Get great resources and tips from experienced Opto 22 product users—and help other users with your insights.

You’ll see the OptoForums mentioned here on the blog from time to time, and that's for good reason. The Forums have valuable technical advice, sample code, product feature discussions, and firmware release previews that you can't get anywhere else.

The OptoForums community just surpassed 10,000 members! A sincere thank you to all our valuable contributors. And if you're not already a member, now is the time to sign up or sign in with your MyOpto account. You can find the direct link under the Community tab on our website.

Beyond data transactions, understanding the relationship between clients and servers plays a significant role in cybersecurity.

What makes a device fill the role of a server or client? And, more importantly, how can you use that information to strengthen your network security and mitigate insecurities?

The best place to start with this topic is to loosely define what makes software act as a server or as a client. But throughout this blog, keep in mind that the two are not mutually exclusive—some devices can be both a server and a client. When playing the role of a server the key trait is that the server device is always listening.

Watch how easy it is to securely connect real-world, OT data to Ignition Cloud Edition.

Good news! Our friends at Inductive Automation recently made all the presentations from the 2023 Ignition Community Conference available for public viewing. 

If you weren't able to join us last September in Folsom, California, then now's your chance to see one of the most attended sessions of the conference. 

In a fast-paced 35-minute demo, Opto 22's VP of Product Strategy, Benson Hougland, walks you through how to use groov EPIC, Ignition Edge, and Ignition Cloud Edition to quickly create scalable, high-performance, cybersecure architectures for democratizing your OT system’s data: Elevate your OT Data Securely to the Cloud.

Visit Opto 22's Events page to see where you can find Opto engineers demonstrating groov products in 2024.

We're already a month into the new year and our calendar of events is filling up quickly. Opto 22 engineers, sales and marketing staff will be in attendance at various trade shows, conferences and participating in virtual webinars throughout the year.

Take a look at what's available online or in your area and plan to join us at one or more of these industry events. You'll have several opportunities to see live demos of groov EPIC and groov RIO.

Here's what's on the schedule so far.

See how Zendal overcame multiple challenges of cybersecurity, incompatible equipment, lockdown, logistics, and remote teams.

During the year 2020, dozens of companies worldwide worked to develop vaccines for the pandemic-causing virus COVID-19. Biofabri, a subsidiary of Spanish international biopharmaceutical group Zendal, became responsible for industrial production of the antigen vaccine for most of Europe.

Their task was daunting. Somehow they would have to construct and automate a new fill-and-finish facility during a worldwide pandemic, in a country with one of the strictest lockdowns. Logistics were soon in chaos, with even basic supplies unavailable. Zendal had a variety of older equipment in place with incompatible controllers and individual HMIs. They also had no control over the make or model of PLCs that package suppliers would provide with new equipment. 

And towering over all other problems were issues of cybersecurity. 

Opto 22 headquarters welcomed a new group of groov EPIC students to kick off 2024 training.

The value of in-person, instructor-led training at the Opto 22 factory and headquarters is evident after working with another great class of Opto students this week—all eager to become groov EPIC experts. And kudos, once again, to the team of Opto trainers who devote their time to developing a class curriculum that is beneficial for all levels of engineering and types of applications.

This month, students made the trip to California from Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Massachusetts, and parts of central California to attend and spend 4 days immersed in the groov EPIC system—learning all its features, capabilities, and programming options.

If you haven't attended training yet, we hope you can join us at one of our upcoming classes.

These website tools make it easy to design your automation systems and choose the parts you need.

Hey Opto crew! Today, I want to walk you through something pretty cool and super useful – our System Configurators at Opto 22. These tools are all about making your life easier when it comes to picking the right automation gear. No fluff, just the good stuff, including all the specs for the parts you'll need, and you can access them all from the Products section of our website.

New features and improved performance are available on groov I/O modules with the click of a button.

A well-known electric car company is somewhat famous for its ability to add features and fix bugs with over-the-air updates to millions of cars. Of course, they are not the only ones with this feature. Many companies have been updating their hardware with firmware updates for decades, but it really captures the imagination when the hardware is something you drive.

Closer to our hearts and minds, Opto 22 has been adding features and squishing bugs on our controllers for more years than most of us can recall (it's our 50th year in 2024!). There are a few SNAP I/O modules that can have their firmware updated via our PAC Manager program—the serial data ones for example—but now with groov EPIC and RIO, ALL our modules can have new features and refined performance added at the click of a button.

Did you watch all of the 10 most popular videos on the Opto 22 YouTube channel in 2023?

If you're one of the over 27,000 subscribers who follow the OptoVideo channel on YouTube, you have first access to all the new video content we produce. Whether it's a new Node-RED developer video, product overview, or a technical how-to workshop, you get it all.

So what topics proved most useful (and popular) with our viewers last year? Let's review Opto 22's Top 10 Videos of 2023.

Sending Season's Greetings and keeping you informed of our year-end holiday schedule.

Did you get in on the holiday fun earlier this month and get your groov EPIC holiday ornament? There's still time to watch Opto 22's holiday video and see how you can score your own mini 3D EPIC.

It's been a treat to hear how everyone is utilizing all the features the groov EPIC system has to offer. 

The Opto 22 team would once again like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season, as well as keep you informed of this month's holiday schedule.