The International Society of Automation and The Open Group agree to a liaison Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate in advancing and harmonizing the development of a multivendor, interoperable, secure control architecture for application across the process industries. Activities will include sharing of best practices, document review and joint forums.
The Open Group is an industry consortium of more than 625 companies and organizations that develops open, vendor-neutral technology standards, and certifications. The new liaison agreement pertains specifically to The Open Group Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF), which is focused on developing a standards-based, open, secure, interoperable process control architecture.
ISA, a member association of approximately 40,000 automation professionals worldwide, is best known for developing American National Standards in an open consensus process accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The Geneva-based International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has adopted many of ISA’s American National Standards as international standards.
Key ISA/IEC standards on cybersecurity and enterprise-control integration are primary motivating factors in the agreement, according to Dennis Brandl, who is co-chair of the OPAF Standards Working Group and chair of the OPAF Technology Architecture Subcommittee.
“The widely used ISA/IEC enterprise-control system integration standards (ISA-95) and ISA/IEC 62443 standards (ISA-99) for the security of automation and control systems are key elements of the OPAF specifications,” says Brandl. “In addition, elements from ISA/IEC standards on alarm management (ISA-18), process safety (ISA-84), and batch process control (ISA-88) are being considered for inclusion as part of the OPAF specifications. We look forward to both groups working together to provide the best solutions and best practices that the industrial community needs in the new world of smart manufacturing.”
For more information, visit: www.isa.org
