Industrial IoT, or IIoT, is when information technology combines with operational technology for greater visibility, operational efficiency, and automation. IIoT also encompasses supply chain and logistics through visibility and warehouse optimization.
The benefits of IIoT include:
IIoT goes far beyond traditional supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems by making communications simple and interoperable, for full-scale, reliable communications that are also cost effective.
Industrial IoT also leverages Private LTE as the connectivity option, compared to traditional Wi-Fi or local area network (LAN). Private LTE is more secure, scalable, and costs far less. With the rollout of 5G, the business case for Private LTE will continue to increase. The ability of private wireless networks to communicate across large facilities in remote locations, with high device counts in critical and safety applications, makes it a perfect match for the manufacturing and industrial vertical.
Private LTE provides more efficiency, greater security, and lower costs for use, particularly when it comes to robotics and remote monitoring of assets and equipment.
Edge computing is going to speed the rate of data transfer and analytics significantly. Instead of communicating to the cloud and back, the opportunity of device-edge, network-edge, and telco-edge to compute will reduce latency and make robotics and remote monitoring a lightning-fast process.
With the power of 5G, the computing capability will continue to edge closer toward the device, though even if computing takes place on the network edge, it is still powerful and fast enough to enhance real-time robotics and remote monitoring for IIoT.
The low latency of 5G alone will power the ability of smart machines and machine-to-machine communications in a density that simply wasn’t possible for prior network generations. Through increased connectivity, faster computing, and intelligent data aggregation, we can expect to see a significant uptick in the use of robotics in this vertical.
Edge computing will also be less expensive in a large, widespread setting, with sensors constantly moving and sending data to the cloud to be processed. With processing ability as close to the device-level as possible, it’s a much smaller footprint than sending data to the cloud.
Artificial intelligence computing on the edge will lend itself to better predictive maintenance, and even prescriptive maintenance, while providing even greater insight into how machines are operating.
KORE manages the complexities of enterprise IIoT solutions by offering a comprehensive set of managed IIoT services, technology, and strong vendor relationships across the entire IoT landscape.
Register for the Hannover Messe 2021 keynote for a discussion on the importance of integrating IIoT with Marco Bijvelds, Senior Vice President, EAP at KORE.