XiTOCO ExpressInterface (OPC Xi) Wrapper Server

The XiTOCO ExpressInterface (OPC Xi) server wraps to classic OPC DA, OPC HDA and OPC AE servers. Only a simple configuration is required to specify the OPC servers to be wrapped.

The XiTOCO ExpressInterface (OPC Xi) server wraps to classic OPC DA, HDA and AE servers. Only a simple configuration is required to specify the OPC servers to be wrapped.
Xi client applications can get current data, historical data and events from classic OPC server through a single Xi server.

OPC Xi is designed to provide new .NET client applications a simple .NET interface for easy access to OPC DA (Data Access), OPC HDA (Historical Data), OPC A&E (Alarms & Events), and to proprietary Alarm and Event historians.

To minimize DCOM issues the XiTOCO server should be installed on the same as the OPC DA/HDA/AE servers. The Xi clients can access the Xi server from remote location using communication settings with the appropriate security levels.

XiTOCO Security
The OPC Xi specification was designed with communication security as a main consideration. Management and data read/write operations are handled through different endpoints, which can be separately configured with appropriate communication settings. Xi management methods associate handles with object identifiers and the read/write data methods only communicate handles with the data. This makes data hard to interpret by an eavesdropper even if it's communicated without encryption.
The XiTOCO converter requires the management endpoint to be configured for secure communication. This ensures good security without reducing the data exchange performance.

XiTOCO Versions
The XiTOCO converter server is available in versions with different functionality:

• a low cost version that handles only one DA server
• versions for any combination of OPC DA, HDA, AE servers
• a full featured version supporting OPC DA, HDA and AE servers

XiTOCO as a Tunneler Solution
XiTOCO used in combination with the DAtoXi Converter DA Server converts OPC DA to OPC Xi and back to OPC DA. Remote OPC DA servers can be accessed through an OPC Xi connection.

The OPC Xi communication has significant advantages over Tunneler products: The communication can be configured to a security level appropriate for the application TCP or HTTP communication can be choosen. TCP communication offers high performance but requires firewall configuration. HTTP communication on standard ports works without configuration efforts. The standardized OPC Xi communication interface is used instead of a proprietary Tunneler interface. Either side converter can easily be replaced with any OPC Xi client respectively server.