Well, I honestly don't know how one get away from OPC these days or maybe we are talking about very different usage.
I would say OPC DA through DCOM is a completely mess and should NEVER be used in production environment. OPC DA between controllers are also to be avoided (maybe that's what you are saying). the problem is OPC DA runs on Windows and Windows only. UA is supposed to fix all that, in fact, Microsoft is supporting UA to run IOT devices and UA might also replace protocol like Ethernet/IP.
However, OPC as the com driver between controller and HMI or historian is about standard as it comes.
There are quite a few UA compliant OPC out there now. All Kepware OPC are supposed to be UA out of the box and Redlion's Edge controller also can convert something like hundred of protocol to UA.