AVnu Alliance Launches Support for Industrial Ethernet Market

AVnu Alliance Launches Support for Industrial Ethernet Market

Future Machines Using Updated EthernetHere is announcement that foretells significant impact on industrial Ethernet and potentially all the suppliers. I bet it’s also an alliance that you’ve never heard of. Think audio-visual for AV. The AVnu Alliance has launched work on an open standard for deterministic Ethernet creating capability for standard Ethernet to meet the needs of industrial market while embracing the future promise of IoT. As I understand it, this work feeds back into the IEEE standards. Even more significant.

As I chatted with Todd Walter of National Instruments, Dan Sexton of GE, and Paul Didier of Cisco, I began to envision a standards-base, open technology that can be implemented in what will become standard Ethernet silicon. Let your imagination work for a minute. This could be a significant advance.

[Note: I’ve asked for feedback from a couple of suppliers. I’m sure that I’ll get some comments after the digest the information and construct a response.]

The group notes that standard Ethernet continues to expand its range, functionality and applications with the evolution of the Audio Video Bridging (AVB) standard into Time Sensitive Networking (TSN). The new capabilities of TSN provide the Industrial community with the ability to use standard Ethernet to support highly reliable and precise synchronized networking appropriate for industrial control.

New AVnu members

With the expansion into the Industrial Control market, AVnu Alliance announced three new members, Belden, with its Hirschmann, Tofino Security, GarrettCom and Lumberg Automation brands, is a global leader of mission-critical industrial network infrastructure; General Electric, global leaders in creating an electrical infrastructure with advanced technologies to safely and reliably distribute, protect and control electricity; and National Instruments, a leading test, measurement and embedded systems provider for engineers and scientists. These companies, as leaders in the industrial, automation and IT infrastructure space, are driving forces in the recent expansion, working within the Alliance to develop the foundational elements needed for industrial applications, based on the common elements of AVB/TSN. The industrial segment is also supported by existing AVnu Alliance members such as Broadcom, Cisco, Intel, Interval Zero, Marvell, Micrel, Vitesse, Xilinx and XMOS.

Supporting quotes

“It is incredibly important for GE to support and stay up to date on the evolving open standards in the industrial control market. Since AVnu Alliance is the only community consortium driving the expansion of AVB and TSN standards, we are excited to join and offer our expertise to the efforts,” said John Garrity, Product Line Leader for General Electric Intelligent Platforms. “AVnu certification will ensure interoperability across multi-vendor solutions and our continued contribution to the TSN standards will help us deliver the next generation of reliable networked products to our customers. We are excited to join AVnu Alliance and contribute to the workgroups as the Alliance expands into this new market and continues to build on the open standards that are currently evolving. Our work with TSN better enables our customers to easily and rapidly create innovative next generation control systems transmitting real time traffic.”

“IEEE and AVnu Alliance’s work to bring open standards to industrial applications provides a great venue to amplify Belden’s long history of standards work, and we recognize the immense value open standards offer to our customers,” said Andreas Dreher, Strategic Technology Manager at Belden. “TSN technology shows promise to be the core technology for high-end industrial Ethernet communications in the future, solving challenges faced by our customers in demanding, high-performance and high-precision industries, like motion control, robotics and high-speed manufacturing. Our plan for joining with the Alliance aligns well with our long-standing work in bringing innovation, standardization and awareness to the industrial market for new and emerging open standards.”

“TSN promises through standard silicon to converge the previously disparate technologies needed for standard Ethernet communication, for deterministic high speed data transfer, and for high accuracy time synchronization. These developments will create a common foundation that will impact numerous applications and markets ranging from machine control and asset monitoring to test cells and vehicle control.  Key technology and equipment providers to the industrial market are supporting the effort. National Instruments is happy to collaborate within the solid ecosystem that AVnu Alliance is building,” said Mike Santori, Vice President, Product Marketing, National Instruments.

The Alliance notes, “Standard Ethernet is evolving to enable next generation control systems. This will allow convergence of low latency control traffic and standard Ethernet traffic on the same network for demanding applications like multi-axis motion control, providing a foundation for more advanced manufacturing and production models where data can be shared more flexibly between layers of the control system and where Internet of Things (IoT) technology can be applied into production environments. The new capabilities of these open standards enable high-speed closed loop control networks to support any Ethernet device using standard IT components and creates the needed foundation for IoT integration with industrial production.”

“As a founding member of AVnu Alliance, Intel is committed to advancing open standards that deliver time-sensitive communication” said Anthony Neal-Graves, Vice President, Internet of Things Group, Intel. “This is particularly important for cyber-physical-systems where multiple compute nodes cooperate to control physical systems ranging from industrial robots to autonomous vehicles and smart buildings. Intel has been a leader in this industry for more than two decades and we look forward to seeing the new opportunities TSN will bring to our customers.”

The Alliance has previously announced support for TSN in automotive applications such as drive-by-wire and autonomous driving. The Industrial market, which parallels work that AVnu Alliance members have been doing in the Automotive segment, is a $150 billion a year market space and creates a pathway to the future of IoT.

“This new segment is very exciting for the Alliance. Adding new members who are from this space and the evolution of the standards makes AVnu Alliance and Time Sensitive Networking poised for rapid growth in this market. As a founding member, Cisco’s contribution to AVnu Alliance will help guide the expansion and the standards work being done within the industrial segment,” said Kip Compton, VP and General Manager of the Internet of Things (IoT) Systems and Software group, Cisco. “AVnu Alliance remains dedicated to its core work in professional audio and video, consumer electronics and automotive. Broad market expansion of AVB/TSN with wide deployment will only benefit all members and markets – both from a cost perspective as well as assuring long-term support for the capabilities in standard components.”

“As a founding member of AVnu Alliance, Broadcom has been involved in the support of a variety of evolving market segments and expansion into the industrial control space is the next natural move for the Alliance,” said Nicholas Ilyadis, Broadcom CTO, Infrastructure & Networking Group. “As the industrial market continues to expand, AVnu Alliance will become an important driver in the interoperability and certification of networked devices and ensuring the deployment of reliable solutions in global markets.”

AVnu Alliance is responsible for guiding the specification for new applications to simplify the process for engineers and designers to build products. AVnu Alliance has created an Industrial Advisory Council for manufacturers and end users to learn more about the Alliance and the standards.

AVnu Alliance Launches Support for Industrial Ethernet Market

Enabling IoT in the Cloud

Advantech announced at its Embedded World Partner Conference (WPC) that it would collaborate with Microsoft to build Asia’s first IoT WISE-Cloud (Wireless IoT Solutions Embedded, WISE) platform. Advantech and Microsoft will jointly develop solutions and products intended for the Internet of Things (IoT) with the aim of establishing a cloud application model.

Chaney Ho, Advantech President, said that in recent years, the applications for IoT have been widely established in people’s daily lives and work. Advantech not only established “Enabling an Intelligent Planet” as its corporate vision in 2012, it has been fully engaged in the development of Smart City and IoT technology from the beginning. In the course of its evolution, Advantech found that the embedded board is at the core IoT and so the development of all types of intelligent systems could naturally be realized for a diverse range of fields.”

Chaney further stated that Advantech is deepening its concept of the traditional IoT 3I (Instrumented, Interconnected and Intelligent) concept to develop an IoT cloud platform called WISE-Cloud by using comprehensive wireless networking technology. Moreover, in order to fully perceive the information collected (data) and then convert it into service and effectively apply it to business intelligence, Advantech collaborated with Microsoft at the Platform as a Service (PaaS) layer through the use of Advantech’s SusiAccess and Microsoft Azure.

Miller Chang, vice president of Advantech Embedded Core Computing Group stated, “WISE-Cloud cooperation by Advantech and Microsoft not only enhances enterprise management efficiency but also integrates various cloud service applications. In addition, there will be synergy through the various integrated cloud services, especially when used in business intelligence after data analysis.”

“Big data analytics and machine learning have created more possibilities for business application. Microsoft Azure provides computing and analysis service in the context of the Internet of Things and enables the IoT industry to move toward the intelligent industry via machine learning,” said Roan Kang, General Manager of M&O, Microsoft Taiwan. “The strategic alliance between Advantech and Microsoft Taiwan allows Advantech to use Microsoft Azure cloud platform to process comprehensive data gathered from SUSIAccess solutions. Moreover, by introducing machine learning as a service, Advantech can leverage the IoT to enable smart, value-added business applications, creating more business opportunities. This collaboration not only demonstrates that the combination of the IoT and cloud computing has reached a new milestone but creates a synergistic effect for both parties. Microsoft will provide consulting services to help the establishment of the WISE-Cloud platform while joining hands with Advantech to expand the global reach of the IoT application.”

Steve Teixeira, Director of Microsoft Program Management IoT Operating System Group, said: “Embracing IoT enables business to become truly data-driven in their decision making. Businesses can gain enormous new insights by ingesting device telemetry into the cloud, combining it with other relevant enterprise and industry data sets, and feeding it all into a rich analytics pipeline. As companies mature in their mastery of IoT, we them transition from operational efficiency gains through improved insights to competitive advantage through predictive analytics to business transformation by discovering new revenue opportunities in IoT.”

 

Enabling Technologies

 

Networking, especially Ethernet, is a backbone technology platform for the IoT. Advantech also plays in that market recently unveiling its ProView series of SCADA manageable Ethernet switches which are the convergence switches for process control and IT networking management.

The ProView range of switches use Modbus/TCP to communicate with the SCADA software and SNMP that communicates with the NMS (Networking Management System) at the same time, thereby allowing full read control over the devices either from control engineers or for IT administrator.

The ProView series of Ethernet switches come with fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet and a variety of ports.   The port-based QoS VIP port for deterministic data transmission allow the priority ports to control the data traffic for process control by tightening delay/jitter times. This is especially useful for process control networking such as I/O scanning data will be sent out ahead of other traffic (even if it has been received after the other traffic) through prioritization applied by VIP port connected to embedded computing.

To further enhance the benefits of the ProView series Ethernet switches, the highest quality components are used to enable an operating temperature range of -40 to 75°C along with EMS Level-3 protection to repel electromagnetic interface for industrial resistance therefore the ProView series of Ethernet switches are able to provide industrial grade reliability in the harshest of environments.

 

 

Improved Industrial Network Security

Improved Industrial Network Security

Belden HiSEC OS  Probably the number one response to any discussion of connected enterprise, Internet of Things, and networking at the conference I attended last week security. We are connecting all these devices, therefore we need to know we are doing all we can to assure industrial network security.

Here are some new products from Belden said to enhance industrial network security.

Belden Inc. has introduced the newest version of its Hirschmann Security Operating System known as HiSecOS. With theHiSecOS Version 2.0, customers now have greater levels of insight into network data, as well as the ability to more easily create network routes and connect to multiple secure sites.

The key new features available with the HiSecOS 2.0 software include:
◦ Simpler network configuration options through the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) dynamic routing protocol, which allow customers to set up network routes without any manual configuration required. The OSPF protocol also offers a seamless connection to the network’s backbone.
◦ Safer, more secure remote connections to the network via encrypted Virtual Private Network (VPN) communication. The VPN connection also makes it possible for customers to connect to two different secured sites using corporate networks.
◦ Protection against unwanted network traffic through an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), which enables customers to analyze ambiguous traffic, detect issues early and prevent those issues from replicating by identifying the root cause.

“The dynamic routing options, in combination with firewall functions, make this security operating system truly unique. Many firewalls do not provide them. The ability to connect seamlessly over VPN connection also enhances the security of the network,” said Product Manager Vinod Rana.

Similar to previous versions, HiSecOS 2.0 is exclusively developed with Hirschmann’s multi-port firewalls, theEAGLE20-0400 and EAGLE30-0402, in mind – to heighten overall network performance and offer more robust security features. These multi-port firewalls with router redundancy and wide area network (WAN) interface save significant time and costs, while helping achieve maximum network availability and reliability for industrial settings.

Due to robust design, EAGLE firewall products with HiSecOS 2.0 operate in various harsh industrial environments, including automotive, power transmission and distribution, oil and gas, and mining.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that security risks are present across all industrial settings. Our customers require networking equipment with reliable security features, so keeping our security product families up-to-date with the newest technology is key,” adds Rana. “HiSecOS 2.0’s new security and routing features not only improve uptime and reliability for customers, but also bring them enhanced ease-of-use and more understanding of the activity on their networks.”

GE Intelligent Platform Industrial Internet News

GE Intelligent Platform Industrial Internet News

GE Software CMO John MageeI missed the GE Intelligent Platforms User Summit a couple of weeks ago. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t get a veritable flood of information from the event.

I wrote here about a GE, Intel, Cisco partnership enabling part of the Industrial Internet vision of GE. Then I had the opportunity to interview Rich Carpenter, GE-IP CTO. Finally, there was news about opening up the Predix platform.

The summit–Making the Industrial Internet Real–attracted more than 650 attendees according to the press release. They heard executives from leading global manufacturing and industrial companies such as AkzoNobel, ConocoPhillips, and Delta Air Lines, as well as CIOs from GE’s industrial businesses: GE Transportation, GE Lighting, GE Aviation and GE Nuclear.

Industrial Internet Explained

“The Industrial Internet is all about intelligent machines, advanced analytics, and people at work, coming together to solve problems as never before,” said Brian Courtney, General Manager of GE’s Industrial Data Intelligence product group. “It’s about gathering much more data, Industrial Big Data, more efficiently and over longer periods of time, using Advanced Analytics to interpret this data in more meaningful ways. PMAS brings this to life to help customers collect, organize, and analyze equipment and process data to maximize productive output and lower operating costs, with fast payback and low risk.”

Scorcard Partnership

The company also announced that it is partnering with Webalo to mobilize business intelligence combined with operational awareness, enabled by the Industrial Internet. Proficy Scorecard, built on Webalo’s secure, scalable, high-productivity mobile app development platform, Webalo Pro Appliance, and GE’s Proficy Mobile, generates real-time views of information, from multiple data sources within the company, to provide actionable “Scorecards” for all departments in an organization.

Proficy Scorecard is enabled by GE’s Proficy Mobile solution, which allows industrial environments of all kinds to provide engineers, on their desktop or on a mobile tablet computer or smart phone, with real-time information about the state of operations. With Proficy Scorecard views in hand, engineers can then make the connection between business intelligence and operations making them more productive and efficient. And, because it is mobile, critical data helps users easily, and quickly, monitor the KPIs the business cares most about while drilling down to the operational details and making the Industrial Internet real in their company.

Did Internet of Things Begin With Manufacturing

Did Internet of Things Begin With Manufacturing

GaryThumb14In my last newsletter (you can sign up on the right sidebar for my special content newsletter), I discussed the many press releases issued during the past few weeks on the Internet of Things (IoT) for industry.

Maryanne Steidinger, director product marketing operations for Schneider Electric software, posited in a blog post that control and process engineers have actually been implementing the IoT for many years. Let’s consider the control and information buses such as DeviceNet, Profibus, CC-Link, EtherCAT, PowerLink, and the like, to be the beginnings of networking things.

Carl Henning, deputy director of PI-NA (the Profibus/Profinet organization), writes, “Maryanne is right. And even before fieldbuses, the proliferation of electrical and electronic sensors and actuators was paving the way. As more were added, the more we needed fieldbuses.”

Much of the interest is generated by consumer applications. That generates a lot wider media coverage. This industry is not always behind the technological curve.

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