PrismTech announced Monday commercial release of Vortex Edge Connect, a scalable and extensible framework for connecting different endpoint technologies together in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industrie 4.0 systems. Vortex Edge Connect enables data interoperability and connectivity between industrial data sources and applications independent of whether they are deployed on local edge networks close to machines or in the cloud.
PrismTech’s new Vortex Edge Connect has been developed to address this need. Vortex Edge Connect enables data from operational systems to be ingested by IIoT edge nodes (e.g. IoT Gateway or Fog Node), converted into a normalized in-memory data model which can then be shared with other communication endpoints via the framework. Data integration is achieved via a set of protocol specific connectors that interact and populate the data model with real-time data.
IoT systems represent a major convergence between the Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) worlds. Both domains have traditionally deployed technologies specific to their own use-cases with little need for seamless integration between the underlying infrastructures. With the advent of IIoT and Industrie 4.0 the boundaries between OT and IT systems has become blurred. For companies to leverage the benefits from the plethora of new data generated by connected assets, information must be able to flow seamlessly and very often in real-time to wherever in a system the analytics is deployed, either at the edge of a system or in the cloud.
One of the key challenges facing the IIoT community is how to connect operational or field systems that use a broad and extensive catalog of communication technologies with higher level IIoT systems where the protocols are completely different.
Industrial devices including PLCs, PAC, RTUs, DAQs or sensors/actuators using a range of OT protocols can share and receive data with industrial (e.g. MES, SCADA, Predictive Maintenance) and enterprise (e.g. ERP, Big Data Analytics, Storage) applications using a different set of communications standards and deployed at various levels within an end-to-end-IIoT system.
Vortex Edge Connect provides a set of out-of-the-box connectors to common OT protocols such as Modbus (TCP/IP and RTU), CANopen, EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP and core IoT data-backbone protocols such as MQTT, DDS™ and HTPP/REST. Each connector is purchased separately and additional protocol connectors will be added over time as the product is rolled out. To request connector support for a specific protocol, please contact PrismTech.
Vortex Edge Connect is highly scalable and can support 1-1, 1-many, many-1 or many-many data connection models. Vortex Edge Connect is an operating system independent framework that is available for both Linux and Windows (second half 2017) platforms.
Vortex Edge Connect is part of the Vortex Edge family of IIoT platform solutions and enabling technologies designed and optimized to support the demanding requirements of industrial applications by connecting machines, advanced analytics and people to create more effective operations and better business outcomes.
Vortex Edge Connect enables connectivity and data interoperability between industrial data sources and applications independent of whether they are deployed on local edge networks or in the cloud. Industrial devices including PLCs, PAC, RTUs, DAQs or sensors/actuators using a range of OT protocols can share and receive data with industrial (e.g. MES, SCADA, Predictive Maintenance) and enterprise (e.g. ERP, Big Data Analytics, Storage) applications using a different set of communications standards and deployed at different levels within an end-to-end IIoT system.
Vortex Edge Connect provides a set of out-of-the-box connectors to common OT data sources such as ModBus (TCP/IP), CANopen, EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP and core IoT data-backbone protocols such as MQTT, DDS and HTTP/REST. It is highly scalable and can support 1-1, 1-many, many-1 or many-many data connection models; delivers an operating system independent framework that is available for both Linux and Windows platforms; and is a deployment technology and is licensed on a connector/per node basis. Each connector can be purchased separately and additional protocol connectors will be added in the future.
“Integrating OT and IT infrastructure in an end-to-end IIoT system is currently an area of major cost and has been a significant roadblock to IIoT adoption. Vortex Edge Connect will enable the IIoT community to address this challenge in a much more efficient, cost-effective and scalable way,” said Simon Collins, Senior Product Manager, PrismTech.
