The industrial automation (IA) landscape has transformed
substantially since the early days of enabling direct digital control
of equipment and devices on the factory floor. Traditionally,
operational technology (OT) was only concerned with managing
physical processes and machinery in manufacturing environments.
In contrast, information technology (IT) was only concerned with
managing the flow of digital information on office networks.
Although OT and IT initially developed separately from each other,
these two disciplines have since converged into a widely accepted
“automation pillar” where both OT and IT systems need to connect
with industrial field devices. To stay competitive in an increasingly
connected world, previously unconnected OT assets not only
require industrial connectivity, but may also demand IT or cloud
capabilities that go beyond on-premises applications to effectively
draw business intelligence that improves industrial productivity,
efficiency, and scalability.
Dubbed the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0, the
trend towards further convergence between OT and IT networks is
already underway and features new forms of industrial connectivity
and networking. Unfortunately, the arduous task of choosing
the right industrial connectivity and networking solutions in this
converged landscape all-too-often befalls an IT engineer who lacks
experience with OT protocols and automation systems, or an OT
engineer unfamiliar with enterprise IT networking.
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