operator interface that just works, Mate!"

New option to run groov® mobile HMI on a PC or server is ideal for IT professionals and OEM machine builders.


groov Server for Windows™ is a software-based version of Opto22 groov product for building, deploying, and viewing simple, effective, and scalable operator interfaces to monitor and control systems and equipment using computers and mobile devices. groov Server for Windows runs on enterprise PCs or servers, and is intended for settings where the IT Department won't add hardware to the network, but will add software served from a Windows PC. Since groov Server for Windows runs on a PC, it also reduces costs for OEM machine builders who incorporate a PC in their product and need to add mobility options for their HMIs.

Browser-based Benefits

Using only a modern web browser, groov securely lets industrial automation end-users, system integrators, machine OEMs, building managers, technicians, or any authorized person quickly build and deploy browser-based interfaces for automation, monitoring, and control applications. Although groov is served from a Windows PC, any computer with a modern web browser can be used to build interfaces. These operator interfaces can then be viewed on almost any computer or mobile device regardless of its manufacturer or operating system, including PCs, tablets, smartphones, and even smart high-definition televisions. groov is intended to augment traditional human-machine interfaces (HMIs) by making important information available at any time and in any location.
groov offers a simple yet flexible environment for developing operator interfaces with zero programming, and requires no per-seat runtime or viewing licenses. Overcoming the biggest challenge in developing for multiple screen sizes and mobile HMIs, groov automatically and gracefully scales all screens, page objects, and gadgets, allowing groov HMIs to be viewed and manipulated from virtually any device of any screen size.

groov works with modern web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Opera running on operating systems including iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. groov benefits from the capabilities of these browsers by using the latest web standards like HTML5, CSS3, and SVG. And while many competing technologies depend on additional software or browser plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight, or Java to work, groov simplifies deployment by requiring no additional software or plug-ins.

Networking and Interface Development
groov Server for Windows runs on a PC or server that you control. All network communication between a web browser and groov uses an encrypted secure sockets layer (SSL) over an HTTPS connection. groov does not respond to any other communication methods on any other ports.
groov connects to Opto 22 SNAP PAC automation systems and OptoEMU energy monitoring products over a wired Ethernet network or wireless LAN. Opto 22 recommends using a separate network interface card (NIC) to segment your control systems. Support for the OPC-UA protocol is planned in 2013 and will allow groov to communicate with systems from other manufacturers that offer an OPC-UA server.

The simple and flexible development environment, groov Build, dramatically reduces the time needed to build interfaces when compared to traditional HMI screen-building tools. groov Build includes a library of scalable, touchscreen-ready gadgets: gauges, buttons, range indicators, text entry, sliders, and trends. Images and real-time video from network IP cameras—also fully scalable—can also be added. Designed to support HMI best practices, groov Build includes the tools necessary to build high-performance, intelligible information and control screens like those defined by the High Performance HMI Handbook (Hollifield et al.) and the ASM (Abnormal Situation Management) Consortium Guideline, Effective Operator Display Design.

groov Server for Windows Components and System Requirements
groov Server for Windows includes groov Build and groov View. Also available are the optional mobile apps groov View for iOS and groov View for Android.
To build operator interfaces with groov Server for Windows requires:
A SNAP PAC S-series, SNAP PAC R-series, or SoftPAC controller with firmware R9.2a or newer, running a control strategy developed in Opto 22’s PAC Control.
Any computer with a modern web browser. This can be the same computer where groov Server for Windows is installed, or a separate computer.
To install and run groov Server for Windows requires:
A PC on the same network as your SNAP PAC controller, with one of the following Microsoft operating systems:
- Windows 7 Professional (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows 8 Professional (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2012
A minimum of 300 MB available disk space is required to install groov Server for Windows. You may need additional disk space to create projects.

But it works on many platforms. "It just works, Mate!" We think you'll like this video, not only for the information but also just listening to that antipodean accent!