by Gary Mintchell | Dec 31, 2015 | Commentary, Internet of Things, News
I’ve taken some time during the holidays to get off the daily posting gerbil wheel to study even more deeply into the Industrial Internet of Things.
You may ask why. Every analyst firm now has an IoT practice. They do consulting of one sort or another. But, many are constrained by their models. I’ve seen some of the analyses. I think I can contribute.
Last week just before Christmas, PTC announced acquisition of Kepware to deepen its Internet of Things offering. I’ll have a longish analysis to kick off the New Year Monday.
The Internet of Things is a strategy, not a thing. It is described by an ecosystem, not a product.
A look at the 30-year history of the company reveals that it has grown by acquisition. First within its (then) core technology from CAD to modeling. Then into PLM. Then a Retail practice. Then it developed a services platform. None of these were core to my coverage, so PTC is not a company I’ve followed closely.
Then Jim Heppelmann, CEO, caught the Internet of Things virus. Meanwhile, the ThingWorx developers had a cool technology and cast about looking for a focus. Ah, it perfectly fits within the Internet of Things. Seemed like a fit, and an acquisition was consummated.
Following ThingWorx (2014) was Axeda–a company that itself had undergone more than one transformation. Then ColdLight helped complete the portfolio with its analytics engine.
I’ve consulted with a few companies and talked with others who wanted to jump into the Internet of Things by simply bolting on a product acquisition. They thought maybe just adding sensors (the “things” of the IoT, right?) they would be and IoT company. Or maybe a networking company.
No, PTC has the right idea. It remains to be seen if it bought the best technologies and if they can make them work together. I’ve seen companies fail at that point.
More later.
Meanwhile, I hope your 2015 was successful and that your 2016 will be one of personal growth and success.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 22, 2015 | Automation, Industrial Computers, News, Technology
Anyone who thinks PCs when the company name Dell comes up (“Hey, Dude, You’re getting a Dell.”) has missed the company’s growth over the past decade. I’ve written about its new foray into Internet of Things with a product specifically targeted at manufacturing industries. The company has announced some advances in its High Performance Computing platform.
High Performance Computing
These advances include innovative new systems designed to simplify mainstream adoption of HPC and data analytics in research, manufacturing and genomics. Dell also unveiled expansions to its HPC Innovation Lab and showcased next-generation technologies including the Intel Omni-Path Fabric.
HPC is becoming increasingly critical to how organizations of all sizes innovate and compete. Many organizations lack the in-house expertise to configure, build and deploy an HPC system without losing focus on their core science, engineering and analytic missions. As an example, according to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, 98 percent of all products will be designed digitally by 2020, yet 95 percent of the center’s 300,000 manufacturing companies have little or no HPC expertise.
“HPC is no longer a tool only for the most sophisticated researchers. We’re taking what we’ve learned from working with some of the most advanced, sophisticated universities and research institutions and customizing that for delivery to mainstream enterprises,” said Jim Ganthier, vice president and general manager, Engineered Solutions and Cloud, Dell. “As the leading provider of systems in this space, Dell continues to break down barriers and democratize HPC. We’re seeing customers in even more industry verticals embrace its power.”
Accelerating Mainstream Adoption
Dell HPC System Portfolio, a family of HPC and data analytics solutions, combines the flexibility of custom systems with the simplicity, reliability and value of a preconfigured, factory-built system that includes:
- Simplified design, configuration, and ordering in a matter of hours instead of weeks;
- Domain-specific design that’s designed and tuned by Dell engineers and domain experts for specific science, engineering and analytics workloads using flexible industry-standard building blocks; and,
- Fully tested and validated systems by Dell engineering with a single point of hardware support and a wide range of additional service options.
New application-specific Dell HPC System Portfolio offerings include:
- Dell HPC System for Genomic Data Analysis is designed to meet the needs of genomic research organizations to enable cost-effective bioinformatics centers delivering results and identifying treatments in clinically relevant timeframes while maintaining compliance and protecting confidential data. The platform is a result of key learnings from Dell’s relationship with Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to help clinical researchers and doctors expand the reach and impact of the world’s first Food and Drug Administration-approved precision medicine trial for pediatric cancer. TGen has been able to improve outcomes for more patients by creating targeted treatments at least one week faster than they could be accomplished previously.
- Dell HPC System for Manufacturing is designed for customers running complex manufacturing design simulations using workstations, clusters or both. Applicable use cases include Finite Element Analysis for structural analysis using ANSYS Mechanical & Computational Fluid Dynamics for predicting fluid behavior in designs utilizing ANSYS Fluent or CD-adapco STAR-CCM+.
- Dell HPC System for Research is designed as a foundation, or reference architecture, for baseline research systems and numerous applications involving complex scientific analysis. This standard cluster configuration can be used as a starting point for Dell’s customers and systems engineers to quickly develop research systems that match the unique needs of research customers requiring systems for a wide variety of research agendas.
Accelerating HPC Technology Innovation and Partnerships
Dell announced a new expansion of its Dell HPC Innovation Lab in cooperation with Intel specifically for support of its Intel Scalable System Framework. This multi-million dollar expansion to the Austin, Texas, facility includes additional domain expertise, infrastructure and technologists. The lab is designed to unlock the capabilities and commercialize the benefits of advanced processing, network and storage technologies as well as enable open standards across the industry.
Beyond becoming the first major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to join the Intel Fabric Builders program, Dell is working closely with Intel to support its Intel Scalable System Framework, which includesIntel Omni-Path Fabric technology, next-generation Intel Xeon processors, the Intel Xeon Phi processor family, and the Intel Enterprise Edition for Lustre. Announcements include:
- New Dell Networking H-Series switches and adapters for PowerEdge servers featuring the Intel Omni-Path Architecture. These provide a next-generation fabric technology designed for HPC deployments. The architecture includes advanced features such as traffic flow optimization, packet integrity protection and dynamic lane scaling allowing for finer-grained control on the fabric level to enable high resiliency, high performance and optimized traffic movement.
- Dell and Intel support for the Linux Foundation’s OpenHPC community. The community is designed to provide a common platform on which end-users can collaborate and innovate to simplify the complexity of installation, configuration and ongoing maintenance of implementing a custom software stack and easing a path to exascale.
“We’re excited to collaborate with Dell to bring advanced systems to market early next year using the Intel Scalable System Framework,” said Charles Wuischpard, vice president and general manager of HPC Platform Group at Intel. “Dell’s position as our largest and fastest-growing customer for Intel Enterprise Edition for Lustre, their work on Omni-Path Architecture and next-generation Intel Xeon Phi, and their initiatives to expand the Dell Innovation Lab demonstrate their commitment to rapidly expanding the ecosystem for HPC.”
Mellanox Partnership
Dell and Mellanox announced additional investment in Dell’s existing HPC Innovation Lab to provide an end-to-end EDR 100Gb/s InfiniBand supercomputer system. The system is designed to showcase extreme scalability by leveraging the offloading capabilities and advanced acceleration engines of the Mellanox interconnect as well as provide application specific benchmarking, and characterizations for customers and partners.
“With this new investment, Dell’s HPC Innovation Lab will now enable new levels of applications efficiency and innovative research capabilities. Together we will help build the solutions of the future,” said Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing, Mellanox Technologies.
Availability
- The Dell HPC System for Genomic Data Analysis is available today.
- The Dell HPC Systems for Manufacturing and Research will be available in early 2016.
- The Dell Networking H-series switches, adapters and software based on the Intel Omni-Path Architecture will be available in the first half of 2016.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 5, 2015 | Automation, Internet of Things, Networking, Operations Management, Standards
Katherine Voss, president and executive director of ODVA
ODVA announced several enhancements to its EtherNet/IP and CIP specifications during the SPS IPC Drives Trade Fair in Nuremberg. The first relates to cybersecurity. The second involves time-sensitive networking.
ODVA announced that it has achieved a milestone with the pending publication of a new volume in its specifications specifically dedicated to cybersecurity. This body of work will be released under the name of CIP Security and will join the family of distinctive CIP services which includes CIP Safety, CIP Energy, CIP Sync, and CIP Motion. CIP Security will be initially applicable to EtherNet/IP.
Because EtherNet/IP relies on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies for Ethernet and the Internet, users have been able to deploy traditional defense-in-depth techniques in EtherNet/IP systems for some time, explained by ODVA as early as 2011 in its publication “Securing EtherNet/IP Networks.” CIP Security will help users take additional steps to protect their industrial control systems with industry-proven techniques for securing transport of messages between EtherNet/IP devices and systems and thus reduce their exposure to cybersecurity threats.
The initial release of CIP Security includes mechanisms to address spoofing of identity, tampering with data and disclosing of information. Mechanisms supported in the initial release of CIP Security include device authorization, integrity of message transport and confidentiality of messages. To support these mechanisms, ODVA has adapted encryption standards from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for encryption based on Transport Layer Security (TLS), Data Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and authentication based on the X.509v3 standard for certificate handling. Details of ODVA’s initial implementation of CIP Security and outlook for the future were presented in a technical paper at ODVA’s 2015 Industry Conference and 17th Annual Meeting of Members.
“The publication of the volume dedicated to cybersecurity in The EtherNet/IP Specification is the next step in providing users with methods to help them manage threats and vulnerabilities in EtherNet/IP systems,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “Following this publication will be the realization of the mechanisms provided by CIP Security in ODVA CONFORMANT EtherNet/IP products.”
ODVA’s focus on cybersecurity is not only a function of increased emphasis on cybersecurity for industrial control systems but also because of the widespread adoption of EtherNet/IP in broad range of applications from manufacturing to critical infrastructure. As a result of the breadth of applications, the next edition of The EtherNet/IP Specification will expand support for IEC 62439-3 “Industrial communication networks – high availability automation networks – part 3” to include High Availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR) in addition to Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP). HSR is commonly used in electrical substation automation as specified in IEC-61850. Other high reliability techniques supported in The EtherNet/IP Specification include Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) and Device Level Ring (DLR).
Other ODVA Industrial Networking News
One area of focus will be the adaptation of certain emerging standards for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) to EtherNet/IP. In particular, ODVA will create enhancements to The EtherNet/IP Specification for frame preemption and stream reservation based on the standards being defined in the IEEE-802.1 projects. ODVA’s adaptation of TSN technologies is a straightforward evolution of the EtherNet/IP technology, which relies on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies for Ethernet and the Internet to solve demanding applications in industrial automation. Users of EtherNet/IP will be able to realize performance improvements in systems using EtherNet/IP by as much as two orders of magnitude by combining TSN with existing standards already included in The EtherNet/IP Specification, such as Quality of Service, Gigabit Ethernet and CIP Sync — ODVA’s adaptation of IEEE-1588.
To complement the adoption of EtherNet/IP in a diverse range of industries and applications, ODVA is expanding CIP to include data models to facilitate the exchange of application information within EtherNet/IP systems and between EtherNet/IP systems and supervisory systems which may or may not use EtherNet/IP. One application area where specification enhancements are underway is the adaptation of the recommendations in NAMUR NE-107 “Self-monitoring and Diagnosis of Field Devices“ to the data format and access methods needed to retrieve such process data from EtherNet/IP field devices. Another application area where enhancements to the ODVA specifications are expected in 2016 is the inclusion of a machine data model and services for machine-to-supervisory communications. By instantiating standards for application data models for process field devices and machinery, EtherNet/IP will provide yet another way for users to decrease their reliance on proprietary implementations by using vendor-independent standards designed for multi-vendor interoperablity.
ODVA is now expanding The EtherNet/IP Specification to include standards for the integration of data between EtherNet/IP and HART and IO-Link. Joining the already-published integration of data between EtherNet/IP and Modbus-TCP, these standards will allow users to accelerate their progress towards a converged network architecture.
“Because EtherNet/IP is based on commercial-off-the-shelf technologies and uses widely accepted standards from the Ethernet and Internet, EtherNet/IP is now a major industry catalyst for the realization of the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “The enhancements to EtherNet/IP that are underway for 2016 are at the forefront of innovations that are driving the future of industrial automation toward the fourth industrial revolution.”
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 6, 2015 | Automation, Education, Operations Management, Workforce
Educating today’s young people both in essential skills required by modern manufacturing as well as on the careers available to them has become a strategic theme for technology suppliers and for manufacturers alike.
Phoenix Contact, a global technology supplier with US offices in Middletown, PA, has announced a partnership with a local community college to achieve just that.
HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, has become the first American school to join Phoenix Contact’s EduNet program. EduNet is an international education network that brings together schools and industry in the field of automation technology.
Workforce Education
Phoenix Contact and HACC officials announced the partnership Oct. 5, 2015, during the dedication of a new automation lab at HACC’s Midtown Trade and Technology Center in Harrisburg. Phoenix Contact’s contributions through the EduNet program include donating equipment for the lab. This gives students hands-on access to several Phoenix Contact ILC controller and PROFINET starter kits, the same type of equipment they might use once they graduate and work on the manufacturing floor.
Instructors will also receive a curriculum and free training sessions throughout the year. This includes the opportunity to travel internationally to attend a conference where they can network and exchange knowledge with EduNet teachers from other countries. Registration for the conference is free, courtesy of Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG, of Blomberg, Germany, while Phoenix Contact USA will help cover the cost of travel.
Phoenix Contact and HACC previously collaborated on other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education initiatives. Most prominently, they designed and implemented a Mechatronics Apprenticeship program in 2011. Over a four-year period, apprentices simultaneously work at Phoenix Contact while pursuing an associate degree in mechatronics at HACC, at no cost to the apprentice.
In 2013, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Apprenticeship and Training Council and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship recognized Phoenix Contact as an official apprenticeship and training sponsor and the first in the state to offer a mechatronics apprenticeship program. This means the program is available to any company that wants to start its own mechatronics program using the Phoenix Contact/HACC program as a model.
“As Central Pennsylvania looks to increase manufacturing jobs, STEM education is the keystone to developing a workforce with the skills to fill these jobs,” said Jack Nehlig, president of Phoenix Contact USA. “Our mechatronics partnership with HACC is a great example of STEM in action. To date, six students have graduated, and we have two more currently enrolled. We hope HACC is the first of many American colleges and universities who take advantage of the learning and networking opportunities EduNet can provide.”
Pictured in the group photo are (from left to right):
Patricia Marrero, Director of Organizational Leadership, Phoenix Contact Services; Jack Nehlig, President of Phoenix Contact USA; Daniel Koprowski, Mechatronics Technician Apprentice; Irvin Clark Ed.D., Vice President, HACC’s Harrisburg Campus; Tom Lepp, Instructor, mechatronics and electronics, HACC faculty member; David Skelton, Vice President. Phoenix Contact Development and Manufacturing; Jerry Wise, Technical Training Specialist, Phoenix Contact Services; Marian Roldan, Vice President Human Resources, Phoenix Contact Services; and Sheila Ciotti, Campus Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, HACC.
by Gary Mintchell | Nov 5, 2015 | Automation, Networking, News, Organizations, Technology
ODVA, the organization that develops and promotes networking protocols such as DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP, recently held its 17th Meeting.
ODVA’s Board of Directors for its 18th term are:
- Rolf Birkhofer, managing director for process solutions at Endress+Hauser,
- Thomas Bürger, vice president of engineering automation systems at Bosch Rexroth,
- Michael Höing, executive vice-president of cross divisional functions at Weidmüller Interface,
- Fabrice Jadot, senior vice-president for innovation and technology and CTO for the industry business of Schneider Electric,
- Tony Shakib, vice president of business development for the Internet of Things Business Development at Cisco Systems,
- Masaru Takeuchi, general manager of controller business and automation systems for industrial automation business at Omron, and
- Jürgen Weinhofer, vice-president for common architecture and technology for Rockwell Automation.
Officers for the 18th term are:
- Katherine Voss, president & executive director.
- Joakim Wiberg, chief technology officer,
- Christopher Lynch, secretary, and
- Jürgen Weinhofer, treasurer.
ODVA’s Technical Review Board (TRB) are Mr. Rudy Belliardi of Schneider Electric, Mr. Paul Didier of Cisco Systems, Dr. Jörg Hähniche of Endress+Hauser, Dr. Ludwig Leurs of Bosch Rexroth, Mr. Shinji Murayama of Omron, Mr. Eric Scott of Molex, Mr. Dave VanGompel of Rockwell Automation, and Mr. Joakim Wiberg of HMS Industrial Networks. As ODVA’s chief technology officer, Joakim Wiberg will be the TRB chairperson.
Smart Factory
In a keynote speech given by Prof. Dr.-Ing Detlef Zühlke, executive chairman of SmartFactory, he announced that the 2016 SmartFactory Demonstrator will include a proof of concept implementation of ODVA’s machine data model. The proof of concept will be supported by ODVA principal member Bosch Rexroth, which is also an executive member of SmartFactory.
ODVA’s machine data model is a result of ODVA’s initiative for the Optimization of Machine Integration (OMI) which was first announced in 2011 in cooperation with Sercos International and the OPC Foundation.
The OMI initiative is focused on techniques to optimize the integration of manufacturing machinery with the industrial ecosystem. One of the key machine integration problems that OMI seeks to solve is the streamlining and standardization of heterogeneous communication interfaces, such as CIP and Sercos, in order to enable standard reporting methods and tools across machines and thus aid in the management of machines and the monitoring of their states.
To investigate and develop standards in this area, ODVA established a Special Interest Group (SIG) for Machinery Information with participants from ODVA principal members Bosch Rexroth, Rockwell Automation, and Schneider Electric along with invited experts from OPC Foundation and Sercos International. The SIG has now completed its first phase of work to define a standard approach to machine data models which will then be mapped to the structures in CIP, OPC-UA, and Sercos. The 2016 SmartFactory production cell sponsored by Bosch Rexroth will illustrate the benefits of this approach.
“The concepts and standards being developed as a result of ODVA’s initiative for the Optimization of Machine Integration are well aligned with the goals of the SmartFactory,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing Detlef Zühlke, executive chairman of the Technology-Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V. “The concepts for ODVA’s machine data model will be a welcome addition to the SmartFactory demonstrator in 2016.”
“Certain types of data are typical to machine-to-supervisory communication. This data can be placed into logical groupings such as base machine context, conditioning monitoring, energy, safety, machine diagnostics, machine states, production recipes and product information,” stated Dr. Ludwig Leurs, co-chair of ODVA’s SIG for Machinery Information and engineering manager of Ethernet convergence for Bosch Rexroth. “The SmartFactory demonstrator will allow the SIG participants to prove out the concepts in ODVA’s machine data model before completing final specification for the model and its mapping to the protocol standards.”
“The concept of ODVA’s machine data model is groundbreaking because it applies the concept of “Things” as conceived in the Industrial Internet of Things to the machine itself,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “The alignment of SmartFactory with the Industrie 4.0 initiative, and thus the Industrial Internet of Things, makes the 2016 SmartFactory demonstrator an ideal venue to illustrate the benefits of ODVA’s concept of the machine.”
ODVA’s machine data model will be integrated into the Bosch Rexroth production cell for 2016 SmartFactory demonstrator that will premiere at Hannover Fair 2016 on April 25, 2016.
The Technology Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V. was founded in 2005 as a non-profit association to establish a network of industrial and research partners which initiate and implement together research and development projects ranging from base technologies to the development of marketable products.
Today SmartFactory is a manufacturer-independent demonstration and research platform and unique in Europe.
