Why Choose OAS and the OAS Platform?
Experience and Philosophy
Thousands of customers worldwide trust Open Automation Software. Over the last 28 years we have been at the forefront of HMI, SCADA, and IoT technology. OAS delivers the solutions and products they need.
Open Automation Software was founded on the premise that user interfaces and database archiving software should be open, should reach beyond the control room, should be easy to implement and be cost-effective. OAS focuses on delivering customers data with the highest accuracy possible in a reliable and secure transport. With our experience in deploying high volume systems we have learned the benefit of automated deployment through our programmatic interface. We believe developers should be able to use the most popular tools for Windows and Web interfaces and access all live, historical, and configuration data directly. With that in mind, OAS products have been created to empower everyone in the industrial automation and IoT space by liberating your data and not locking you into any one vendor.
Open Architecture
OAS blends together the best features of an off-the-shelf software product and a custom developed solution providing complete control with the benefit of a mature product that is market tested for more than 15 years. Structured platform for rapid development with support for fully customizable solutions. Data is not locked in a propriety format, but instead openly accessible to third party reporting systems, .NET applications, web interfaces, open standards like OPC UA and MQTT, even remote Microsoft Excel workbooks.
Read more about the Power of an Open Architecture.
Open Real Time Data Access
Programmatically share and access data from any .NET application or from our REST API. All data is processed from data source to destination delivery every data sample, not just the latest value. This provides verification that data resolution is maintained up to 100 nanoseconds for every reading received.
Open Historical Data Format
All data and alarms are logged in an open format easy to query to obtain data directly from the database engine. No proprietary dlls are required to access data and alarms. Read more about the OAS Platform Data Historian for high speed data logging to open formats.
Open System Configuration
All configuration information can be accessed locally and remotely for programmatic interface through the free to use OASConfig component which is demonstrated in the Example code installed with the software. Read more about the OAS SDK for programmatic configuration.
Open HMI Development
OAS utilizes both Visual Studio and open platform development environments to create operator interface and communication applications. You are not forced to learn a proprietary development system. OAS is fully customizable and supports White Labeling for OEMs and systems integrators to deploy as their own product.
Create operator interface applications and HMIs that are platform independent with OAS and the power of Open Visualizations for:
- Smartphones and Tablets (iPhone, Android, HTC)
- Windows, Mac OS, Linux
- Any desktop and web browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.)
- Smart client deployment – both WPF and WinForm apps
Accuracy
OAS implements First-In-First-Out processing with all data received to deliver to the final destination with 100 nanosecond resolution. By delivery all values not just the latest value learning engines and data models will have the highest accuracy possible while operations will have all of the data and exact history to make the best analysis possible. By processing and transporting all values no alarm is missed for out of tolerance conditions and all live and historical trend spikes are accessible for viewing.
Performance
Open Automation Software processes data with high efficiency and speed to maintain data accuracy and reliability. OAS can run on multiple platforms with large scalability, from 100,000 tags on Raspberry Pi 4 up to 1,000,000 tags on Windows or Linux server. Deployed as an edge in a Distributed Network Architecture OAS can pre-process all incoming data and deliver to the final destination for unlimited number of tags to unlimited clients.
To emphasize the scalable performance of OAS the following video demonstrates 100,000 tags running on a Raspberry Pi 4 with all tag values changing each second and then logged to a SQL Server database.
Decentralized Networking
Deployed as a Service Oriented Architecture on Windows and Linux data is secure and reliable with a resolution to 100 nanoseconds and no latency. Services can be deployed in many ways, combining central data aggregation with the power of Edge Computing. Data can be self hosted directly from the source providing confidence in the quality and accuracy. All data packets are compressed and encrypted providing a light network transport with verification of delivery from server to client. The same data can also be pushed to third party cloud systems to implement fog computing. Read more about the OAS Platform Networking Features.
Support
The OAS Support team is unparalleled. We have technical support available by phone, chat and email 24/7 365 days a year. Our technical support is provided by the people that actually write the software so you are guaranteed to get a knowledgeable answer. In fact, it is not uncommon for more than one representative to answer your question via email.
Agility
The Open Automation Software team is always looking for new ways to improve our product. We want our software to do what our customer’s want and need it to do! OAS is constantly adding new and enhanced product features per our customer’s requests. If you have an idea for improving the software, we want to hear about it: Request a Product Feature.
Cost Reduction
The initial cost of OAS is far less than our competitors – but the savings don’t stop there. We work with OEMS and System Integrators to provide perpetual licenses with quantity discounts with flexible tag pricing and unlimited client connections. Easily and quickly develop world class manufacturing execution systems using OAS and Visual Studio, or utilize any web application platform for web and mobile solutions. As a self-hosted edge solution you will not have to pay for data usage that other third party cloud systems charge.
Unlimited Connections
OAS Platform licensing is designed to be both flexible and cost-effective. With OAS you can not only develop your automation solution with no coding required, but you can create unlimited connections with drivers and deploy unlimited numbers of clients to each licensed server.
Automated Setup and Deployment
All configuration information for OAS is programmatically accessible through .NET or REST API with the Programmatic Server Configuration making setup of systems 100% accurate eliminating the possibility of human error that proprietary systems that are subject to. You can utilize data from a database of assets, Microsoft Excel file, or application to automate the setup of all data sources and configurations. OAS also provides no code automation through One Click Allen Bradley, One Click OPC DA, One Click OPC UA, One Click Database, and CSV import. Dynamic User Interfaces can also be developed to automatically adjust based on the data source making it easy for OEMs to deliver systems to their customers that meet their specific requirements without having to recompile or make modifications to the deployed systems. This not only insures accurate system deployment, but also eliminates development and setup time.
Security
All networking is implemented over TCP with Binary packets. All packets are compressed and encrypted for a light weight, fast, and secure network transport.
The Internet can be used to share data to any smartphone, iPad, web browser, or Windows desktop application. Don’t have a dedicated Internet server? No worries. Utilize the free Live Data Cloud feature.
Read more about the OAS Platform Networking Features.
OAS Security features are included in every aspect of the Platform to:
- Protect configuration information
- Restrict access to real-time data
- Limit which set points can be written by operators
- Restrict access to historical data
- Limit which alarms can be acknowledged
- Protect all aspects of the OAS real-time engine
Reliability
Deployed as an edge solution OAS provides the maximum up-time with Failover Redundancy for data sources, networks, visualization, and databases. By processing data on-premise OAS can maintain and hold data during temporary failures and implement store and forward with no data loss for data logging, alarm logging, alarm processing, and live trend data. In this design you are not dependent on network connectivity to retain all data.
Store and Forward support for:
Flexibility
With many features to choose from you only need to purchase what is relevant to your project. Connect to a variety of data sources such as Allen Bradley and Siemens controllers, Modbus devices, OPC and OPC UA Servers, OPC Clients, MTConnect, MQTT, Databases, Excel, Web and .NET applications, cloud-based services like AWS, Google IoT Core, and Azure, and remote APIs. Read more about OAS Connectors:
- Device and Data Connectors for connectivity to database engines, PLCs, and other devices
- IoT Connectors for sharing data with cloud-based services