OPC Foundation’s 2026 North America IOP Workshop heads to Calgary
Interoperability testing meets OT security in Calgary
The OPC Foundation announced that its 2026 Interoperability (IOP) Workshop – North America will take place in Calgary, Canada, giving companies across the region a hands-on opportunity to validate, refine, and strengthen their OPC UA implementations in a highly collaborative setting.
The workshop is hosted by Fortinet, underscoring how central OT security has become in modern industrial architectures, and how closely it aligns with OPC UA’s mission.
In 2026, the OPC Foundation is also welcoming O-PAS™ product developers to participate and test their solutions alongside the broader OPC UA ecosystem, supporting stronger interoperability across industrial automation environments.
IOP Workshops are widely regarded as the key practical venue for preparing OPC UA products for market readiness. Vendors can test and debug client/server interoperability, compliance, and reliability directly against other member implementations, while networking with peers and engaging with industry experts.
Participants should plan to troubleshoot issues as they arise and be ready to update software components during the event.
From the technical side, the Calgary workshop will provide infrastructure and support for testing, including Global Discovery Service (GDS) certificate distribution, ECC security algorithms, PubSub (Part 14), and OPC UA FX specifications, along with network and tooling support such as the OPC Compliance Test Tool (CTT).
“Having participated in many IOP Workshops over the years, I can say with full confidence that these events are truly invaluable,” said Alexander Allmendinger, Administrative Director and Secretary at the OPC Foundation. “There’s simply no substitute for getting hands-on with other vendors, testing real implementations, uncovering edge cases, and improving specifications together. If you’re developing anything around OPC UA or O-PAS™, I can only recommend joining.”
The OPC Interoperability Workshops are open to OPC Foundation member companies only and space is limited. Registration is available via the OPC Foundation event page.