OPC

The Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) Foundation is an industry consortium that creates and maintains standards for open connectivity of industrial automation devices and systems. The OPC specifies the communication of industrial process data, alarms and events, historical data and data between sensors, instruments, controllers, software systems, and notification devices.
The OPC Foundation started in 1994, as a task force comprising five industrial automation vendors, with the purpose of creating a basic OLE for Process Control specification. OLE is a technology developed by Microsoft Corporation for the MS Windows operating system. The task force released the OPC standard in August 1996. The OPC Foundation was chartered to continue development of interoperability specifications and includes manufacturers and users of devices, instruments, controllers, software and enterprise systems.