OSIsoft’s PI Cloud Connect Generally Available for Information Sharing Across Enterprises

OSIsoft announces that the generally availability of PI Cloud Connect, a SaaS model that allows for information sharing across enterprises, as part of PI Cloud Services.

PI Cloud Connect is the first of a set of services delivered by OSIsoft that fall under the PI Cloud Services umbrella. PI Cloud Connect is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering managed by OSIsoft that allows users to share data between PI Systems.

PI Cloud Connect makes it easy to share data between PI Systems — both inside and outside the enterprise. Users can publish data and grant access to other PI Cloud Connect users, so that they can subscribe to that data. PI Cloud Connect secures and brokers communication between the publisher and subscriber, even when they are outside the organization.

PI Cloud Connect offers many advantages:

• Solution maintained and managed by OSIsoft with minimal On-Prem footprint
• Scalable and reliable solution based on Windows Azure
• Configuration and monitoring accessible through a Web-based Customer Portal that only requires a modern Web browser
• Secure data sharing without requiring Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
• Seamless and simultaneous transfer of time series data and meta-data from user PI AF structures allows asset models in the PI System to be transferred.
• Publish/subscribe architecture that supports one-to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many data exchanges, which advantageously replaces point-to-point connections

Sharing data with other corporations
In many situations, all partners in a business collaboration — such as joint ventures, contract manufacturers, expert service providers, and operations and maintenance companies — need access to production data. When all partners have access to time-series production data, each of them can plan ahead for equipment maintenance or scheduling the delivering of critical components

PI Cloud Connect provides all parties a secure way of sharing data between their respective PI Systems without having to deploy point-to-point VPNs in multiple scenarios:

• In a joint venture — even though only one company usually operates the assets — all partners need access to the production data
• To deliver the best service possible, partners and vendors who supply raw materials, equipment, or expertise need access to the time series data collected at the operations sites
• Contract manufacturers, who manufacture products on behalf of other companies, need to expose the operation and quality data to those companies
• Operations and Maintenance companies (O&M), Service Providers (SP), and Performance Analytic Vendors (PAV) also need access to the time series data on site to provide expert knowledge about the efficiency and health of equipment, such as pumps, compressors, generators or other components or additives that are critical to a certain process

Sharing data within the company
Users who have a central PI System installed at the head office and other PI System instances deployed at operations' sites, probably want to have a centralized view of the operations and make site-to-site comparisons. With PI Cloud Connect, sites that monitor assets and collect time series data can publish their data so that the head office can subscribe to it.

Keywords: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud-Based, Windows Azure, Asset Models, ARC Advisory Group.