Internet of Things

The ever increasing volatility in market conditions push the requirements of industrial companies for operational intelligence far beyond the capabilities of common business intelligence solutions. An integrated and comprehensive software solution was missing. Enterprise Operational Intelligence (EOI) closes the gap. EOI focuses Big Data on company strategies and (strategy-)compliant value chains. This incorporates a structured approach for all data to deliver value, including manufacturing-related data, Internet of Things and real-time processing, somewhat analogous to computer tomography. EOI allows leaders and managers to continuously adjust business processes to keep them in line with business strategies. Operations can be adjusted to new realities rapidly and the consequences of interventions can be understood quickly and comprehensively.

Intensified networking and digitalization of systems affect an increasing number of sectors. At the same time a great variety of different concepts, ideas, expectations as well as fears have emerged around Industry 4.0. A look into the newspapers is enough to understand that the profound connection of critical structures does also hold profound dangers. For the future it is crucial to consider a way of using the new mass of data and information to protect these structures. Evaluating big data and transforming it into smart data with support of Artificial Intelligence will be a significant security factor in the future.

Due to the rapid development in information technologies, the amount of information production staff has to deal with rises. Additionally, the requirements for the changeability and flexibility of control systems are growing. This leads to a constantly growing complexity in the handling of information. By avoiding unnecessary information logistics processes, this complexity is reduced and information management becomes easier.

Predictive, or condition-based, maintenance is a shining goal for industrial customers and the Industrie 4.0 initiative. Supplementing, or even replacing, inefficient schedule-based maintenance with software promises to reduce equipment failures and unplanned downtime, improve safety and ultimately help the bottom line in an era of unstable prices and uncertain budgets. Predictive maintenance might be taking longer than expected, but in the next five years you might see it move faster than expected.

The expanded capabilities of smart connected products will not only deeply affect market strategies and industrial structures. A study by Prof. Michael E. Porter (Harvard Business School) and Jim Heppelmann, President and CEO, PTC, reveals that most all core manufacturing functions e.g. product development, production process, sales or service, will be redefined. In addition, completely new functions and jobs will emerge. These changes will not be easy and come with many uncertainties. But companies that successfully make the transformation will reap strong rewards down the road.

What do new technologies and the increasing cyber threat hold in store for business and production in 2016? How should organizations be preparing themselves? What should IT security leaders be doing as a priority in the coming year? These are the questions of leading security analysts and consultants at TÜV Rheinland to tackle. The year 2016 will see an increasing number of attacks and the emergence of new targets. The complexity and sophistication of attacks, initiated by increasingly capable and technically well-equipped cyber criminals, will continue to rise. Industrial Control System Security (ICS) and Incident Response is more important than ever.

The digital transformation is currently one of the defining topics in public discourse. New technical developments are making new services and new business models possible, though they also entail new challenges. In order to recognize and take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital transformation, it is necessary for corporate decision-makers to first understand the fundamental relationships that exist between technologies, data and customers. Only then experts are able to build on this understanding to develop new products and services. Such projects require more than just IT expertise. For the project to succeed, it is crucial that the IT and specialist divisions work together on this development. In order for the collaboration to succeed in spite of all the differences between the divisions’ remits, those in charge should ensure that the project environment is one in which all participants are able to interact on an equal footing and understand one another. The ...

The traditional data management approach is resulting in multiple silos of duplicate data. Across applications, there are multiple data services generating tremendous amounts of redundant data copies that utilize valuable storage capacity and a tremendous amount of storage and data management resources. Most companies try to leverage the data in order to increase the performance and accessibility of production data. A radically different approach is required in order to solve the data copy explosion problem: Copy-Data-Management, based on the virtualization of data copies.

Industry 4.0 gain in importance in recent years. Research and business realize increasingly that targeted activities in this area are necessary to preserve the market power of the industry. This article provides a summary of Industry 4.0 initiatives in ten European countries as well as their comparison based on different criteria.

The vision is of the “Smart Connected World”, in which every “thing” in the Internet of Things has a name, can go online and can be communicated with individually via Internet. The vision can be quickly formulated, but the journey there is a rather painstaking evolution as opposed to a disruptive one. That is the result of an international study by market research experts of Oxford Economics who along with PTC researched the status of the development and the market presence of smart connected products (SCP) in the manufacturing industry. Integration and data security were named as significant challenges to be overcome on the journey into an IoT world.