Delivering what is possibly one of the largest global SD-WAN deals, [Orange] have successfully migrated 80% of Siemens AG’s global sites to the network as part of its large-scale digital transformation program.
This era of technology could be called the “software-defined” era. The push for software-defined control has re-ignited with the Open Process Automation efforts. The discrete-side effort sort of fizzled, although many in Germany believe that the companies building controllers with CODESYS software platform qualifies. I think much work remains to fulfill that vision.
Software-defined has also invaded networking. Orange Business Services, the European telecom company, sent a blog post by Axel Hinze regarding a project for Siemens AG about implementing a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN).
This project has proceeded at pace even during the global pandemic, where the demands on the Siemens WAN have increased with virtual teams and teleworkers collaborating on global projects. We have met Siemens’ requirements by combining SD-WAN technology with cloud- and web-based services and solutions.
As a global business with subsidiaries and divisions all over the world, Siemens “needs a reliable and flexible communication network that is a critical business enabler and can evolve with our growing business”, as its VP of IT Strategy & Governance Frederik Janssen has said.
Siemens has put SD-WAN at the heart of its Siemens Digitalization Network (SDN), which is designed to strengthen its’ IT infrastructure and increase network performance across the organization. It provides centralized cloud control with combined communication capabilities, enabling customers to increase flexibility and performance alongside cost efficiencies. SDN will also allow the multinational to take advantage of advances in digitalization to enhance Industry 4.0 processes.
Flexible SD-WAN also provides the foundation of the Siemens “zero trust” security framework, which improves security by authenticating and authorizing every device wanting to connect to the network irrespective of its location. This will enable Siemens to effectively mitigate, detect and respond to risks across its entire infrastructure.
Business benefits already being seen
The Siemens locations that have been connected to the SD-WAN network are already seeing the benefits of this new approach, including greater business flexibility and agility. They can use bandwidth more efficiently, helping ensure high levels of performance for critical applications without forfeiting on security. In addition, operational costs have been reduced through internet-centric traffic management.
Greater network visibility also makes it easier for Siemens to see where upgrades are necessary to ensure its connectivity is always optimized. Three large sites in Brazil have seen substantial cost savings switching to SD-WAN, for example, while sites in the UK and Mexico have noted a reduction in the load on the MPLS Siemens intranet.
Global network integration and delivery
Orange Business Services was engaged to migrate Siemens’ entire global infrastructure to a dynamic and flexible SD-WAN network to connect cloud applications and IoT devices in 2018 in a six-year contract worth 240 million Euros. The contract spans 94 countries on five continents, and the scope has been streamlined to connect 1,000 sites and campuses.
By consolidating network design and maintenance with a single digital services provider, Siemens has been able to reduce overall complexity and improve application competences and agility. We work closely together as trusted partners to deliver seamless worldwide SD-WAN coverage with the highest degree of security.
As a trailblazer in innovation and technologies, Siemens set the highest benchmarks for this project. Our success in delivering, migrating and implementing this huge digital transformation project and managing Siemens’ critical global communications infrastructure highlights our end-to-end integration expertise to deliver global projects at scale.
Sparta’s AI-enabled software as a service (SaaS) quality management software (QMS) offering will combine with Honeywell Forge and Experion Process Knowledge System
Honeywell will leverage Sparta’s technologies to continue to drive global growth and expand into new market segments, including highly regulated verticals, that require advanced process technologies
Sparta’s technologies will accelerate Honeywell’s breakthrough initiative to further penetrate the life sciences market and strengthen Honeywell’s existing portfolio of advanced automation and process control technologies
It’s not only Apple and Google in technology consolidating the market and increasing their private portfolios. The same phenomenon is happening in the industrial space with the latest exhibit being this software acquisition by Honeywell.
Honeywell announced Dec. 22 it has agreed to acquire privately held Sparta Systems for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction from New Mountain Capital. Sparta Systems is a leading provider of enterprise quality management software (QMS), including a next-generation SaaS platform, for the life sciences industry.
The acquisition further strengthens Honeywell’s leadership in industrial automation, digital transformation solutions and enterprise performance management software.
Honeywell will leverage its global presence, Honeywell Forge and Sparta’s expertise to introduce new, integrated solutions, including QMS offerings, for life sciences and adjacent industries. Honeywell’s customers will benefit from advanced digital QMS solutions to help them proactively achieve better quality, which results in improved new therapies, faster time to market, better business and patient outcomes, and effective regulatory compliance.
“Sparta’s TrackWise Digital and QualityWise.ai are a welcome addition to Honeywell’s enterprise performance management software, Honeywell Forge, and will further enhance the link between quality and production data for life sciences manufacturers,” said Que Dallara, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Connected Enterprise. “Our combined offerings will make it easier for customers to gain critical insights from manufacturing and quality data that can improve their manufacturing processes while ensuring product quality, patient safety, and supply chain continuity.”
Honeywell has provided the world’s leading drug manufacturers and biomedical firms with advancements in automation technologies, systems and services for more than 30 years.
Honeywell’s portfolio includes advanced automation and process controls; data capture and recording solutions that simplify and safeguard compliance; and technologies that help maintain auditability, optimize production, and speed time to market while ensuring quality and repeatability. Honeywell’s Fast Track Automation helps life science manufacturers expedite development and production of vital vaccines and medical therapies.
“Sparta Systems is an ideal complement to our life sciences portfolio,” said Rajeev Gautam, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. “While Sparta’s capabilities will initially help us expand our capabilities for our existing breakthrough initiative in life sciences, we plan to leverage Honeywell’s global footprint and expertise to quickly expand Sparta’s capabilities to serve other markets. We have strong conviction in the growth opportunities in the life sciences and pharmaceuticals space and in the synergies between Sparta and Honeywell both for Honeywell Connected Enterprise and Honeywell Forge as well as for Honeywell Process Solutions.”
Sparta Systems is headquartered in Hamilton, N.J., and has approximately 250 employees globally. Sparta serves more than 400 customers, including 42 of the world’s top 50 pharma companies and 33 of the top 50 medical device companies.
“Organizations need a quality management software solution with advanced digital capabilities that effectively automates, optimizes and standardizes quality processes across the board,” said Dana Jones, chief executive officer of Sparta Systems. “When you combine Sparta’s leading QMS platform with Honeywell’s existing process automation and software offerings, you create a highly differentiated, comprehensive solution that allows customers to focus more on the value-add activities that will accelerate their growth.”
Honeywell will continue to enhance TrackWise Digital QMS by adding AI and machine learning capabilities that augment human decision making. Honeywell will also add new IoT-enabled connectivity between quality and operational data to detect manufacturing anomalies and triage quality events in near real time. These continuing innovations will help customers proactively address quality to improve patient safety and effective regulatory compliance.
Pete Masucci, managing director of New Mountain Capital, said, “Since we partnered with Sparta in 2017, the company launched its TrackWise Digital platform – the only AI-enabled QMS solution, expanded its SaaS customer base by two-and-a-half times, and significantly invested in product development and R&D. We are excited to watch Sparta continue to thrive within the Honeywell organization.”
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2021 and is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. There is no change to Honeywell’s 2020 financial outlook as a result of the acquisition.
“What happens if you combine a car and a robot?” asked John Suh, Hyundai’s founding director of the company’s recently announced New Horizons Studio based in Silicon Valley. To many, the answer is easy: Transformers!
I have a new contact at Autodesk who recently shared a company blog post by Kimberley Losey telling the story of some cool concept cars from Hyundai. Designers are using generative design from Autodesk Fusion 360 to bring concepts to life. Check out the entire post. I’ll include some highlights.
What is generative design?
Generative design is a design exploration process. Designers or engineers input design goals into the generative design software, along with parameters such as performance or spatial requirements, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints. The software explores all the possible permutations of a solution, quickly generating design alternatives. It tests and learns from each iteration what works and what doesn’t.
A unique mobility solution–something that drives and walks–presents immensely difficult design and engineering challenges. One of the most common amongst these is a never-ending quest in the transportation industry: create components that are lighter, but stronger, than past generations of similar components. Designers and engineers tasked with these “lightweighting” challenges frequently look to futuristic materials such as metallic foams, carbon fiber and new metal alloys, along with modern design techniques such as generative design, for solutions. These are areas where Autodesk’s tools and expertise excel, so Hyundai turned to Autodesk for input.
Hyundai’s New Horizons Studio believes that the combination of driven wheels and powered legs will result in ground vehicles with unprecedented locomotion capabilities. The studio aims to contribute to Hyundai Motor Group’s core automotive business as it seeks to expand into new markets that enhance transportation on and off the road.
“What could a car achieve if it had the ability to walk?” continued Suh’s thinking, which ultimately resulted in the walking “Elevate” concept that Hyundai developed in collaboration with storied industrial design studio Sundberg-Ferar and debuted at CES 2019. Called the ultimate mobility vehicle (or “UMV”), Elevate has the ability to transform from a four-wheeled, car-like vehicle into a four-legged, reptilian walking machine, giving it the ability to traverse terrain that’s inaccessible to even the most capable off-road vehicles. When originally debuted, it was heralded for its ability to climb walls, cross diverse terrains and approach barriers, all while keeping its body and passengers completely level.
Uses for such a vehicle include irregular-ground transport needs, surface exploration, search and rescue emergencies, and clearing the significant transportation hurdles some mobility-impaired individuals face daily.
Generative design seeks to streamline and accelerate the process of developing design ideas and getting to production. In the time a designer can create one idea, a computer can generate thousands, within the constraints provided by the designer, and present those numerous design options with the trade-offs of strength, weight, cost, manufacturing complexity and sustainability clearly illustrated early in the process. Autodesk’s tools provide options through which designers and engineers may tap the near-limitless compute power of the cloud to reduce their mundane, repetitive analysis work, freeing up their time to focus on creativity and innovation.
Creating tools for modern teams of this nature, leveraging the cloud and a common data platform to ensure everyone’s on the same virtual page: this has been the focus of Autodesk’s Fusion 360 platform since its inception more than seven years ago. Teams can explore how to save time, remove frustration and maintain details of a project from start to finish when file sharing is seamless and everyone’s speaking a common design, engineering and manufacturing language.
Then I received an email from someone with no affiliation information who liked the article but wondered if I could check out another view of the edge. Turns out she was affiliated with Schneider Electric/APC.
We recently published an article that goes deeper. Here are a few of the topics that we cover:
Why (and for which industries) is edge computing necessary?
How does the Internet of Things (IoT) affect the demand for computing at the edge?
The 3 main reasons why edge computing is needed in IoT applications
Best practices in deploying data centers
Examples of benefits of adopting edge computing in different industries, such as education, healthcare and retail
The article was written by a 14-year veteran of cloud and edge computing.
The article was written by Jamie Bourassa, Vice President of Edge Computing & Channel Strategy for the Secure Power Division of Schneider Electric. Jamie is responsible for enabling the Secure Power Division commercial strategy and ensuring that Schneider Electric aligns to the market evolutions related to Edge Compute, IoT, and other disruptions that increase the criticality of local computing for customers across all commercial and industrial segments.
This division of Schneider Electric, a descendant of APC, manufactures powered cabinets for data centers. The article discusses edge from the point of view of several industry applications. While discussing industrial / manufacturing applications, he cited two primary use cases—predictive maintenance and OEE. Almost everyone with an IT background that I’ve run into seeking to enter this market cites predictive maintenance—not really understanding all that it means for professionals in asset intensive industries.
Several Siemens news items have accumulated in my blog folder. Speaking broadly of Industrial Internet of Things applications, Siemens has added to its Industrial Edge portfolio and released a 5G router. It also has evolved its integration of robot libraries into its Totally Integrated Automaton (TIA) Portal.
Despite reports to the contrary, Siemens continues to innovate on its platform in order to stay abreast or even ahead of its smaller competitors. But it does confirm the idea that competition keeps companies on their toes ready to innovate in new directions.
Ready-to-use industrial edge platform for data processing on the production level
Industrial Edge V1.0 comprising the Edge Management system, edge apps, and edge devices with container-based runtime
Edge Management system provides central management for edge devices and apps over the entire lifecycle
Apps that increase productivity can be integrated into industrial environments quickly, with little effort and minimal risk
Siemens is expanding its offer for industrial IoT solutions, adding to its Industrial Edge portfolio a central and company-wide scalable infrastructure for managing connected edge devices and apps. With the new Industrial Edge Management system, users can remotely monitor the status of every connected device and remotely install edge apps and software functions on distributed edge devices.
In combination with existing hardware and software products, this Industrial Edge V1.0 open platform provides users with a ready-to-use and seamless solution for data processing on the production level with integrated device and app lifecycle management.
With the new Industrial Edge Management system, distributed edge devices and their states can be monitored centrally, diagnosed, and managed by IT administrators and manufacturing engineers. This means that new software apps can be rolled out company-wide and securely on all connected Industrial Edge devices. Central software management minimizes or even completely eliminates the effort involved in maintenance and updates for distributed software instances.
Existing, already containerized software (Docker) can be used applied to Industrial Edge. In addition, users can always develop their own edge apps to meet company-specific requirements. Functional and security-related updates are provided by Siemens via the Edge Management system, which can then be scheduled for roll-out to connected edge devices to meet the security requirements of an industrial IoT solution. With this ready-to-use management platform, IT administrators can roll out edge apps highly automated and reliably in manufacturing and manage them over the entire lifecycle. In addition, the freedom from retroactive effects between automation and edge systems helps them to ensure high system availability of the automation solution.
The Edge Management system can be operated in Version 1.0 within the company infrastructure, for example in manufacturing, and is specifically tailored to the requirements of users who particularly value data security. In future, it will also be possible to operate the Management system in cloud infrastructures.
With the Siemens Industrial Edge V1.0 offer, Siemens is simplifying the collection and analysis of machine data and bringing IT standards such as container-based apps (Docker), high-level language-based data analysis and processing, and central software and device management directly to manufacturing – integrated in automation systems.
Siemens presents first industrial 5G router
Growing demand for remote access via public 5G networks for remote maintenance
Scalance MUM856-1 connects local industrial applications to the public 5G network
Sinema Remote Connect management platform provides secure access to remote plants and machines
Siemens presents the first industrial 5G router for connecting local industrial applications to a public 5G network. The device will be available in spring 2021. Using the newly developed Scalance MUM856-1, industrial applications such as machines, control elements, and other devices can be accessed remotely via a public 5G network, providing a simple remote maintenance option for these applications using the high data rates offered by 5G. The Sinema Remote Connect management platform for VPN connections can be used to provide easy and secure access to these remote plants or machines – even if they are integrated in other networks.
In industry, in addition to the need for local wireless connectivity, there is increasing demand for remote access to machines and plants. In these cases, communication needs to bridge long distances. Public mobile networks can be used to access devices that are located at a considerable distance, for example in other countries. In addition, service technicians can connect to the machines they need to service via the mobile network while on the go.
Public 5G networks are therefore an important element of remote access and remote maintenance solutions. They can be used, for example, to provide users with very high bandwidths in urban areas with small radio cells and high frequencies. In rural areas, radio cells have to cover a large area, which is why lower frequencies are used. Particularly at the edges of radio cells, for example for LTE or UMTS, there are often significant losses in terms of both the bandwidth and stability of the communication connection. And it is exactly in these remote areas where stable bandwidth transmission is required for remote maintenance or video transmission, for example for water stations. With innovative 5G communications technologies, considerably more bandwidth with greater reliability is available at the edges of radio cells and the average data rate for users within a radio cell increases.
The new Scalance MUM856-1 also supports 4G so that operation is possible even if a 5G mobile network is not available. The device can also be integrated in private local 5G campus networks. Siemens is testing this use case in their own Automotive Test Center in a private standalone 5G test network, which is based on Siemens components. There, automated guided vehicle systems are connected using 5G in order to test current and future industrial applications and to drive forward the use of 5G technology in industry.
Cooperation for the multi-vendor integration of industrial robots into the TIA Portal
Simatic Robot Integrator with Simatic Robot Library makes engineering easy for robots in the TIA Portal
Universal interface supports integration by all robot manufacturers
Re-usable program codes thanks to standard programming language
Time savings of up to 30 percent for engineering
Siemens presents the Simatic Robot Library for the Simatic Robot Integrator – a new universal robot library for the TIA (Totally Integrated Automation) Portal, which replaces the previous manufacturer-specific libraries. The specification has been developed in close cooperation with robot manufacturers ABB Robotics, Comau, Epson, FANUC, Kawasaki Robotics, KUKA, Panasonic Industry, STÄUBLI, Techman Robot, Yamaha, and YASKAWA.
In future, users will be able to program most of the robots available on the market in the TIA Portal using the Simatic Robot Library and make use of standard operating concepts based on the Simatic Robot Integrator and Simatic HMI. This means that created program codes and program packages will be re-usable, saving both time and money on a change of robot manufacturer.
Integration into the TIA Portal also offers the option of easily combining robots with other technologies such as Simatic technology, cloud services, Edge data analyses or AI-based automation. Thanks to the standard environment in the TIA Portal, users achieve time savings of up to 30 percent when engineering new complete systems. The improved handling also increases efficiency, while identical faceplates for different manufacturers simplify operation. With the Simatic Robot Library, users do not require specific programming knowledge for a robot type; they only need to have knowledge of the TIA Portal.
Simatic Robot Integrator is a ready-to-use application, which is directly integrated into a TIA Portal machine project. Combined with the new Simatic Robot Library, it enables users to download programming examples for operation and to control robots immediately after configuration. Simatic HMI offers popular online programming functions – regardless of the robot manufacturer – for inching, teach-in or path creation.
