Softing is presenting version 7.7 of the Echocollect application gateway for direct connection to databases and OPC UA systems. This enables the use of symbolic designations from a STEP 7 project or a Siemens TIA Portal project (version 13 or 13 SP1) via the integrated datafeed exporter, so that manual configuration of the data points can be dispensed with. The exporter supports newer Siemens controllers, such as Simatic S7-1200 and -1500, but also older controller types such as Simatic S7-300 and -400. In addition, the integrated native Oracle driver offers redundancy, network load balancing and automatic switching from the active database to the backup database in the event of an error without data loss. The gateway enables the serial and Ethernet-based connection of controllers to databases and ERP applications, independently collects process and production data via various interfaces and transfers this directly to a higher-level management system - without interfering with the existing control systems.