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IIoT technology 'closes the factory-cloud gap'

08 May, 2019

HMS Networks has announced a technology that, it says, will close the gap between the factory floor and the cloud, allowing manufacturers to implement the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in an easy and secure way. The new “end-to-end” concept, combines Anybus Edge gateways that connect to industrial hardware, with HMS’ Hub, which provides secure data connections and integration wth IoT software, as well as a customisable Hub portal with data management and visualisation functions.

HMS says that connecting and integrating data between industrial operations and enterprise systems, and making these systems secure, is “anything but simple”. The new technology is designed to addresses this problem.

The gateways access data from devices and machines in an easy, secure way, also supporting data and device management. They allow intelligent decentralised operations to be executed close to the data sources. User-defined data from the gateways is provided via the Hub to the cloud using a secure connection. As well as being used for monitoring, all connected equipment to be controlled from IoT applications “in a smart way”.

The gateways are connected tightly to the Hub, which includes a powerful broker that provides services and actions to manage inbound and outbound data, including configuration, device management and security aspects. The Hub also allows data integration with third-party clouds and enterprise systems in a simple and secure way.

IIoT systems installed in factories need to be able to handle future threats and changes, while devices and machines need to be updated over their lifecycles –  the biggest security threat for any system is an out-of-date device with a known vulnerability.

HMS’ Anybus Edge gateways allow data from industrial devices and machines to be accessed in an easy and secure way

The Anybus Edge gateways and HMS Hub combine to form an end-to-end architecture that is said to give users full control over their data, which is fully protected. Systems can be controlled, monitored and updated, thus averting threats and that allowing the system to be updated in future.

The first release of Anybus Edge offers gateway connections to equipment on Profibus, Profinet, Ethernet/IP and M-bus, as well as analogue and digital I/O. More options will be added later, including wireless connections. 




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