Business Strategy and Innovation Framework
Portal / UX Services |
Resource Discovery |
Application Management |
Data Analytics & Presentation |
Service Charging & Accounting |
Location Services |
Policy Management |
Identity Management |
Registration |
Subscription Management |
Group Management |
Device Management |
Data Management & Repository |
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|
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Communication Management |
Security Management |
Disaster Recovery |
Figure 6-2 : Inventory of IIoT platform service functions
These IIoT platform services are common to many IIoT applications . There are standardization advantages to reusing these services to support multiple applications . Furthermore , their inclusion in a horizontal platform architecture helps to break down silo boundaries and enables interoperability 1 across applications . ,
Consider a scenario where different platforms support multiple applications . Clearly , there are economic benefits from sharing common infrastructure . More importantly , shared services allow applications to share data as well as security and identity management credentials .
In practical terms , this would enable the owner of App # 1 in Figure 6-1 above to deliver a better application by incorporating data from one of the devices associated with App # 4 , for example . Similarly , an application provider on Platform A could create a completely new application by combining sensors and other data sources from Apps 1 #, # 2 and # 3 . The presence of common service functions in a horizontal IIoT platform architecture makes this possible . These examples illustrate the case where a horizontal platform supports multiple interoperable vertical applications . In a market where several vertical and horizontal platforms exist , horizontal platforms also enable cross-platform interoperability .
Interoperability is particularly relevant in industrial environments . Construction sites , farms , manufacturing plants and transport hubs all offer significant opportunities for sharing sensors , data and computing resources .
1
For the purposes of this discussion , we do not distinguish between interoperability and interworking . IIC : PUB : B01 : V1.0 : PB : 20161115 - 41 -