By Greg Hookings – Business Development Industrial Automation – Stratus Technologies
At Stratus Technologies we understand more than most the worries that hold manufacturers back from purchasing new equipment. In a world where the bottom-line is more important than ever Stratus Technologies has set out to encourage the implementation of smart devices with one key factor in mind, data.
Getting the best from connected devices – the ‘things’ of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is all about getting data from every part of the enterprise and computing that data to give actionable information to make constant improvements. Importantly, much of the data that comes from such devices needs to be computed for use in real-time to be most effective, and it is here in particular, that Stratus can help deliver the value of IIoT.
Computing data in real-time requires compute power at the “edge” of the infrastructure. In the near future we estimate 40-60% of generated data will be analysed at the edge and stored locally – removing the latency from cloud analytics and reducing the security implications of transferring business-critical data to and from the cloud.
One vital consideration, and a real challenge for many industrial managers, is the need for IT skills and infrastructure to install and maintain the IT layer needed to make the most of IIoT. This understanding is central to the Stratus approach to computing in the industrial environment. Servers that simplify IT and often mitigate the need for extensive IT experience are central to our offering both at the edge and in the server room. Making the most of the IIoT generation of technology in industry requires always-on availability of the IT system and systems that are self-healing in the event of issues. Where and when faults occur, simple, hot-swappable IT components that return systems to full redundancy offer peace of mind to industry managers – especially when those faults are recognised automatically by the vendor and replacement parts that require minimal IT proficiency to install are immediately sent out.
The availability of IT proficiency at the application layer is a major pinch-point for many manufacturers. Countering this and offering compute solutions that operate at the edge to unlock the real-time capability of IIoT at the application level, where it is often most powerful, is vital. Moreover, edge solutions inherently improve security by reducing the amount of business critical information that is sent to and from the cloud, and this helps reduce the security concerns so often cited as a considerable hurdle to digitisation.
Stratus offers industry managers compute solutions trusted the world over to deliver the efficiency, productivity and future-proofing benefits of IIoT, in a package that is simple, IT-light, reliable and easy to maintain.
