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Eliminate the stress of ELD compliance and managing devices across your fleet with business mobile solutions.
Customized solutions to connect remote sites, track assets, and manage drone fleets.
Give your techs the tools they need for successful service delivery.
Enable positive in-store experiences, reduce shrinkage, and leverage data to optimize inventory.
Boost efficiency, reduce cost overruns, and effectively manage shrinkage.
Take control of hospital operations, manage patient records, securely run telemedicine sessions, and get real-time imaging results.
Empower after-school programs and workforce readiness for kids in at-risk communities.
Customizable deployments for iOS and Android factory mobile deployments. IT/OT solutions across the plant.
Unified endpoint management for your devices, IoT, wearables, and more with solutions that are right for your business.
Avoid telecom carrier lockouts and save with a telecom expense-managed solution. Mix and match carriers to each team’s needs within your organization.
Expertly crafted custom mobile solutions to tackle any business challenge that organizations encounter.
Tradeshows and industry events we participate in.

Eliminate the stress of ELD compliance and managing devices across your fleet with business mobile solutions.

Customized solutions to connect remote sites, track assets, and manage drone fleets.

Give your techs the tools they need for successful service delivery.
Enable positive in-store experiences, reduce shrinkage, and leverage data to optimize inventory.

Boost efficiency, reduce cost overruns, and effectively manage shrinkage.

Take control of hospital operations, manage patient records, securely run telemedicine sessions, and get real-time imaging results.

Empower after-school programs and workforce readiness for kids in at-risk communities.

Customizable deployments for iOS and Android factory mobile deployments. IT/OT solutions across the plant.

Unified endpoint management for your devices, IoT, wearables, and more with solutions that are right for your business.

Avoid telecom carrier lockouts and save with a telecom expense-managed solution. Mix and match carriers to each team’s needs within your organization.

Expertly crafted custom mobile solutions to tackle any business challenge that organizations encounter.
Tradeshows and industry events we participate in.

IT/OT Convergence. How will it benefit businesses.

October 30, 2024

IT/OT convergence just got accelerated with the recent AI boom. With 87% of industrial leaders1 seeing a transformative impact on their operations, the need for an everything-connected solution isn’t just a necessity but a competitive advantage.

87% of industrial leaders1 seeing a transformative impact on their operations

As businesses transition their operations and processes to industry 4.0 strategies, IT/OT bridges the gaps between IT and operations teams. Beyond connecting teams, IT/OT convergence creates a digital twin of operational technologies.

 

What is OT?

OT stands for operational technology, a combination of software and hardware management and control systems for HMIs, PLCs, sensors, servers, machine data, IoT, and so much more. Essentially, connecting physical assets to an app a mobile worker can use.

With convergence, physical machines that were once disconnected from business systems can now be operated and tracked remotely. Enabling real-time data-driven insights and control for operators.

 

IT/OT Use cases

Manufacturing

Building a virtual factory environment enables smart manufacturing and greater precision for plant leaders and their teams. Digitizing the manufacturing process empowers operators with greater control over their costs and output.

40% of new HMI setups1 include AI and machine learning

  • Human-machine interface. More than 40% of new HMI setups1 include AI and machine learning. IT/OT enables machine operators to detect issues and monitor machine uptime immediately. Empowering the business to monitor run rates, operating costs, and production capacity all from an iPad. Ask us how we deployed this solution for our customers.
  • Programmable logic controllers and switches. PLCs combined with sensors make it possible to automate a plant or facility. IT/OT enables analog outputs to be converted to digital information, empowering plant operators to perform preventative corrective and maintenance on equipment.

 

Transportation

Often overlooked, logistics equally benefits from IT/OT convergence. With over 20+ possible IoT devices in a vehicle, operational and maintenance teams can leverage deep insights into fleet performance and vehicle health.

  • As the leader in fleet mobility solutions, we’ve seen increasing demand from our customers to connect components of their vehicles to their command centers and maintenance facilities. IoT components like:
    • Tire sensors
    • Force sensors
    • Thermometers
    • In-cab gateways
    • ELD
    • Security sensors

Beyond safety and compliance, vehicle IoT enables maintenance teams to troubleshoot issues immediately and perform total preventative maintenance, so your drivers don’t lose hours and fleet operations aren’t affected.

  • Cold chain. Let’s talk ice cream! Refrigerated fleets ferry your favorite frosty treats from the production floor to the grocery store. With cold chain logistics set to grow to $862bn2 temperature-sensitive goods like ice cream, meat, pharmaceuticals, and even organs require more than just a thermometer in the truck.

The tablets in your fleets can do more than log hours and navigation. They can act as the brains of the vehicle with the right solution, and report back to headquarters.

 

Building and Facilities

The surge in demand for designing energy-efficient, eco-friendly buildings and greater adoption of building automation drive the growth of building IT/OT systems.

Infrastructure and real estate incorporate smart devices like, NEST, automated power distribution, smart panels, CCTV, and other IoT. As buildings and facilities get “smarter” and automated, IT/OT systems play a key role in managing systems for:

  • Energy
  • HVAC
  • Lighting
  • Security

The recipe for successful BMS deployments consists of three foundational ingredients:

  1. Hardware
    1. Control panels or PLCs
    2. Sensors
    3. Actuators
  2. Software
    1. Operating systems
    2. BMS, IT/OT
  3. Network Infrastructure

Can outdated analog systems be incorporated into BMS software?

The short answer is yes and no. It may be more cost-effective to replace outdated hardware systems with new IoT devices. If you’re planning to deploy new facilities and are looking to incorporate BMS, give us a call. We can help with your deployment.

 

IT

23% have achieved more than a basic level of IT and OT convergence3

While the benefits of an IT/OT system may seem obvious to IT teams, only 23% have achieved more than a basic level of IT and OT convergence3. IT infrastructure is essential to get the most out of IT/OT systems and perform predictive, prescriptive, and some AI functions.

  • Server infrastructure. While corporations may opt to deploy physical server infrastructure, cloud-based hosting may help speed up IT/OT deployments at scale. We recommend cloud computing for these benefits:
    • Faster deployment times
    • Scalable and flexible
    • Cheaper to deploy
    • Advanced security
    • Easy to backup
  • A cloud computing solution is only as good as its ability to connect the entire facility and the mobile workforce.
    • Dedicated point-to-point. For corporations, we always recommend dedicated point-to-point connectivity, with a failover. Especially if facilities need to communicate with each other in real-time.
    • We found Cradlepoints to be one of the best secure connectivity devices. Lab-tested and deployed across facilities and job sites nationwide, our Cradlepoint modems can accept both wired and wireless connectivity.
  • Software enables customizable job profiles to be created based on work functions.

Wired, wireless, satellite, and even no internet, we work with connectivity partners nationwide to deploy at static sites, mobile locations, and remote. Ask us about our connectivity options.

 

Benefits of IT/OT convergence

Aside from the obvious benefits of lower costs, greater efficiencies, and productivity gains, convergence has a greater transformative impact.

  • Software-driven automation
    • IoT and sensor tech are still necessary but provide operators with real-time updates and control even if they’re not directly in front of the machine.
    • Greater monitoring of potential machine breakdown and immediate parts ordering and replacement for maintenance crews.
  • Enforcing consistent regulatory compliance
    • Real-time monitoring and analytics with proactive quality control measures.
    • Audit trails and reporting.
  • Safety
    • Certain systems come packaged with safety, for inspections, or lone worker.
    • Our EHS software partners can detect industrial ergonomics with 3D motion capture. Ask us how.
  • Zero-downtime
    • Uninterrupted operation with total predictive maintenance before a part or machine halts the entire production line or plant.
  • MQTT
    • Message queuing telemetry transport or MQTT makes all this possible. The lack of processing power and memory constrains IoT devices like sensors and switches. IT/OT systems are built with MQTT enabling real-time communication with IoT.

 

IT/OT Security

Cybersecurity is vital to ensuring critical systems at the plant or factory floor are secure. Aside from having secure networking devices and cybersecurity software, extra layers of protection can help like:

  • Deploying the Purdue model4
  • Updating software
  • Limiting access
  • Using UEM/EMM/MDM endpoints
  • Maintain password hygiene

Like all systems deployments, security and who should have access should always be a top priority. We, the humans, are oftentimes the source of a security breach.

 

How eSquared can help deploy your IT/OT solution

Thank you for making it this far! We work with the major IT/OT software providers in monitoring, safety, ERP, SCADA, MES, and more. If you have an IT/OT project in the works or are planning to deploy one, we can help.

 

1 Virtue market research
2 Fortune business insights
3 The manufacturer
4 Department of Energy

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