I discuss the importance of interoperability of applications and the role of standards–specifically OPC UA and CCOM, an asset information standard from MIMOSA. I also throw in a description of students I met who compete in FIRST Robotics and a tip for cultivating innovation.
Connections, services, augmented reality. Three technology directions and three companies that contacted me last month to point out some cool things going on, often beneath the radar. One of them just raised a bunch of VC money, though. I think you’ll be hearing more.
Now that I’m catching my breath from a couple of intense weeks with the ARC Forum and then the Industry of Things Conference, I have time to look at some new directions.
Omnity uses the tagline Knowledge, connected. It accelerates the discovery of otherwise hidden, high-value patterns of interconnection within and between fields of knowledge as diverse as science, medicine, engineering, law and finance.
More than 2,500 scientific papers and 2,200 patent applications are published every day. Just the last five years of most scientific and engineering fields have produced on the scale of 100,000 documents. Reading these one an hour would take 50 years, a professional lifetime. Pair-wise comparison of these documents at three minutes per comparison would take more than 9,000 years, nearly the length of recorded human civilization. It is impossible to stay current in any field, much less the boundaries between two or more different fields, where most innovation occurs.
Omnity enables research and development professionals in all fields to rapidly and efficiently detect otherwise hidden patterns of relevant document interconnections. Whether for basic research or advanced product development, Omnity allows real-time insight into complex document sets, enabling research and development professionals to efficiently and systematically answer a wide range of questions. Read more here.
I heard about it on the podcast/radio show Tech Nation.
Safety Compass overlays information on your smartphone camera view, enhancing your field of vision. Warnings when and where you need it most—it is with you at work whenever and wherever you are, with coverage for the entire team. Simple, clear functionality with interactive hazard information suits any workplace size.
MuleSoft Agility starts with an application network according to MuleSoft. Mobility, Cloud services, the Internet of Things are creating incredible opportunities for business — but they’re raising customers’ expectations. MuleSoft builds application networks: seamless frameworks of applications, data sources, and devices connected by APIs, whether on-premises or in the cloud. They speed up app launch and modification cycles, make it easier to secure and manage access, and ultimately enable companies to do more — and faster — with less.
Leverage the power of API-led connectivity for a complete connectivity solution for digital business. Connect and orchestrate data on IoT devices, across devices, or with back-end applications. Leverage open standards and developer-friendly tools for speed and productivity. Connect to devices using out-of-the-box transport protocols like Zigbee and MQTT. Adapt Anypoint Platform to fit IoT architecture, not the other way around. Achieve full flexibility with a hybrid architecture and extensibility to connect future technologies.
MuleSoft recently received a large investment. Look for more from it.
Collaboration rules the technical world. A professor who influenced me greatly was ex-CIA (ex?). He would proclaim in our international politics classes during the height of the Cold War that politicians might want to close borders, but scientists would never allow it. “Scientists want to publish their findings,” he would say, “so they will publish and leave out a step in the mathematical proof. It would get past censors, but fellow scientists around the world would figure out the missing steps.”
Our world today is rife with politicians trying to close borders. No, it’s not only Trump in America.
Given the political times, I’m encouraged by all the technology collaboration I see. Last week I posted a year end update by Tom Burke of the OPC Foundation highlighting his work in collaborating with other standards bodies. I have been working with MIMOSA (and recently elected Chief Marketing Officer). This organization has also been working with a variety of organizations.
Last week came news of another collaboration. The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the global, member-supported organization that promotes the accelerated growth of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).Under the agreement, the IIC and CAICT will work together to help ensure interoperability for the industrial Internet in China.
The agreement is one of a number of agreements made by the IIC’s newly formed Liaison Working Group.
Joint activities between the IIC and CAICT will include:
“We look forward to working with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology to help further the development of the industrial Internet throughout China,” said Wael William Diab, Chair, IIC Liaison Working Group and Senior Director, Huawei. “We’re especially excited about joint activity on testbeds and research and development projects that will help advance the adoption of the industrial internet.”
“We highly value the cooperation between CAICT and the IIC,” said Mr. Xiaohui YU, CTO of CAICT. “The collaboration with the IIC will help establish tight relationships between the IIC and Chinese entities and organizations, such as the AII Alliance, and will develop, facilitate and enhance the industrial Internet.”
The Liaison Working Group is the gateway for formal relationships with standards and open-source organizations, consortia, alliances, certification and testing bodies and government entities/agencies.
China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) is a research academy under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology with over 2,400 employees. A specialized think-tank for the government, and an innovation and development platform for the industry, CAICT holds a service portfolio that covers the areas of information and communication technology, the integration of ICT and industries, such as 5G, Internet IoT and industrial Internet, cloud computing, big data, Intelligent manufacturing etc.
As a leading think-tank and platform in ICT field of China, it contributes to the development and innovation of the country and the ICT industry by providing support and services in terms of national strategies, plans, policies, standards, technology labs, testing and certification etc. CAICT is the national core supporting organization for industrial Internet, intelligent manufacturing and Internet relevant actions to the Chinese government, and is involved in the drafting of the “Internet+ action plan,” “Made in China 2025,”and other national strategies and guidance on IoT, Cloud computing, big data and Broadband China, etc. CAICT is currently the leading organization to promote the development of industrial Internet of China.
The Industrial Internet Consortium is a global, member-supported, organization that promotes the accelerated growth of the Industrial Internet of Things by coordinating ecosystem initiatives to securely connect, control and integrate assets and systems of assets with people, processes and data using common architectures, interoperability and open standards to deliver transformational business and societal outcomes across industries and public infrastructure. The Industrial Internet Consortium is managed by the Object Management Group (OMG).
A useful Internet of Things (IoT) requires interoperability; and, interoperability requires testing to assure that thing work together. Here is news of a test lab for IPv6.
The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services for the networking industry, has announced the launch of the Internet of Things (IoT) IP Testing Services. Created to offer custom Internet Protocol (IP) test services for IoT products specific to home environments, industrial networks, smart cities, and connected cars, the group will help improve IoT interoperability, reducing time-to-market and enhancing the customer experience. The IoT IP Testing Services will also offer testing for the IPv6 Ready IoT Logo launching in Spring 2017.
“As the world becomes increasingly connected and demand for IoT devices grows, companies are facing the challenge of how best to ensure interoperability, functionality, and security, while maximizing quality of experience for customers,” said Timothy Winters, Senior Executive, Software and IP networking, UNH-IOL. “The UNH-IOL IoT IP Testing Services provide a competitive advantage by enabling emerging IoT companies to validate their devices through trusted, third-party interoperability testing.”
One of the first labs approved to issue the IPv6 Forum’s IPv6 Ready logo, UNH-IOL’s IoT IP Testing Services deliver access to a multimillion-dollar test bed, custom IP testing services, and an array of networking experts with more than 60 years of combined experience in IPv6 protocols and testing. Emerging loT companies will gain competitive benefits from the group’s services, such as increased confidence in interoperability between security functionality, and accelerated market deployment cycles.
“Operators’ networks will need to evolve in order to address the coming IoT opportunity, and consider how security will play a role in IoT configuration agility and smart service flexibility for vertical industries,” said Lancen LaChance, Vice President Product Management, GlobalSign. “Ensuring IoT device security and identity is essential, as illustrated by recent DDoS attacks. By having their devices validated through the IoT IP Testing Services, IoT device manufacturers can be certain their products are optimized for and compliant with operator security requirements and changing network conditions.”
The IPv6 Forum is developing an IPv6 Ready Logo specifically for the IoT market. The logo validates basic IPv6 functionality, addressing privacy, and domain name system (DNS) services. This extensible service will have the ability to address future security request for comments (RFCs) such as data transport layer security (DTLS), Lightweight IKEv2, and simple certificate enrollment protocol (SCEP). Beginning in spring 2017, the IoT IP Testing Services will begin offering testing for the IPv6 Ready Logo to companies demonstrating verified protocol implementation and validated interoperability between IPv6 products. The IPv6 Ready Logo serves as a marketing Logo l, giving consumers the confidence of interoperability when purchasing new devices.
“Ensuring IoT devices operate correctly in different settings is essential for IoT manufacturers to meet new customer demand,” said David Blaine, Lead Software Engineer, Hayward Industries, Inc. “From TVs to game consoles to thermostats, there is an influx of consumer-based IoT products already reaching the marketplace. With access to extensive test beds at the UNH-IOL, manufacturers can ensure their products function as designed in the environments in which they will be deployed.”
For more information on the IPv6 Ready logo or the IoT IP Testing Services, please visit http://bit.ly/IoTIPTestingServices.
For additional information, please view the UNH-IOL IoT IP Testing Services Press Conference.
About the UNH-IOL
Founded in 1988, the UNH-IOL provides independent, broad-based interoperability and standards conformance testing for data, telecommunications and storage networking products and technologies. Combining extensive staff experience, standards-bodies participation and a 28,000+ square foot facility, the UNH-IOL helps companies efficiently and cost effectively deliver products to the market.
Industrial IP Advantage has launched an eLearning course focused on IT/OT integration for Industrial Ethernet. This is the fourth in a series of training courses designed to meet the emerging needs of control engineers and IT professionals tasked with deploying a secure network architecture. These courses are jointly developed by Cisco, Panduit and Rockwell Automation and available on the Industrial IP Advantage website.
Controls engineers have the plant-level domain knowledge needed to identify and analyze new industrial technologies that will help improve production efficiency and flexibility. Meanwhile, IT engineers have the domain knowledge needed to present actionable information where it is needed within an enterprise and throughout the value chain. This new course provides both with a sufficient level of knowledge to collaboratively architect a smart, integrated control system.
“Convergence between the IT and OT worlds is demanding new skills and knowledge,” said Ricardo Borlone, product manager at Precision Inc. “These self-paced courses are filling the skills gaps, and allow each participant to advance in their own time, rhythm and learning capacity. I especially enjoy this training format as it provides me the opportunity to focus on areas that match my interest and needs.”
The online training brings together the combined knowledge, best practices and application-specific expertise of three industry leaders to help engineers build a holistic IP-based network architecture. The courses are designed to help engineers drive design decisions from the device-level to the enterprise-wide network, leveraging interactive, scenario-based training on topics, such as logical topologies, protocols, switching and routing, security, physical cabling and wireless considerations.
The four available courses include:
The full training program is offered for $350 on the Industrial IP Advantage website.
“A critical mass of industrialized networking technology is now available. And for many manufacturers, the real challenge is finding qualified staff to design, deploy and maintain these networks,” said Paul Brooks, networks business development manager, Rockwell Automation. “The eLearning courses offered by Industrial IP Advantage are designed to help fill this skills gap.”
“Building a skilled and competent workforce ready to deploy a converged architecture presents businesses with more than just greater connectivity. It offers tremendous productivity gains, process efficiencies, and business value,” said Paul Taylor, senior manager, Cisco.
“A structured, engineered approach to assessing, designing, deploying and monitoring the physical infrastructure is necessary to ensure that investments in critical manufacturing networks deliver optimum performance,” said Ryan Lepp, director of business development, Panduit. “These new training courses help both IT and OT professionals work together to deliver optimal network performance with adherence to industry standards.”
Industrial IP Advantage is a community established by Cisco, Panduit and Rockwell Automation – three like-minded organizations joining together to educate the market on the benefits of Ethernet, Internet Protocol and EtherNet/IP. Industrial IP Advantage was formed in cooperation with ODVA, the organization that manages and commercializes the EtherNet/IP specification and standard.
The vision of Industrial IP Advantage is enabling smart manufacturing with a workforce that is fully prepared to accelerate the transformation to secure information architectures with best practices, education and training that drive IT/OT convergence.
