Throughout history, industrial revolutions have hinged on the power of automating processes. While automation today offers many benefits, imagine if you could automate thousands – or even millions – of processes simultaneously? This is the next potential wave of innovation, and it’s the organizations that are “geographically dispersed” or “automation heavy” that will benefit the most.
While long-range communications and connectivity have become increasingly easier to attain, businesses need to be able to break down their isolated islands of automation in industry to achieve comprehensive and connected automation at scale. For example, there always has been a clear line dividing operations technology (OT) and information technology (IT) networks. The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) blurs that line as industrial operations head in the direction of complete connectivity for all devices on a network – including those remotely located in the field. With new dedicated access layer platforms, IoT data can be analyzed, acted upon and transmitted from anywhere in an Industrial IoT (IIoT) network.