Most people relate the term blockchain to an Internet currency or peer-to-peer payment system called Bitcoin.

But there’s way more value to blockchain technology than just a payment system.

And it just might help us solve a lot of problems related to industrial cyber security, particularly in Industrial Internet of Things applications.

Topics: Internet of Things, IoT, PACs, Security, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things

Sure, the industrial Internet of Things sounds cool. Real cool, in fact. But how do you do it and where do you get started?

For a self-proclaimed technology geek like myself, the industrial Internet of things (IIoT) is a pretty exciting topic. I wasn’t exactly born digital (individuals who have grown up with the current state of ubiquitous computing and communications).

Topics: IoT, PACs, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things

There’s a lot of talk these days about artificial intelligence, the cloud, and cognitive computing.

But what the heck do those things have to do with industrial automation, and why should automation professionals be getting up to speed on these technologies?

Topics: Discrete control, Internet of Things, IoT, Machine builder, PACs, I/O, REST API, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things

Who doesn't love a good Internet standard? I remember when I first got started in the technology world, reading RFCs was a great way to put myself to sleep at night.

But during the day, they did help considerably when trying to solve tech problems with hardware or software that wasn’t quite conforming to a defined technical specification. And that’s a problem we’re seeing with the Industrial Internet of Things today.

Topics: Internet of Things, IoT, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things

In a recent developer survey conducted by the Eclipse IoT Working Group, IEEE IoT, and Agile IoT, 40.8% of respondents indicated that the IoT solutions they were either currently building or planning to build are IoT platforms or IoT middleware.

Almost every large IT or OT company today has some form of IoT platform or middleware.

In fact, right now there are over 150 self-described IoT platforms in the market today. Not neccessarily created equally.

Topics: Energy management, PLCs, IoT, PACs, REST, IIoT, Node-RED

Note that the information below applies not only to PCs, PACs, and PLCs, but to pretty much any industry-standard compliant network device.

There are a ton of great network analysis tools out there today that you can pay huge sums of money for. But a go-to industry standard, and my tool of choice for everyday network troubleshooting, is a free piece of software called Wireshark.

Topics: PLCs, IoT, PACs, Networking, IIoT

This week Opto 22 is exhibiting at the Open IoT Summit in Portland, Oregon. The IoT Summit is a Linux Foundation event, packed with a ton of technology workshops and product demos.

We also exhibited at the IoT Summit last year. It’s a great chance to connect with the Linux developer community and get their perspective on things, since it’s so much different from what a typical industrial automation professional is exposed to.

Topics: groov, Internet of Things, IoT, PACs, API, REST, mobile, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Node-RED, GPIO

In a recent developer survey conducted by the Eclipse IoT Working Group, IEEE IoT, and Agile IoT, 40.8% of respondents indicated the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions they were either currently building or planning to build were IoT platforms or IoT middleware.

Almost every large IT or OT company today has some form of IoT platform or middleware, with the current number of self-described IoT platforms exceeding 150.

Topics: groov, Remote monitoring, Tips, IoT, Networking, IIoT, Node-RED, Data acquisition

Almost everyone in the industrial automation, process control, and factory automation industries is concerned with keeping their equipment up and running.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a key metric for understanding how the factory is performing.  And part of keeping things running is keeping things communicating. 

Topics: Internet of Things, IoT, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things

As noted in Opto 22’s recent edge computing technology primer, one of the key problems currently facing the IIoT is Internet bandwidth limitations. We’re talking about connecting billions of sensors to networks that were never designed to handle that kind of traffic.

I can remember the painful days of dial up Internet connectivity when millions of people started connecting their PCs to the Internet through tiny little phone lines, watching file transfers drag on and on for hours.

Topics: Internet of Things, IoT, IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things