How to Extend IIoT from the Plant Floor to the Enterprise

“They needed a scalable IoT solution that would help reduce carbon across their fleet while  avoiding vendor lock in,” Visser said.

Wago’s IoT Box was deployed in conjunction with Cedalo Mosquitto MQTT technology to enable real-time data streaming from the drilling fleet  and Portainer for edge device management, allowing for  centralized monitoring and remote software updates for hundreds of devices across  multiple regions. The open architecture approach supported by the IoT Box, Cedalo and  Portainer ensured the collected data could be integrated into various enterprise platforms,  including the company’s ERP systems, databases and analytics tools.  

How Ethernet-APL is helping industry scale IIoT

As can be seen in the three examples noted above, manufacturers are clearly advancing  their use of IIoT connectivity for numerous practical use cases. However, several factors  continue to slow progress. 

For example, the complexity of integration, inadequate data foundations and the inability of  many vendors to support advanced scaling of connectivity. Bain & Company found that 80% of companies pursuing IIoT projects are scaling fewer than 60% of their pilot projects for those very reasons.

Security remains another significant hurdle. Scaling IIoT means bringing together critical  data, which raises concerns about hacking vulnerabilities and compliance risks. 

“As we consolidate data, we’re creating a single point for proprietary information about  how the plant operates. This can make it (plant operations technology) a bigger target,” noted Sean Vincent, director of technology programs for the FieldComm Group, a non-profit member organization that serves as the  caretaker of HART and Foundation Fieldbus standards along with responsibility for the  ongoing development of newer technologies like Field Device Integration (FDI) and  Ethernet-APL (advanced physical layer).

Ethernet-APL is a new standard for process automation that uses single twisted pair  wiring, often referred to as single pair Ethernet. This is poised to be crucial for scaling IIoT  connectivity and digital transformation activities via its high-speed data transfer  capabilities. 

But here too, a robust security paradigm for addressing cybersecurity concerns is crucial,  said Claudio Fayed, vice president, process systems and solutions for Emerson Automation Solutions. “The adoption of APL technology requires a process to manage and secure what  are now becoming IP internet nodes on the plant floor,” he said. 

Emerson’s Delta V Edge Environment, which delivers a read-only replica of contextualized  control system data for use across the enterprise — to protect against bad actor cyber uses  of such data — supports Ethernet-APL devices and APL switches.