Frequently asked questions
This page collects the questions that recur during procurement and do not belong under any single product page: what deployment requires, what it costs, who maintains it and what happens when something goes wrong. Product-specific questions are on the page for each feature.
Short answer
DataPortia™ is installed on the plant's own Windows or Linux server, connects to the existing automation system as an OPC UA client without any changes to that system, and the licence is determined by the number of concurrent connections. The trial runs for 30 days with no commitment.
Is DataPortia suitable for us?
The only real requirement is an OPC UA server in the automation system and credentials that grant read access to it. The industry does not matter; the size of the plant does: the licence tier is determined by the number of concurrent OPC UA connections. Below are the four most common questions about suitability.
What does DataPortia do, and what does it not do?
It collects process data from the automation system, stores it as a time series and produces reports, dashboards, trends and alarm analyses from it. It does not control the process: the interface to the automation system is read-only, so DataPortia does not replace control room software and does not act as a control system.
What if the automation system has no OPC UA server?
Then one has to be enabled or licensed first — in most modern systems it is present but has not been activated. It is worth asking your automation supplier. The old OPC Classic (DA/HDA) will not do as such: an OPC UA server or a wrapper is needed in between, and that is a project of its own.
How many measurement points can the system handle?
The limiting factor is throughput, not the number of points. DataPortia takes in over 2 000 values per second, roughly 172 million rows per day. How many points that covers depends on the sampling rate: far more points fit when they are read rarely than when they are read at a high rate.
Will DataPortia work with our automation system?
Yes, if it has an OPC UA server. In practice that covers systems from Siemens, ABB, Valmet, Beckhoff, Schneider Electric, Honeywell and Rockwell Automation, and any other system that follows the standard. These are compatibility statements, not partnerships.
What does deployment require?
A server, a network connection to the automation system's OPC UA server, and a decision on which measurement points are collected and which reports are produced from them. No changes are made to the automation system and nothing is installed there. Deployment proceeds in three stages, described on the page Try it for 30 days.
Do changes have to be made to the automation system?
No. DataPortia connects to the existing server as an OPC UA client and reads from it. The PLC program is not touched and no software is installed on the automation side. A change is needed only if a signal you want — a piece counter, for instance — is missing from the automation system altogether.
What kind of server is needed?
At least 8 GB of memory and 100 GB of SSD storage; the practical recommendation is 16–32 GB of memory. The operating system can be Windows 10 or 11, Windows Server 2016 or newer, or Linux (Debian, Ubuntu). A virtual machine is fine. See Technical specifications.
Can historical measurements be brought along?
Yes, if the OPC UA server has its historical archive enabled. The history import reads the past period from there and skips the parts already imported, so the same period can be run again without duplicates. Without a historical archive, collection starts from the moment of installation.
How long does deployment take?
That depends on the scope, and it is not worth giving a single figure in advance. The first connection and the first report typically come together within the same day; working through the full point list, the calculation points and the report templates is a different size of job at a small heating plant than at a factory with several process areas. Describe your environment and I will estimate it.
What does it cost?
The price scales with the number of concurrent OPC UA connections. There are seven tiers, and prices start at a perpetual licence of 4 000 €. The number of users, measurement points or reports is not counted. Tier-by-tier prices are in the price list, which I send on request.
What add-ons are there and what do they cost?
AI analysis is a separate perpetual licence of 499 €. Redundancy, that is high availability, requires its own HA add-on licence of 1 000 €, which covers the whole server pair. SMS alerts are In development and cannot be ordered. Everything else is included in the base licence. See Pricing and licensing.
What is included in the 30-day trial?
Every feature with one exception: the HA add-on is never included in the trial period, so redundancy cannot be switched on in the trial version. The trial commits you to nothing, and it is installed in your own environment against your real automation system.
Can the licence be bought from a reseller?
Yes. PCS-Engineering Oy acts as a reseller. The same software and the same licence tiers are also available directly from Atorcom. If the purchasing channel matters because of a framework agreement, mention it when you get in touch.
What do I need to know about security?
DataPortia is on-premises software: data acquisition, the database, reporting and AI analysis all run on the plant's own server, and process data does not leave the network. The interface to the automation system is read-only, so a leaked key exposes measurement data but grants no access to process control.
Does the server need an internet connection?
No. AI analysis does not require one either: the language model runs on the same server through Ollama, so questions and data never go out. An internet connection is needed only if you want to fetch updates over the network.
How do users authenticate?
With local accounts or with Azure AD / Microsoft Entra ID, in which case permissions are managed from the organisation's own directory. All traffic runs over HTTPS with certificates handled automatically.
Can DataPortia write to the automation system?
No. It does not write values to the OPC UA server, does not acknowledge alarms and does not change settings. Setpoints and acknowledgements still travel by the automation system's own route. The restriction is a deliberate safety choice.
Who maintains it, and what then?
The software sits on the customer's own server, so maintaining that server is the plant's own work, in the same way as for any other internal system. Delivery of the software, deployment and support come from Atorcom. Support is available in Finnish and English.
Which languages is the user interface available in?
Finnish, English, Swedish and German. The language is chosen per user, and the choice affects neither the licence nor the price.
Do I need to know PostgreSQL myself?
Not for a standard installation. The database is part of the installation, and TimescaleDB is a PostgreSQL extension, so what you have is an ordinary PostgreSQL database maintained with familiar tools. A redundant database pair, on the other hand, is work that does call for PostgreSQL expertise — that is gone through separately.
What happens if the plant grows?
The licence tier is changed to the next one up. The software is not reinstalled and the collected data is not moved anywhere. This is routine when a new process area or a second automation system is connected to the plant.
Can redundancy be added later?
Yes. In practice that means another server, design work at the database level and an HA add-on licence. Tell me about the plan sooner rather than later, so that the first installation does not make it needlessly awkward.
A question that is not here?
Send it in. I answer myself, so the answer comes without intermediaries, and if the question recurs it ends up on this page. If your procurement calls for a written statement or for a list of questions to be worked through, put the list together and send it in one go — I will answer it in writing.