By 2021, according to Gartner, 25 billion devices will be “connected” generating hyperscale of data and offering organizations a multitude of insights to optimize operations, cut costs and improve decision-making. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) bonds devices with applications and services and, in doing so, offers industrial manufacturers and enterprises the opportunities for value creation.
On one hand, manufacturers want to evolve from moving rapidly commoditizing boxes to offering cross-business models – selling bundled hardware/software solutions and services. On the other hand, enterprises are eager to improve their efficiency – increasing productivity, reducing the cost of operation and increasing profitability. Sounds like a win-win for everyone! To achieve the objectives, they would like to leverage the intelligence gathering from devices and sensors, and to turn it into value-add services and new revenue streams. It means combining IT (Information technology) and OT (Operations technology) industries.
To guide organizations in their design of IIoT deployments, and to help simplify the process of converging IT and OT, Vixtera has developed this brief with the idea of connecting, managing and visualizing the building blocks needed for IIoT-driven services while illustrating key points for data handoffs. It highlights which, when and how platforms, systems or processes need to be addressed and makes it easier to see what and where IT and OT expertise comes into play.
Three functional tiers that participate in a flow of governing data
There are three stages of collecting, processing and analyzing information. IIoT combines the work of both hardware (sensors and devices) and software (apps and programs) sides. They use different signals and types of data, that’s why it should be converted. This is a more detailed explanation of every stage:
- At the top of the stack is the Applications Tier containing business applications and services
- The Applications Tier is fed by the Data & Analytics Tier which prepares data for the use by pre-defined business processes
- The Data & Analytics Tier is, in turn, receiving data from the Edge & Connectivity Tier where data, generated by devices in the field, is collected and analyzed before is being delivered to the Data & Analytics Tier
The generated data needs to be stored and processed to create the results. Some data is processed at the edge in relatively intelligent devices, thereby minimizing what is communicated for central processing, while other data is simply shipped to the cloud for analysis.
The data management extends across all three tiers and includes workflow handling, visualization, orchestration and data analytics. In addition, an application usually needs to be developed or provided to make specific use of created data.
End2end services
The Edge & Connectivity Tier, along with the data-integration part of the Data & Analytics Tier, embodies the core of Industrial IoT. This is where information is collected from devices and processed for further analysis and displaying to managers.
The equipment manufacturers and industrial enterprises often overlook the complexity of developing and deploying the IIoT-driven solutions having limited domain expertise and resources to get it off the ground, and then to successful roll-out and operation. Repeatedly, these solutions are hastily designed to meet the immediate needs and aren’t well-equipped with tools and components for integration with other platforms, systems and clouds.
While early PoCs and limited deployments beginning to scale, their shortcomings will repeatedly lead to lengthy implementation and costly operational breakouts. So, it compels enterprises to seek out solutions that help them to accelerate the deployment and to improve their operational efficiency.
Vixtera out-of-the-box solution consists of easily deployable and customizable distributed software (ViEdge) with essential components providing industrial enterprises with:
- a robust device, event and data management
- automated mass installations and upgrades
- ability to host it anywhere with a Single Pane of Glass dashboard
It includes a ground-breaking tool for instant failure detection promptly identifying its root cause and a chain of associated events that’s leading to a problem helping to prevent potential problems and improve the cost of operation.
The ViEdge extends the benefits of multifaceted data curation turning collected and filtered data into intelligent data pipes of aggregated and contextualized information tagged to a service or application of your choice while delivering fully-automated handoff to the Data & Analytics Tier for the quick action and decision making.
Collecting data from the field and using it to drive new, service-oriented businesses, requires a well-structured flow of information and integrated processes. There are very few IIoT ecosystems alike and their deployments are very much relying on the number of complex technologies that, to be successful, must be architected to be scalable, agile and rapidly integrated. Enterprises must take a holistic view of the IIoT and, in doing so, should have a good grasp of the IIoT ecosystem and its main tiers that allow collection, analyzes, processing and acting on data, providing a powerful experience for maximizing operational efficiency and enabling new value-added services. This is what Vixtera is ready to help you with.
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