A System Monitor is now contained in the OPC DataHub from Cogent Real-Time Systems, that allows users to monitor system parameters such as free disk space, CPU usage, available memory and whether critical processes are still running. This information can be shared across a network or the Internet in real-time and is integrated with all other data collected by the OPC DataHub.

President of Cogent Real-Time Systems, Andrew Thomas, said: "The OPC DataHub's System Monitor provides an easy way to access and distribute mission-critical information". "For example, you can track CPU load and free memory of vital systems in your plant and send email or text messages when performance levels drop too low. Or you can monitor important programs and use a DataHub script to automatically restart them if they terminate unexpectedly."

The System Monitor uses the standard Windows performance data facility to monitor all system paramters. Users can choose which parameters they want to monitor. Just like points from any other data source, system data is stored in the DataHub as point data values.

The benefits of the System Monitor are multiplied by the wide range of features in the OPC DataHub, such as a built-in web server, data logging, and secure networking capabilities. These allow users to collect system data from multiple networked computers and display it in a real-time web display, or to log performance data to a company database for further analysis.

OPC is the leading protocol for data communications between industrial hardware devices and Windows software. The OPC DataHub is a memory-resident real-time middleware application that collects data from OPC servers and other sources, and redistributes it to any number of clients, such as ODBC databases, Excel, and web browsers. The OPC DataHub, now, with a built-in System Monitor, can provide real-time monitoring services for the critical systems that it runs on.