PI Interfaces are the first layer of a PI System infrastructure and provide a standard mechanism for collecting data for storage in a PI System. With over 30 years’ experience in collecting data from disparate data sources, and hundreds of interfaces to choose from, OSIsoft PI Interfaces are the foundation of a real-time data infrastructure.

The first challenge in establishing a real-time data infrastructure is to collect the data. The data sources may be disparate and originate from multiple vendors’ devices creating islands of data. These islands of data may include a blend of the latest standard protocols along with older or even retired devices. This data, while related, is not easily analyzed. These data sources may only provide a current value, or minimal historical information making it difficult to understand how your processes change over time.

PI Interfaces connect data sources to a PI System to enable real-time access to historical and current data. Over 400 different PI interfaces are supported connecting PI systems to disparate data sources. Some interfaces enable history recovery, some simply access the history stored in third-party historians. These data sources are seamlessly interwoven into the PI System, independent of source, protocol or vendor. Standard features of PI interfaces include buffering to multiple PI servers, intelligent data reduction (Exception Testing), single tag definition (tags configured on a PI server are synchronized to interface) as well as point by point security. Redundancy and auto point creation are also available on many interfaces.

Connect to over 400 data systems and sources out of the box, including: 

OSIsoft is an expert at creating Interfaces.  We can collect data from your particular system even if we don’t yet have an Interface for that system.  We have an experienced development team ready to build new Interfaces.

Click here for a list of the PI System Interface products.

For more information, check our Technical Support site.