by Gary Mintchell | Jun 30, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Manufacturing IT, News, Operations Management, Organizations
I was able to slip into the Hexagon User Conference on a recent trip to Las Vegas. Hexagon has been busily helping consolidate the automation and industrial software market. Some acquisitions included Infor EAM, PAS, and about 168 other companies since 2000.
Many of their press releases to me dealt with metrology. A long time ago I had the role of quality assurance manager at a manufacturing plant. (Note: terrible experience.) But I related metrology to quality control. Sort of a process outside actual manufacturing. One interview I had brought me up to the present time. Much of the metrology Hexagon talks about is in-process—actually sensing for immediate feedback to the process assuring consistent quality.
They talked a lot about their new platform, Nexus. The first applications are:
- Metrology Reporting, a Nexus App: The app connects Hexagon and third-party metrology data sources in Nexus’ secure cloud environment so that companies of all sizes can immediately report on previously untapped quality control data from their equipment to spot trends and identify tolerance issues. Any user can generate interactive three-dimensional CAD-based reports and insightful trend plots, KPIs and compliance documentation and up-to-the-minute data with colleagues, customers or suppliers.
- Materials Connect, a Nexus App: An all-new, cloud-based library for material data, that empowers manufacturers or material suppliers to manage material data, physical test data and behaviour models for use in product Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) workflows.
- Materials Enrich, a Nexus App: A first-of-its-kind Enrich app, it uses the Nexus platform’s machine learning capabilities and cloud-accelerated material behaviour simulations to help users find and simulate optimal materials that may have never been made or measured, improving the performance and sustainability of their products.
- Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), a Nexus Solution: A pre-configured Solution that makes it easier and more efficient for teams to jointly develop an optimal metal 3D-printed part and prepare it for a successful print using the laser powder bed fusion (PBF) process. Customers can use the Nexus web interface to connect Hexagon’s MSC Apex Generative Design and Simufact Additive process simulation software with AM Studio from CADS Additive and Materials Connect via the cloud, and easily manage user access to projects.
In addition to the conference, this news was released from the Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division—AcceleratorKMS 4.0.
A key component of Hexagon’s Smart Digital Reality, the new AcceleratorKMS operates like previous versions of the knowledge management suite while improving the way organizations operate through better clarity about who is working or training, and how they are being trained.
“Companies are challenged to drive time-to-competency down from the standard of three years down to one,” said Blair Morgan, AcceleratorKMS Vice President. “AcceleratorKMS’ integration capability, new features and the AcceleratorLXP module offer organizations a complete digital ecosystem that will help them achieve that goal. This marks a new evolution in AcceleratorKMS not yet seen.”
The enhanced search function, templating, user experience, file management and API in AcceleratorKMS 4.0 connects with the AcceleratorLXP module to enhance the tracking of user learning interactions. AcceleratorKMS and AcceleratorLXP together share an integrated User Interface that allows users to complete tasks while seeing their digital training steps.
“AcceleratorKMS 4.0 empowers the connected worker on a new level, with reliable and familiar experiences to enhance their fieldwork with tools they trust to advance their skills,” said AcceleratorKMS Product Manager Jana Redford. “Authors and learning managers can leverage the power of a full content management solution to collaborate and integrate training in the lifecycle of the content. This cuts friction from the worker experience for better outcomes and increased performance.”
Hexagon acquired Innovatia Accelerator Inc., headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, and its flagship solution in April 2022 to enable clients to easily manage, govern and distribute the up-to-date critical operational content field workers require to keep operations running optimally and smoothly.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 30, 2023 | Events, News
Thanks and a tip of the hat to my long-time sponsor, Inductive Automation. They just sent notice that the Ignition Community Conference (ICC) schedule is up plus Livestream passes are now available. This year it is a 3-day event from September 26-28 in Folsom, CA. I plan to be there to renew old acquaintances. If you’re there, stop me and say hi. Would love to hear what’s on your mind.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 30, 2023 | Personal Development
Little things matter.
The small, almost incidental, decisions accumulate and lead to habits.
Teach yourself to be aware of little things you do, usually without thinking. Have you done them three days consecutively? Is it now a habit that will degrade your health–physical, emotional, or spiritual?
Think of the little things.
Making your bed when you get up. That begins the day with discipline and you are rewarded with a freshly made bed at night.
Flossing after brushing your teeth.
Not absent-mindedly scrolling through social media.
Having a good book laid out ready to read when the moment happens.
A smile and greeting to everyone you meet.
The little things accumulate. When you reflect at the end of the day, you’ll be amazed at the good.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 30, 2023 | Cloud, Data Management, Internet of Things, Operations Management
MQTT is a fast, light-weight protocol for moving data. The origins were with an IBM application. It is now widely adopted in manufacturing and industrial applications when you don’t need the full information modeling of OPC UA. HiveMQ is a relatively new company specializing in MQTT application development. This new product from them is a starter kit for using a cloud-based MQTT solution.
HiveMQ announced HiveMQ Cloud Starter plan, a dedicated, fully-managed, self-service MQTT platform. HiveMQ Cloud allows customers to rapidly procure a production-ready MQTT platform based on hourly usage, with unlimited connections and devices.
With HiveMQ Cloud, companies can develop, test, deploy, and scale production IoT use cases without the large investment and complexity of maintaining their own infrastructure. Customers in any industry from transportation to connected products to manufacturing can get started quickly and easily for free, then scale as use cases expand and require additional features to enable security, observability, administration and data integrations.
“We are proud to be the first and only MQTT platform on the market to offer multiple plans that are not capped by the number of connections to the platform,” said Dominik Obermaier, Co-founder and CTO, HiveMQ. “We feel this will be a game changer for the adoption of MQTT from the developer to the enterprise.”
HiveMQ Cloud offers the following plans:
- Serverless: Community-supported, multi-tenant MQTT broker ideal for experimenting and learning; 100 sessions free.
- Starter: Self-service, single-tenant MQTT platform deployed in a Platform-as-a-Service environment; pay hourly as you grow.
- Professional: Everything in Starter plus access to robust support, observability, security, and integration extensions; pay hourly as you grow or choose an annual subscription.
- Enterprise: Dedicated MQTT infrastructure and custom systems integration for scaling sophisticated, enterprise-grade projects; pricing upon request.
The HiveMQ Cloud Serverless, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans address a wide range of customer needs for value-priced, cloud-based MQTT Platform-as-a-Service offerings to fit any deployment stage or budget. Any size customer from start-up to enterprise can start with the Serverless or Starter plans for pilot projects and POCs, and feel confident in their ability to scale to a comprehensive and feature-rich offering on the same platform.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 29, 2023 | Enterprise IT, Operations Management, Security
Laminar Announces AWS Built-in Solution for Data Security
Here is a little IT news. A start up I’ve not heard about before, Laminar, has built a data security platform working with the large cloud providers. It has recently published two announcements.
The first announcement reveals it has worked with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to complete an AWS built-in co-build solution that automatically installs, configures, and integrates with native AWS Cloud Foundational Services across multiple domains such as identity, security, and operations.
Laminar is a member of the AWS Partner Network (APN) that built their software solution to include foundational AWS services like AWS CloudTrail, AWS Control Tower, and AWS Organizations to decrease risk, reduce operational overhead, and provide consistent observability in cloud environments. Utilizing a well-architected Modular Code Repository (MCR) that is both validated by AWS and designed specifically to add value to a partner solution, Laminar is equipped to help customers achieve their goals for scale, simplicity, and cost savings.
“By utilizing an AWS built-in co-build solution with the Laminar Data Security Platform, organizations will be able to gain the visibility and control needed to continue cloud data growth across AWS services while keeping it protected,” said Amit Shaked, CEO and co-founder, Laminar.
Laminar’s AWS built-in solution comes built in with AWS CloudTrail, making it easier for customers to discover, classify, secure, and monitor their sensitive data in the cloud. By processing CloudTrail logs, Laminar provides automated data detection and response (DDR) – alerting customers to real-time threats to their data and streamlining quick remediation. Laminar also helps identify the root cause of the data threat with event timelines and data access flowcharts.
The news is the latest development in Laminar’s deepening relationship with AWS. The company was also selected to be a launch partner for Amazon Security Lake at AWS re:Invent last November. Furthermore, Laminar’s platform was the first pure-play data security posture management (DSPM) to be named an AWS Security Competency Partner in the new Data Protection category, and has received the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) Ready Product Designation.
Laminar Announced as Launch Partner for Wiz Integration (WIN) Platform
Laminar announces its partnership with leading cloud security provider, Wiz as the company unveils Wiz Integration (WIN) Platform. Laminar, hand selected as a launch partner, brings the power of the Laminar Data Security Platform to WIN, to improve customer understanding of how cloud vulnerabilities may put their sensitive data at risk.
The integration between Wiz and Laminar optimizes the value of both platforms while enabling organizations to more efficiently and effectively secure their public cloud environments. With this integration, data security teams can use the Laminar Platform to secure overexposed and unprotected data, remediate misplaced data, and delete any redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT) data — which ultimately ensures a more secure, hygienic data environment that meets compliance requirements. Pairing all of this data security posture with the Wiz platform allows cloud security teams to better understand how to prioritize cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities.
WIN enables Wiz and Laminar to share prioritized security findings with context including inventory, vulnerabilities, issues, and configuration findings. Mutual customers receive the following benefits:
- Prevent Sensitive Data Exposure – Laminar enriches Wiz with a layer of data context that gives organizations additional visibility into the full impact of each attack path and issues.
- Ruthless Prioritization – In collaboration with Laminar, Wiz enables infrastructure security teams to focus on issues that impact highly sensitive data first.
- Streamline Collaboration and Remediation Workflows – With the joint solution, data security and infrastructure teams share data with a common view to contain and remediate risk faster.
WIN is designed to enable a cloud security operating model where security and cloud teams work collaboratively to understand and control risks across their CI/CD pipeline. Wiz is setting the industry standard in integrated solution strategy to maximize operational capabilities of organizations with partners like Laminar in WIN.
