Shining a Light on Industrial IoT
and the Factory Floor
Cloud is for everyone, but not everything.
Scott Udell
Operations technology isn’t new, but
paired with the Internet of Things, it’s
enabling innovative solutions beyond
the four walls of the traditional
factory. However, OT does matter to the rest of us outside of
the production line, and it’s largely the fault and result
of three little letters: I, O, and T. The Internet of
Things (IoT), along with its big brother, the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT), is having a profound impact
on how next generation production operations will
run.
For many in today’s tech-driven world, OT, or Opera-
tions Technology, is a term that has rarely or perhaps
never been heard. Most are well-acquainted with IT,
or Information Technology, and many interact with
IT teams, systems, and resources on a daily basis. Security has always been a major concern. Not sur-
prisingly, it has long been the view of OT that the less
the rest of the company has physical or logical access
to a plant, the happier the OT team will be. In fact,
most OT systems have existed within the four walls of
the factory or plant and have been disconnected
almost entirely from the outside world.
What is OT, and why should I care?
First of all, OT has also been around for a long time,
even if you didn’t know it. Manufacturers have long
had teams dedicated to the day-to-day functioning of
production lines. Logistics companies have ware-
house operations teams. OT keeps power and manu-
facturing plants humming along. OT keeps the sort-
ing lines moving at the postal service. And lost
suitcases notwithstanding, the baggage handling
system at modern airports is a marvel to behold —
and the domain of OT.
In most cases, OT does its job quietly and behind the
scenes. OT only gets discussed when something goes
wrong — often spectacularly — such as when a pro-
duction line goes down, which can materially impact
a company’s delivery schedule and bottom line.
However, connected operations promise to dramati-
cally increase efficiency, utilization, and collabora-
tion. At the same time, IIoT and the cloud are rapidly
changing the assumption of a disconnected opera-
tion, and making security a bigger concern in the
process.
Use Cases of IIoT
Not unlike the rest of IoT, there are many use cases
and solutions that impact IIoT, but three rise to the
top in terms of scale, value, and potential impact.
They are the low-hanging fruit that will most likely be
where most enterprises take the next step in their
industrial IoT journeys:
• Predictive Maintenance
• Autonomy and Control
• Field Service Engineering
6 | THE DOPPLER | FALL 2017