I have heard alot about the OPC Training Institute, and I wanted to get a first hand view of the vendor-neutral training they are doing.

The intention of the training is to really help the end-user maximize their use of OPC.

I am working with them to put together a complete end-user training program for the OPC Unified Architecture.

I attended an OPC training session that was hosted by the OPC Training Institute (www.opcti.com) in Chicago, at the end of July.  I was impressed with this vendor-neutral approach to training.  Each person had their own computer that they used for their hands-on exercises.  The excitement in the room was evident by the questions the students asked.  The training was a total of 4 days and included both the Certified OPC Professional Level 1 and Level 2 courses.  Each course lasted 2 days.

DCOM configuration was at the center of the Level 1 course (the first 2 days of training).  Even the experts were frequently surprised at the difference between the way they saw products behave in their plants and the way they behave when DCOM is properly configured underneath.  They also picked up a lot of valuable OPC and DCOM troubleshooting tips and tricks.

Security is one of the most important issues for industrial communication and that's exactly the focus of the Level 2 course!  OPCTI showed students how to configure their firewall, set the right access control list permissions, eliminate unnecessary Windows services, and more.

Of course, since everyone was provided with a computer (a couple even brought their own), they were able to put their theory to practice immediately.  It was a lot of fun to see their ideas ignite periodically about how they could use their knowledge at the plant.  People also shared their own personal OPC stories, which added to the course effectiveness.

Overall, the instructor was able to keep everyone engaged and there was a high energy level in the room.  I think people took a lot of valuable and practical information about OPC from the course.  I am very excited to be working closer with the OPC Training Institute in the near future.