The one industry conference where manufacturing industry insiders network and discuss the latest technologies, standards, and applications occurs a little later this year at the ARC Forum Orlando from Feb. 12-15.

This year’s theme is Digitizing and Securing Industry, Infrastructure, and Cities. You can meet me here as I head south for the 21st straight year. I always take away something from the event. ARC Advisory Group’s Paul Miller tells me that this year is shaping up to be one of the best.

Read about the conference from the organizer’s promotion material:

It’s happening fast. Everywhere we turn, things and processes are becoming more connected and intelligent. Streetlights, cars, gas turbines, and thermostats stream data. Buildings, refineries, oil platforms, mines, and wind turbines are optimizing asset and operating performance. Parking meters and distributed power grids deliver value to both consumers and operators. Design software can link to additive machines to print parts directly. And it’s only the beginning.

Challenges continue to grow for the industrial cybersecurity community. Broader deployment of operational technology is expanding the use cases requiring protection. Resource shortages are undermining the effectiveness of established defenses. Blurring boundaries between IT, OT, and IoT are increasing the need for more integrated, collaborative cybersecurity strategies.

How will disruptive technologies change existing products, plants, and cities? Can cybersecurity threats be overcome? When will machine learning and artificial intelligence transform operations? Will open source solutions impact traditional software and automation domains? How will a digitally-enhanced workforce stem the loss of tribal knowledge? How do connected products create opportunities in aftermarket services? What steps can organizations take to foster innovative thinking?

There are countless ways to conduct your digital transformation journey, too many technologies and suppliers to evaluate, and endless choices to make along the way. Embedded systems, networks, software platforms, augmented reality, and machine learning may play a role as you begin to improve uptime, optimize operating performance, enhance service, and re-think business models.

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