The Challenges Of Creating
The Industrial Internet Of Things
As industry looks to build out the
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), its
biggest challenge will be seamlessly
Internet-enabling the ‘Things’ that live at
the edge of the network. Industry-wide,
this area contains trillions of Things that
contain one or many data points that may
need to be analysed and combined into
information.
IIoT sets its sights on Internet-enabling all
hardware and software components (the
“Things”) that comprise an automation
system. This will allow for smarter
automation, where Things can share
information with other Things and adapt
their behaviour, to achieve optimum
performance. In addition, personnel
responsible for the operations of the
system will be able to remotely assess and
manipulate all aspects of such systems,
without the need for dedicated on-site
expertise.
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These benefits are contingent upon
the resolution of key challenges; most
notably the interchange of data between
the mechanical, digital and human
components of an industrial automation
process. Today, however, there are
several cultural and technological
changes that are impacting the scale and
speed of the creation of the IIoT.
New ‘big data’ software vendors are
entering the market, looking to provide
products to consolidate data, unify legacy
solutions, and bridge the gap between
external and internal operations.
In tandem with such software products,
hardware technology is becoming lowercost, allowing for unlocking of previously
unavailable data from low-level sensors.
Furthermore, our society’s reliance upon
Internet technologies permeates all
aspects of life, with the next generation
of industrial engineers growing up with
the assumption that industrial data
will be available, rich, easy to use, and
everywhere.
And finally, multi-site data connectivity
will assist with strategies at the enterprise
level, with competitive advantages to
be gained by moving beyond traditional
organisational boundaries, to use and
involve third parties.
As already mentioned, the biggest
challenge to building the IIoT will be
seamlessly integrating the Things that
live at the edge of the network. The edge
of the network is the furthest removed
from the Information Technology (IT) we
have become accustomed to using when
Internet connectivity is required.