Maintaining and upgrading industrial systems has never been more challenging or more expensive. As manufacturers and critical infrastructure operators juggle aging equipment, evolving standards, and modern software demands, the cost of keeping everything running smoothly can quickly spiral out of control.
The Hidden Costs of Maintaining Legacy Systems
Legacy OPC Classic systems (such as DA, HDA, and AE) are still widely used and often perform reliably. However, keeping them operational comes at a price:
- Outdated operating system versions and drivers are needed for integration
- Limited scalability and flexibility slow down innovation
- Security vulnerabilities require constant patching. Patches that are no longer available for out of support systems.
- High maintenance overhead eats into IT and engineering budgets
Even worse, upgrading these systems to modern OPC UA infrastructure typically requires full replacement: a time-consuming and costly process that often introduces downtime.
Our OPC UA Wrapper solves this problem by bridging legacy OPC Classic servers with modern OPC UA clients. It allows you to modernize communications and integration without ripping out your existing systems.
How does this save money?
Rather than paying for complete system upgrades or redeveloping your software stack, you simply “wrap” your OPC Classic systems and start communicating with them using the OPC UA standard.
This approach has several cost-saving advantages:
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Eliminate Costly System Replacements
Industrial equipment often has long lifespans, but their software environments age faster. With OPC UA Wrapper, you can continue using functioning OPC DA/HDA/AE servers while connecting them to new OPC UA-based applications.
- No need to buy new PLCs or SCADA systems
- Avoid expensive rewrites of custom applications
- Postpone or phase in hardware upgrades on your timeline
In essence, you modernize without the immediate capital expense.
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Reduce Maintenance Overhead
Managing legacy OPC environments typically requires specialized expertise, outdated toolsets, and careful isolation from modern IT systems. This leads to higher maintenance costs and more firefighting.
By using the OPC UA Wrapper to present these systems through a modern, standardized interface, you can:
- Minimize the need for legacy support staff
- Centralize diagnostics and logging through OPC UA clients
- Standardize your infrastructure, making troubleshooting and monitoring easier
The result is a decrease in unforeseen issues and reduced routine maintenance costs
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Streamline Upgrades and Integrations
Any time you want to add a new HMI (Human Machine Interface), analytics tool, or dashboard, integrating it with OPC Classic can be painful and costly. OPC UA, on the other hand, is designed for plug-and-play interoperability.
With the OPC UA Wrapper in place, you can:
- Add new OPC UA-based systems without custom connectors
- Upgrade individual components incrementally
- Quickly onboard new software platforms that only support OPC UA
By making legacy data accessible through OPC UA, you simplify every future upgrade and avoid costly custom development or third-party bridging tools like proprietary tunneling solutions.
CTA: Learn more about OPC UA Wrapper
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Enhance Security Without Extra Investment
Security concerns are often the tipping point for companies considering a system upgrade. OPC Classic doesn’t include security features, but the OPC UA Wrapper adds a secure layer on top.
That means:
- Encrypted communication and user authentication
- Secure remote access to legacy data
- Compatibility with firewalls and segmented network architectures
Instead of rebuilding everything to meet today’s industrial cybersecurity standards, you upgrade your security posture without replacing a single device.
This approach ensures a measurable return on investment, offering both immediate cost reductions and sustained financial benefits over time.
The OPC UA Wrapper doesn’t just help you avoid one-time upgrade costs. It also reduces long-term maintenance, integration, and support expenses.
Here’s how organizations are seeing ROI:
- Significantly reduce upgrade costs by extending the usable life of legacy systems avoiding costly rip-and-replace approaches
- Reduce routine maintenance effort by isolating the use of OPC Classic to a specific network zone
- Accelerate integration of new tools and systems by standardizing communication through OPC UA eliminating weeks of custom engineering work and configuration headaches.
You don’t have to choose between keeping old systems and modernizing your operations. The OPC UA Wrapper allows you to do both securely, cost-effectively, and without disruption.
With the OPC UA Wrapper, you can significantly reduce maintenance costs by minimizing manual support and simplifying the complexity of legacy systems. It enables you to save on upgrades by allowing phased modernization instead of a costly, full replacement.
At the same time, you improve security and streamline integration with minimal additional investment.
Modernization doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. Using the OPC UA Wrapper helps you protect your existing investments and manage your budget effectively, all while confidently moving your operations into the future.
