We launched new versions of our flagship CommServer software family products dedicated to manage communication between applications, which combine the smart data transfer and systems integration functionality.

Updates are included in the following products: CommServer, OPC Viewer, DataPorter, OPC UA Address Space Model Designer, CommServer UA, OPC UA Viewer.

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The main changes and new functionalities are listed below:

• CommServer UA works in the 64-bit environment and supports Windows Vista, 7 and Server 2008
• Certificates support provides higher level of security.
• Synchronization with OPC Foundation SDK 1.01.326.0
• User interface has been improved

Download the latest version of CommServer UA 1.00.30 and see online help

Address Space Model Designer is a user-friendly tool supporting all aspects of the model designing process.

The Standard edition has the following advantages:

• Easy addition and deletion of nodes from the model structure
• Definition of nodes relationship and types
• Modes filtering
• Helpful search and find utility
• Type declaration
• Generating source code for C# OPC Foundation SDK and
• more...

The Professional edition contains all features of the Standard edition and also many new features such as:

• Model view 2D/3D visualization
• Browse view 2D visualization
• Export model documentation to .DOCX and .MAML
• Import of the OPC DA server address space
• Editors (plug-ins) of custom OPC UA server configuration files
• Process data binding with model nodes without programming
• Custom editors
• Custom built tool

Download the latest version of OPC UA Address Space Model Designer 3.00.00 and see online help

• Improved licensing management.
• Some minor bug fixes and improvements.
   

Download the latest version of OPC UA Viewer 1.00.10 and see online help

The main changes are listed below:

• Some improvements to the user interface.
• Improved licensing management.
• Improved support for Windows Vista, 7 and 2008.
• New location (based on ALLUSERSPROFILE) of configuration and log files (see product manual for details).
• New version of OPC Viewer 3.10.00 is included.
• Support of x64 operating systems (DataPorter works as 32-bit application on x64 OS).
• Small bugfixes and improvements.
   

Download the latest version of DataPorter 2.00.10 and see online help

The main changes are listed below:

• CommServer report contains more information in a better, user-friendly format.
• Communication using UDP and TCP is improved.
• Error in Modbus protocol while channel is suddenly disconnected is resolved.
• Network Configuration tool user interface is improved (e.g. new navigation tools).
• Some issues related to "Clean configuration", "Save As" and current configuration file management in Network Configuration tool are fixed.
• Improved licensing management.
• Improved support for Windows Vista, 7 and 2008.
• New location (based on ALLUSERSPROFILE) of configuration and log files (see product manual for details).
• New version of OPC Viewer 3.10.00 is included.
• Small bugfixes and improvements.

Download the latest version of New CommServer 4.00.20 and see online help

The main changes are listed below:

• Some improvements to the user interface.
• Improved licensing management.
• Improved support for Windows Vista, 7 and 2008.
• New location (based on ALLUSERSPROFILE) of configuration and log files (see product manual for details).
• Some issues during installation / uninstallation are fixed.
• Small bugfixes and improvements.

Download the latest version of OPC Viewer 3.10.00 and see online help

Inspired by the Smart grid, more and more heating companies choose to start work on intelligent heating networks that are to improve the heating system operation.

Aspects of the district heating networks development are presented in the published documents: white paper and case study. They are prepared basing on the experience and exchange of opinions at the stage of preparation of the feasibility study of the Smart Heat Distribution Network (SHDS) for Warsaw central heating system. The case study concerns the proposal of innovative solutions in technology, communications, computing and automation, which can significantly affect an improvement in heating systems operation.

Download: Case study “Implementation of intelligence in district heating systems baisng on Smart Heat Distribution Network feasibility study for Warsaw central heating system”

Download: White paper “Smart Heat Distribution Network for Warsaw central heating system”

We are proud to announce, that CommServer UA, a product by CAS is the winner in the “Wireless communication” category. Our software has been praised by experienced experts in the field of industrial automation.

CommServer UA is one of the first OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) server throughout the world. It allows you to minimize implementation costs of highly distributed automation systems, due to the open architecture of the Process Observer.

An important second place in the “HMI, SCADA systems, visualization” category won our product - OPC UA Viewer. Our software allows for easy configuration of OPC UA communication using secure communications and different communication protocols. OPC UA Viewer can be integrated with other programs, such as GIS, ERP, BI, SCADA and HMI, becoming for them a new source of data.

You can find more information (in Polish) on Control Engineering Poland website.

We offer hardware and software vendors an opportunity to integrate their products with CommServer software family.Thanks to the offered functionality without having to incur expenditure on research and development projects you can deliver a product with strong competitive edge on the OPC and OPC UA market.

More about principles and the idea of the OEM Partnership Program can be found at www.commsvr.com.

We are proud to announce that we have just successfully accomplished the technical/economic feasibility study on Smart Heat Distribution Network (SHDS) for Warsaw central heating system.

The Warsaw central heating system consists of hot water circulating network, about 1700km long, including 16000 nodes and supplied from 4 thermo-power plants with total output power of 4,5GW. In the feasibility study of the Smart Heat Distribution Network (SHDS) for Warsaw central heating system we propose high-tech solutions covering technology, communication, IT and process control with the aim of significantly improving heat transportation efficiency, reducing losses (power dissipation, water leakage, etc.) and finally ensuring the high possible quality and reliability of heat supply to customers in accordance with their expectations. The proposed architecture bases on the open connectivity standards and, as a result, it provides a framework for the integration of highly distributed “islands of automation” with top level applications employing the artificial intelligence idea for optimal control of the heat transportation process. Provided documentation contains hundreds of pages with analyses, diagrams, tables and descriptions intended to propose a consistent vision of the enterprise development and seamless integration of the SHDS with the enterprise management IT systems.

Change management and security concerns have increased as human-machine interfaces have become more open and expose process data and metadata. Security precautions need to provide selective availability to control functions. Standards such as OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) can help off-the-shelf products be flexible and reusable, even in demanding applications.

Read the article from Control Engineering Magazine (November 2010) written by Mariusz Postol (Technical University of Lodz, Poland and CAS company) and Krzysztof Pietrusewicz (West Pomeranian University of Technology).

CAS has contributed to this paper sharing our experience foused on using OPC UA to improve security and build smart HMI.

In this version of CommServer problem with x64 operating systems is fixed (CommServer works as 32-bit application on x64 OS).

Download latest version of CommServer 4.00.04

Nurnberg, Germany, Nov. 23 – 25, 2010

Together with other OPC Foundation members, CAS will exhibit at the OPC Foundation booth and present products and solutions based on the OPC technology, especially focusing on the new emerging Unified Architecture standard. Of course, you will find also the CommServer products including breaking features of the Address Space Model Designer.

Over 1360 exhibitors present their most innovative products and services. SPS/IPC/DRIVES Fair is dedicated to manufacturing process control technology.

See you in Nuremberg to discuss our new OEM and VAR programs.

You will find us in Hall 7 booth 190.

More information SPS/IPC/Drivers 2010 : http://www.mesago.de/en/SPS/home.htm

CommServer OPC UA Viewer is a free OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) client. It allows integrators, developers, testers and all other users to easily connect to any OPC UA server, read data from the server, browse model structure according to references and much more! OPC UA Viewer is an ideal solution for automatic testing of connection with the OPC UA server using different communication protocols and using many different data transition security modes.

FEATURES

• Ability to connect to many servers at the same time.
• Ability to connect to OPC UA server using either binary streams that use TCP channel or using Web Services and HTTP protocol.
• Support for many different data transfer security types, e.g. using encrypted or non-encrypted communication, certificates.
• Ability to automate testing of connecting to servers, that are working in the network.
• Browsing of the server address space structure according to different reference types.
• Filtering of particular reference types in the Browse view.
• Creating of the subscription to monitor the changes of values (support for different types of monitoring is available).
• Read and write of values from/to variables.
• Easy storing and loading of communication sessions.

Download OPC UA Viewer 1.00.00

The main changes are listed below:

• Graphical transaction configuration tool is improved
• New, extended help file is added
• Some improvements and bug fixes

Download the latest version of DataPorter 2.00.08

"OPC - From Data Access to Unified Architecture” - this book provides a solid foundation of knowledge for suppliers and end users alike to truly understand OPC from the beginning all the way through the OPC Unified Architecture. One of the book co-authors is Mariusz Postół , CEO of CAS and representative of the OPC Foundation Europe in Poland.

This OPC book can be purchased through Softing AG website.

This is bugfix release. The main changes are listed below:

• Saving data in the database is fixed
• Displaying graphic blocks in transactions configuration is fixed

Download the latest version of DataPorter 2.00.06

See online help (http://www.commsvr.com/OPC-Help/Index.aspx)

This is bugfix release. The main changes are listed below:

• Buffered queues are fixed
• Some log messages and desriptions of paramteres are improved or fixed

See online help (http://www.commsvr.com/DataPorter/Index.aspx)

Download the latest version of DataPorter™ 2.00.04

The OPC Foundation – an organization whose mission is to ensure interoperability in automation by creating and maintaining of the OPC and OPC Unified Architecture open communication standards, has set up an European subsidiary, the OPC Europe.

OPC Europe President is Stefan Hoppe from Beckhoff ,Vice President - Tino Hildebrand from Siemens.

“I am very pleased to have been selected to lead such a prestigious group of companies in the marketing effort for OPC UA technology throughout Europe.” said Stefan Hoppe.

Representative of the OPC Europe in Poland is Mariusz Postół - CEO of CAS.

"CAS entered the world of the OPC Unified Architecture new standard in 2008. My task as a representative of the OPC Europe in Poland is to ensure that Polish engineers do not miss the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the OPC Unified Architecture, as groundbreaking changes occur once every 20 years. I hope that CAS will not be the only Polish corporate member of the OPC Foundation soon." said Mariusz Postół

OPC and OPC Unified Architecture enable the transmission of process data, data about alarms and events, historical data to devices of different manufacturers.

For more information about OPC Europe, please visit the OPC Foundation website at www.opceurope.org

The editorial board of Control Engineering Poland magazine granted the “2009 Product of the Year” awards. We are proud to announce, that OPC UA Address Space Model Designer, a product by CAS is the winner in the “User interfaces” category.

OPC UA Address Space Model Designer software has been praised by experienced industrial automation experts for innovation, user-friendliness, ease of use and possibilities of practical application. You can find more information (in Polish) on Control Engineering Poland website.

Download the latest version of OPC UA Address Space Model Designer 2.10.10

See online help (http://www.commsvr.com/UAModelDesigner/Index.aspx )

We have added a new service to our offer, i.e. Designing of the OPC Unified Architecture Information Models. This service is dedicated to all companies (vendors or end users) that are going to design a model from scratch or adapt the existing one.

This service is provided in the 3 basic steps:

• Information model requirement definition – An analysis of the customers’ needs and necessary documentation.
• Designing of the OPC UA information model from scratch or adaptation of the existing one.
• Information model approval. – The created model can be immediately exposed using the CommServerUA (which is for free after the model designing service has been purchased).
   

More...

The main changes and new functionalities are listed below:

• Synchronization with OPC Foundation SDK 1.01.308.0
• Some minor bugfixes and improvements.

See online help (http://www.commsvr.com/UAModelDesigner/Index.aspx )

Download the latest version of OPC UA Address Space Model Designer 2.10.10

A new group of products from CommServer software family - dedicated OPC UA servers:

• OPC Server for M-Bus See more…

• OPC UA Server for SAIA See more...

• OPC UA Server for Modbus See more...

• OPC UA Server for Control See more...

• OPC UA Server for ... – check it by yourself at www.commsvr.com
  

More about OPC UA

We would like to invite you to read a white paper entitled: “Implementation of the OPC UA Information Model for Analyzers” written by Mariusz Postol (CAS), Voytek J. Janisz (ABB), Claude M Lafond (ABB) and Jim Luth (OPC Foundation) that has just been published by the OPC Foundation.

In this white paper selected aspects of the ADI model adaptation and implementation are discussed. The white paper is dedicated to supporting process architects and software developers in deployment of the ADI-aware solutions in a real production environment. Very general scope of the discussion makes the paper a case study that can be useful for the deployment of any kind of OPC UA product. The content of the article is a result of the experience gained by the authors during their work with the OPC Foundation ADI working group.

This paper is available without access restrictions from the OPC Foundation website.