# OPC UA

Open Platform Communications - Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a modern communication protocol developed by the OPC Foundation to provide a platform-independent, secure, open-architecture solution for industrial devices and systems. The In-Sight vision system acts as the OPC UA Server and can communicate directly with an OPC UA client, eliminating the need for additional hardware.

For more information on the In-Sight OPC Classic Server, refer to the In-Sight® OPC Classic Server Help file.

The OPC UA client can access the following data from In-Sight vision system:

- Cell values
- Active job name
- Online status (including Native Online)

In addition to retrieving data, the In-Sight OPC UA Server allows OPC UA clients to:

- Load a job
- Toggle Online mode

Note: It is the responsibility of the custom application designer to limit access to the exposed tags of the server, such as writing a new job file, writing a cell value or toggling the Online/Offline state of a vision system.

In addition, you can configure the OPC client to monitor changes to values for AddressSpace nodes (or "monitored items"). Instead of constantly polling for these value changes, you can create subscriptions for nodes to monitor these items. When there is a change, the subscription generates and transfers a notification to the OPC UA client. The number of supported sessions, clients and nodes for monitored items depend on the vision system.