by Gary Mintchell | May 26, 2017 | Internet of Things
Dell EMS Internet of Things (IoT) group assembled a mini supply chain as its booth at the user conference Dell EMS World in Las Vegas in May. At the October Dell EMS World in Austin, these were put together as an ice cream factory and distribution, and the booth featured an ice cream machine. I sure could have used an ice cream by the time I got through all the exhibits.
The Dell IoT Gateway was the common denominator of the exhibit tying everything together.
The first station features construction. Here are a couple of guys trying out the DAQRI augmented reality helmets. I had the opportunity to try these in Hannover. A really cool application of AR.
They are looking at a combination of the construction (see the red “steel” framework) and drawings that show the layout of electrical conduit, HVAC ducting, and other details. As a construction worker, they can get a feel of where things go, as well as spot interferences the designer missed.
This station showed product on its way to market through sensing and communication from Nokia.
Below is a layout of the Emerson process manufacturing system.
They brought actual pipe, pump, motor, instruments, wirelessHART communication. No, it didn’t make ice cream.
This station featured IMS Evolve–an application that brings sensor data into the cloud and provides track and trace, as well as other analytics, assuring the safety of the food product through the supply chain from the point of view of proper temperature.
Don’t forget security! Here is a photo of a physical security video system from V5.
The Dell Gateway is an edge device capable of accumulating data from the disparate sources, performing storage and analysis at the edge then sending information to the cloud for further analysis. It seems that everywhere I go, the “edge” is the place where innovation is centered right now. This simple demo showed the power of the edge.
by Gary Mintchell | May 16, 2017 | Internet of Things, Podcast
Recording this podcast from the United Club at McCarron International Airport in Las Vegas following the Dell EMC World Conference, Gary discusses the Dell / Linux Foundation Internet of Things open source project and some examples of the Dell IoT partner ecosystem in action.
by Gary Mintchell | May 15, 2017 | Internet of Things, Operations Management
Enterprise begins to meet operations from the enterprise side of technology at Dell World—now Dell EMC World following the mammoth acquisition of EMC by Dell last year–via the Internet of Things. That followed Michael Dell leading the company into privately owned territory.
Michael Dell himself prominently mentioned manufacturing and Internet of Things (IoT) during his keynotes of 2015 and 2016. Perhaps not as much this year at the first totally combined conferences held May 8-11 in Las Vegas. But there was so much enterprise product news and so little time.
Dell also stressed the success of combining the companies as well as making clear the new organization structure of Dell Technologies—the company name—consisting of Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtustream, and VMware.
Digital Transformation formed the theme message of the week. This conversation consists of business transformation and applications changes rapidly taking place now. Part of the transformation is formed by IT Transformation requiring adoption and assimilation of a new generation of servers, applications, and technologies. Millennials’ expectations (and maybe also some of us “old” guys) fire the Workforce Transformation now building. One study found that 82% of millennials would quit or not hire in initially based upon the level of technology tools offered. Finally all this digital infrastructure, the cloud, and communications are fueling the Security Transformation.
Of course, Dell Technologies is positioned to lead in all of these. Michael Dell pointed out that the company is the leader in 15 Gartner Magic Quadrants.
Internet of Things
But we are really here to discuss the point of intersection of all this IT stuff with Operations Technology—the Internet of Things. Dell EMC IoT leader Andy Rhodes received prominent positioning during the Day Two Keynotes. As an aside, the Day Three technology keynotes blew away any really cool tech keynotes I’ve seen in the past. Must be nice to have marketing dollars.
By the way, at 5’10” I think of myself of at least average height. Talking with some of the IoT team leaders made me feel like a refugee from the Island of Lilliput. Andy Rhodes, Jason Shepherd, and Keven Terwilliger are 6’5”, 6’’7”, and 6’8” (if memory serves).
News Summary:
• New VMware Pulse IoT Center, Dell EMC IoT Technology Advisory Services simplify IoT deployments
• New IoT partnerships with Atos, Bosch and more
• Dell EMC and VMware, founding members of new EdgeX Foundry Linux Foundation project, join 50 other companies to build open framework for edge computing
New IoT Products and Services
Simplified “Things” Management – The new VMware Pulse IoT Center is a secure IoT infrastructure management solution that will enable customers to have complete control of their connected things. VMware Pulse IoT Center will help customers to more efficiently manage, operate, scale and protect their IoT projects from the edge to the cloud. Dell will be offering VMware Pulse IoT Center as the preferred enterprise management and monitoring solution for Dell Edge Gateways. By plugging Pulse IoT Center into the new EdgeX Foundry, VMware will be able to offer system and device management for the EdgeX ecosystem.
IoT Advisory Services – IoT Technology Advisory Service is a new consulting offer from Dell EMC Services to help organizations determine the key capabilities and architecture required to leverage IoT data (e.g., sensors, beacons, gateways, mobile phones, wearables, connected devices). This information can be used for initiatives such as optimizing key operational processes, reducing compliance and security risks, uncovering new revenue opportunities and creating more compelling customer engagements.
Open Source Framework for Interoperable Edge Computing – The Linux Foundation recently launched EdgeX Foundry, an open source software project chartered to build a common framework and surrounding reference platform for edge computing. It will drive interoperability between proprietary value-added applications and existing connectivity standards. It was started by a community of more than 50 companies such as AMD, Analog Devices, Dell EMC, Foghorn and VMware to enable an ecosystem of plug-and-play components that can be combined to quickly create secure and scalable IoT solutions. Dell contributed more than a dozen microservices and over 125,000 lines of source code under Apache 2.0 to seed the project, additional contributions are already underway from other members. EdgeX Foundry is architected to operate on any hardware, on any operating system and with microservices developed in any application environment for maximum scale.
I have previously written about the Open Source EdgeX Foundry. This, I feel is the most significant of the news. The VMware announcement shows the coming together of the various parts of the Dell Technologies portfolio. People studying IoT for implementation in their companies are considering whether going with a consultant is the wise thing to do. Dell EMC now offers that alternative.
Curated Partnerships
Dell has carefully curated a group of IoT software and services partners through the Dell IoT Solutions Partner and Dell EMC Partner Programs. Many partners have deep, proven expertise in industry-specific IoT challenges, and can help with everything from managing multiprotocol data sources to security to analytics. New partners recently added to the program include Atos, Bosch, GreatBay Software, ForgeRock, IOTech, Mocana and Modius.
Today’s key IoT partner news includes:
• Dell and Bosch have jointly developed an Industry 4.0 jump start kit to help customers implement IoT projects quickly to realize faster ROI. The kit consists of multiple Bosch XDK sensors, a Dell Edge Gateway, ready-to-go use-cases, cloud integration and software, all preconfigured.
• Atos and Dell EMC are working together to build an IoT service management framework, Atos Codex IoT Services, to allow customers to be assured that all users can continuously create value from their connected devices.
[DISCLAIMER: Dell Technologies provides some compensation to support my work. It does not edit what I do.]
by Gary Mintchell | May 9, 2017 | Internet of Things, Operations Management
Dell EMC just keeps the momentum growing in its Internet of Things business with the announcement this morning (PDT) of a new partnership. I’m in Las Vegas at Dell EMC World and expect to pick up much more IoT news in addition to what was announced at Hannover.
Atos and Dell EMC announced they are joining forces to address the growing Internet of Things (IoT) and business analytics markets. This collaboration is based on best-in-class hardware and software from Dell EMC combined with the Atos Codex, a complete set of solutions and capabilities to design, build, run and secure smart data business services, data platforms and Internet of Things. The offering will initially focus on North America and Europe.
By 2020, nearly 40% of IoT-related revenue will come from services according to Markets and Markets. This number is expected to increase annually due to an increasing need for IT consulting and support. IoT professional services accounted for $57 billion in 2016 and are set to reach $158 billion by 2021, a CAGR of over 22%.
The unprecedented growth in connected devices, the data generated and the applications generating value out of these connections will need a strong offering in end-to-end service management, considering the enormous size and complexities of the networks generated by the Internet of Things.
Yuga Joshi, Practice Director at Everest Group: “Atos’ approach to enabling IoT use cases for achieving operational efficiency, customer engagement, and business transformation meets a clear market requirement. Its capabilities across the IoT stack, enhanced by strategic investments, partnerships, such as with Dell EMC, and experience in executing large-scale projects drives continuous value delivery and improved business outcomes for the customers.”
Atos and Dell EMC are working together to build an IoT service management framework to allow customers to be always in control and to be assured that all users can continuously create value from their connected devices. The service management framework will be called Atos Codex IoT Services.
The Atos Codex IoT Services framework will contain a catalogue of services including management of devices, connectivity, data and storage, change and release control, incident management, service desk and support, and the operations to increase resilience against failures or disturbances. These services will be delivered with user-defined service levels, including the necessary security measures for access management and data encryption. The framework also defines an architecture blueprint, containing hardware and software solutions from Dell EMC as well as software solutions and integration services from Atos.
The collaboration is expected to cover two areas:
- Joint development/design of the Service Delivery Framework, utilizing existing assets from both companies.
- Joint market approach, building upon the strength of each company’s brand and capabilities to build and sell solutions driven by customer demand.
The first Atos Codex IoT Services framework capabilities are available now with additional services and products will be added based on market demand.
Jay Snyder, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances, Industries & Service Providers at Dell EMC: “We are proud to help Atos enhance their IoT service offering, which will leverage our comprehensive portfolio such as Dell Edge Gateways to securely transfer and analyze important data at the edge of the network and Dell EMC hyper-converged infrastructure and scale-out storage at the core. Combining these assets with Atos’ expertise, services, hardware and their IoT capabilities in the Atos Codex end-to-end managed analytics offering, we are well positioned to help our customers successfully deliver their IoT-driven digital transformation agenda.”
Paul Albada Jelgersma, Head of IoT Solutions at Atos: “We are proud to partner with Dell EMC to provide our clients with the services, technology and capabilities they need to effectively manage their assets and generate value from them, by leveraging our combined strength in IoT products and services. This will offer businesses the tools to utilize their data and assets to provide continuous value and improved business outcomes, wherever they are.”
by Gary Mintchell | May 8, 2017 | Internet of Things, Operations Management, Software, Technology
I returned from Hannover with a notebook filled with Internet of Things platform notes. Then I attend a teleconference press conference last week—and here is Internet of Things meets Maintenance Management. (OK, sounds like a B movie title, but it’s actually cool.)
Fluke acquired eMaint late last year and last week unveiled the fruit of that union. Fluke has been diligently working to connect its wide product line to the Internet (see this video podcast, for example). This announcement takes connection to the cloud.
Fluke Accelix (Accelix) is an open, cloud platform that connects maintenance software, equipment, and critical plant systems. Accelix integrates Fluke’s portfolio of wireless tools and condition monitoring sensors to eMaint, Fluke’s leading SaaS CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System), and shares information with enterprise solutions of choice.
Accelix will help maintenance teams access the benefit of connected equipment, tools, measurement data and software systems by eliminating common barriers many customers face to implementing a comprehensive, affordable reliability program.
“The latest trends in maintenance solutions make great promises, yet are often too expensive and time-consuming for most organizations to implement, especially on second- and third-tier equipment,” said Brian Samelson, Fluke’s President of Digital Systems. Mr. Samelson continues, “This means that an overwhelming amount of maintenance activity happens in a black hole. Accelix solves this prevalent problem with a combination of familiar and trusted tools that connect seamlessly and are cost-effective to implement. We have removed the barriers that often separate the promise of advanced technologies from the reality of most maintenance and reliability professionals, for virtually any size operation.”
“Maintenance managers are constantly looking for opportunities to improve productivity, lower costs, and save time. This is increasingly important as teams have fewer resources to do the same job, and they need better insights into resource allocation and asset health,” said Paul de la Port, President of the Industrial Group at Fluke. “Industry data proves when managers can monitor machine health they allocate their teams more effectively and prevent serious problems from happening – all while improving safety, productivity, and uptime. In the end, equipment life is extended and savings are quantified; we believe this value proposition is sought by maintenance professionals everywhere.”
