Page 13 - Industrial Technology October/ November 2020 issue

The new normal

EDGE COMPUTING

GREG HOOKINGS, HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT –
DIGITALISATION, STRATUS TECHNOLOGIES, LOOKS AT
HOW EDGE COMPUTING CAN PREPARE MANUFACTURING
FOR THE NEW NORMAL IN A POST COVID-19 WORLD

he Covid-19 pandemic is changing the world, and performance and improving overall
many sectors, including manufacturing are seeing a efficiency through smart machines.
Thost of new challenges as a result. Whilst business The machines are equipped with IoT
leaders are adjusting to new market conditions to meet the enabled sensors, intelligent
new normal, this actually presents a unique opportunity controllers and HMI/SCADA
for businesses to take a comprehensive view of their systems. All of these elements are
operations and seek out improvements. Manufacturers are part of digital transformation and
exploring digital technologies to transform their operations realising the full benefits of these
to reduce risk and future-proof production processes. technologies and ensuring their safe and reliable operation need to be looking for host-based firewalls, restricted USB
Whether they are looking to optimise machine health or requires Edge Computing. ports, communication protocols and a secure and trusted
secure valuable data, manufacturers are looking simplify, boot.
protect and automate business-critical operations and Edge computing for OEMs As mentioned, the need for simplicity in the new
many are looking to Edge Computing to help. Edge Computing is not just another element of digital normal is more important than ever. Whilst the worlds of
The opportunity to take stock and change operations transformation but fundamental to its success. Machine IT and OT continue to converge, the high-level IT expertise
goes even further than the plant-floor, and the opportunity Builders need to build in an Edge Computing platform that normally reserved for the traditional data centre could be
to add capabilities and meet the challenges brought on by meets the needs of the customer’s operational further away than ever.
Covid-19 goes all the way to the Original Equipment environment with three key words in mind; scalability, For any OEM looking for an Edge Computing platform,
Manufacturer (OEM). At a time when Digital reliability and autonomy. Essentially future proofing their the best approach is to develop it with three guiding
Transformation is paramount to success, OEMs need to own products, OEMs can start small with a customer and principles; simple, protected and autonomous.
look towards Edge Computing, essentially building in scale up, bringing in new features and capabilities without The OEM marketplace is highly competitive and whilst
future proofing and passing the benefits of that capability the need for major design or architecture modification. the new normal brings challenges to manufacturing, it also
on to the customer. brings opportunity. Digitalisation is no longer a choice,
Essential features manufacturers are looking to create smart factories and at
What is the new normal? So what are the essential features OEMs should look for in the heart of this is smart machines. OEMs who want to
Covid-19 has illuminated several aspects of Edge Computing? The starting point needs to be built-in separate themselves from the competition must not only
manufacturing that will change in the new normal, virtualisation. This gives the machine builder the ability to achieve their own digital transformation but give their
especially concerning supply chains and availability. combine traditional monitoring and control software with customers the tools to do so as well.
Manufacturers are advancing their digital transformation additional applications. Applications like data historians, For more information, visit www.stratus.com/oem/
in response to the crisis and looking towards smart MES, analytics and even AI solutions can all be running
factories to protect themselves from global disruptions. simultaneously under a single platform using multiple
And as we know, smarter factories need smarter virtual machines. This is especially important under the
equipment. new normal, with the simplified machine design thin
The industrial sector already sees its fair share of clients can be installed, making the solution more flexible STRATUS TECHNOLOGIES
assets located away from the traditional data centre, and and giving operators the capability to run machines
under the new normal, specific IT expertise might also be remotely using personal devices. For leaders digitally transforming their operations
considered a remote asset. With social distancing in place At a time when downtime can mean more than loss of in order to drive predictable, peak performance
and IT personnel working elsewhere, on-site operators can profits but also reputational damage and equipment safety with minimal risk, Stratus ensures the continuous
be compromised by the wait until help arrives. In this way, issues, your chosen Edge Computing platform needs availability of business-critical applications by
the new normal continues the trend of IT and OT redundancy. The best approach is to pair two platforms delivering zero-touch Edge Computing platforms
convergence as those on-site will be expected to identify configured as a redundant pair so that if one node fails, that are simple to deploy and maintain, protected
and rectify a problem without the IT personnel. the other node will take over – completely autonomously, from interruptions and threats, and autonomous.
Digital transformation, future-proofing and intelligent without interrupting any applications. For 40 years, we have provided reliable and
automation are all goals of the current manufacturing The next thing your Edge Computing platform needs to redundant zero-touch computing, enabling global
facility owner, OEMs have the ability to package these be is protected. Whether your machine is far out in an Fortune 500 companies and small-to-medium
capabilities through Edge Computing. offshore platform or inside a production facility, Machine sized businesses to securely and remotely turn
Smart factories are digitalised and connected plants Builders have a duty to conform to certain standards, data into actionable intelligence at the Edge, cloud
are integrating supply chain solutions, optimising asset specifically ISA/IEC 62443 guidelines. This means OEMs and data center – driving uptime and efficiency.
MORE INFORMATION: www.stratus.com • Twitter: @StratusAlwaysOn • LinkedIn: @StratusTechnologies

October/November 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY 13