OptoBlog

Janice Colmer

Janice has worked at Opto 22 for nearly 20 years and is part of the marketing team that strives to share new and relevant content with the automation industry. She enjoys books, camping, country music, and spending time with family and friends.
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Recent Posts

Missed ICC 2025? Conference videos are now available on demand

Posted by Janice Colmer on Jan 21, 2026 8:47:48 AM

Here's your chance to experience the 2025 Ignition Community Conference on your schedule.

The wait is over! You no longer need a registration pass to learn about the Ignition projects showcased in the 2025 Ignition Community Conference. Inductive Automation announced that all conference sessions, keynotes, panels, and the Build-a-Thon are now streaming on demand.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about Ignition software, see what it can do for your applications, and watch Opto 22's session on machine monitoring featuring our case study with MTNA. Oh, and watch the world-famous competitive SCADA event: The ICC Build-a-Thon!

If you did attend ICC 2025 in Sacramento this last September, here's your chance to revisit standout moments, catch up on sessions you missed, or dive deeper into the latest ideas shaping the Ignition ecosystem. You can access expert insights, real-world use cases, and technical deep dives—on your own schedule.

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Topics: Case studies, groov EPIC, Ignition, Ignition Community Conference, machine monitoring

Meet Opto and Inductive at the ARC Forum in Orlando, FL

Posted by Janice Colmer on Jan 21, 2026 8:18:56 AM

Are you attending the annual ARC Industry Forum, February 9-12th? Dan White and representatives from Inductive Automation will be on site to demo the latest.

This year's ARC Industry Forum explores AI with contributions from several industrial automation experts, keynote speakers, and exhibitors from across industries. And Opto 22 and Inductive Automation will be exhibiting all week.

Get more event details, register to attend, and see where you'll find us.

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Topics: Events & conferences, ARC Forum, Inductive Automation, AI

How to build smaller, smarter, cost-effective control systems

Posted by Janice Colmer on Jan 14, 2026 6:41:25 AM

New case study shows you a simple way to digitally transform manual, disconnected underground systems into smart systems with full-scale, remote visibility.

Do you work on industrial applications in hazardous environments, where one failure can lead to immediate and severe consequences?

OptoPartner Surety Automation has decades of experience in mining and process industries, and is no stranger to handling the challenges that come with these types of projects.

Read about their latest application success story, with a major gold producer in northern Nevada.

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Topics: Case studies, CODESYS, Ignition, groov RIO

Your Top 5 from OptoBlog 2025

Posted by Janice Colmer on Jan 14, 2026 6:40:56 AM

Revisit the posts readers found most valuable on the OptoBlog in 2025.

Ready for another look back at highlights from 2025? Here's a chance to review the OptoBlog posts that resonated most with our readers this past year.

New ways to use Ignition software, staying current on firmware updates, strengthening cybersecurity practices, and picking up practical tech tips along the way: these articles reflect the challenges and priorities that OptoBlog subscribers are focused on.

Whether you’re revisiting a favorite or discovering it for the first time, here are the top five OptoBlog posts of 2025 that informed and guided this community.

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Topics: groov EPIC, cybersecurity, OpenVPN, Ignition, groov RIO

Opto 22's Top 10 Videos of 2025

Posted by Janice Colmer on Jan 7, 2026 7:35:10 AM

Find out what over 30,000 subscribers have been watching this past year on OptoVideo—Opto 22's YouTube channel.

For the past several years, automation professionals, programmers, engineers, and technicians have turned to OptoVideo—Opto 22's YouTube channel—for practical insights and hands-on guidance. With over 30,000 subscribers and 3 million views, our community continues to grow, and your engagement drives everything we create.

As 2025 comes to a close, we're reflecting on another year and seeing what you (our viewers) consider to be valuable content. From deep dives into Node-RED development and groov EPIC edge controllers, to coverage of major industry events like ProveIt! 2025 and the Ignition Community Conference, our team has been busy capturing the innovations and solutions that matter most to you.

So what videos resonated most with YouTube viewers this year? Check out the Top 10 Videos of 2025 playlist.

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Topics: Videos, Node-RED, groov EPIC, groov RIO, Unified Namespace, machine monitoring

From the OptoFamily to yours: Happy Holidays & our 2025 year-end schedule

Posted by Janice Colmer on Dec 15, 2025 11:18:53 AM

Sending Season's Greetings and keeping you informed of the 2025 holiday schedule.

As another memorable year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to pause and reflect on what truly makes Opto 22 special—and that's YOU. To our customers, integrators, partners, and distributors around the world: THANK YOU.

Whether you've been partnering with us for decades or joined our community more recently, your trust in our products and your commitment to solving real-world automation challenges continues to inspire everything we do.

To celebrate, we invite you to watch our holiday greeting video, check our holiday schedule, and most importantly, enjoy this special time of year. 

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Topics: holiday hours, holiday schedule

What's possible with groov RIO + CODESYS in Oil & Gas?

Posted by Janice Colmer on Dec 10, 2025 10:00:20 AM

Watch the Fall 2025 CODESYS Tech Talk for a high-level overview of how CODESYS programming is used in today's industrial automation applications.

Are you challenged to select the programming tool that best suits your application? We get it, and that's why you have programming options to choose from in groov EPIC and groov RIO products.

One of the many options is the CODESYS Development System, which lets you use all the standard tools and IEC 61131-3 programming methods, like ladder logic or sequential function charts. 

Opto 22 Director of Technical Marketing, Dan White, recently presented a customer application in the oil and gas industry that explains how CODESYS with groov RIO transformed a controls system. Watch the Fall 2025 CODESYS Tech Talk for the full story.

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Topics: Case studies, Webinars, Oil & gas, CODESYS, groov RIO

Case Study: How an OEM took back their control systems

Posted by Janice Colmer on Dec 3, 2025 8:43:26 AM

Learn from PermaCool's experience of scaling custom chillers with smarter automation and remote diagnostics.

Are you dealing with the challenges that come with a third-party or outsourced controls system?

What happens when you need to troubleshoot or make a repair, but you don't have access to the controls?

PermaCool, a busy OEM in the plant extraction industry, encountered a bottleneck when its outsourced components couldn't keep pace. Read this new case study to see how they overcame the limitations they faced and were able to push the boundaries of what they could accomplish.

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Topics: Case studies, OEM, groov EPIC

DigiKey now a national distributor for Opto 22

Posted by Janice Colmer on Dec 3, 2025 8:40:34 AM

Now you have a new source for all Opto 22 products, from solid-state relays to the latest groov edge devices.

Looking for a stocking distributor for all your industrial controls? DigiKey, one of the world's largest distributors of electronic components, is now serving as a national distributor for Opto 22 products across the United States.

If you're an engineer, system integrator, or business looking for reliable industrial I/O, controllers, and edge computing solutions, read on to see how this partnership gives you easier access to Opto 22 products.

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Topics: SSRs, groov EPIC, snap pac, groov RIO, OptoChannel

Secure, Simple, Scalable: Modern Dashboards with Opto 22 and Grafana

Posted by Janice Colmer on Nov 26, 2025 9:31:49 AM

Register to attend next week's webinar—see how Opto 22 controllers and I/O publish data directly to Grafana dashboards.

Curious how to use Grafana dashboards for visualizing and monitoring your data?

Join webinar hosts Rene Gamero and Grant Chase to see how easy it can be to get secure, real-time insights from your industrial systems.

Register to attend this informative webinar on December 3, 2025.

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Topics: Webinars, groov EPIC, data visualization, Grafana

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