Digital Transformation at the Industrial IoT Edge

Diverse Technologies Are Converging at the Industrial IoT Edge

The industrial IoT edge is experiencing a rapid convergence of diverse technologies driven by increased connectivity requirements, extension of IT architecture into OT spaces, growing recognition of edge compute applications as a source of business value for digitally transforming enterprises, and increased emphasis on the industrial edge as a means to fuel data-hungry AI and analytics applications.

Advancements in connectivity such as WiFi6, 5G, private networks, LoRaWAN, and others are changing the way industrial enterprises collect, move, and utilize their data. Technologies such as Kubernetes and Docker are increasingly a part of the edge compute value proposition, facilitating flexible orchestration of containerized applications. The low latency, high reliability, and secure nature of industrial edge compute environments will make them attractive deployment locations for the growing number of industrial AI applications.

In the context of these technological and market forces, an increasing number of organizations are investing in industrial edge technologies. 

Escalating Role of Software Extends to Industrial Network Infrastructure 

Industrial IoT edge hardware and software infrastructure is a primary enabler of digital transformation initiatives ranging from sustainability and electrification to regulatory compliance and security defense. Escalating functional requirements are coupled with the push to reduce operational and management complexity for the operations technology (OT) personnel tasked with deploying and managing edge infrastructure. 

Increasing software-driven functionality is likewise pushing suppliers to respond with new products and portfolio refreshes that support edge-to-cloud, edge compute, centralized management, and security. In the network infrastructure realm, current manifestations include new operating system firmware, edge compute capabilities, and new software suites for centralized management, visibility, monitoring, diagnostics, and security policy implementation across network types.