As you can imagine, the conversations we have been having recently with our customers have been centred around remote access and data visibility. The good news is, we have been supplying these types of solutions for over a decade through our trusted System Integrator and OEM network.
The technological advancements that have been introduced over those years now means we can do this much easier and more securely. If you haven’t already, check out our blog on “Ensuring Operational Continuity” for a great insight into how remote workers can get secure, remote access to their SCADA / HMI applications.
COVID-19 is forcing our world to change
Social distancing, non-essential employees and people who are considered high risk means plant floors are being reduced to skeleton shifts but with that, means every factory is losing a wealth of experience overnight. Operations, continuous improvement, quality and maintenance managers may no longer be able to peruse the plant floor, access historical information from the production process or read key KPIs in a timely manner. As with most scenarios we come across, everyone’s systems and requirements are different, but this blog will explain some of the tools available to help you succeed.
Getting information outside of a factory for some, can be quite a scary concept. If we mention cloud today, many organisations are now receptive to this and for good reason. If you follow the secure by design principles that SolutionsPT echo, then you can really reap the benefits of our fully enabled Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud solution. Everything for that environment is automatically provisioned for you so you don’t have to worry about adding computers to your control / server room. They key question for this to be a success is; “are your current systems cloud enabled?”.
The short answer is yes…
What you may not know is that if you are already running a 2017 or later version of our InTouch, Historian, Citect or System Platform software then it comes with a built in “publisher”, allowing you to publish the data you need from your current systems to our AVEVA Insight cloud environment by entering the login details to our cloud environment.
Our cloud solution also comes with software to install in your demilitarized zone called DMZ Secure Link to ensure that only permitted sites used by AVEVA Insight can make the necessary connection and any attempts to other sites are blocked.
Not running some of our latest software or something completely different?
Don’t worry, our publisher comes as a stand-alone tool that enables a connection to a plethora of different devices and third-party systems. We also supply hardware that is installed with the software required to get up and running as quickly as possible if you’d like to keep everything separate.
When it comes to the cloud and AVEVA Insight, it isn’t a replication of your on-premise Historian. This is a self-service, “frictionless” web driven tool that intuitively allows you to search for any data across an enterprise. The very nature of cloud means you are not bound by a local network anymore, connect tens, hundreds or even thousands of data sources to the cloud and you can visualise them all from one web browser.
There are also extremely useful features built into this interface above and beyond simple analysis of data such as geo-location, push notification for condition management, asset context and operational efficiency to name a few.
To get a real taste of the capability of AVEVA Insight go to their website https://online.wonderware.eu/ and hit “Try it now” for some sample data or sign up now and we’ll help you get your data to the cloud.
In response to COVID-19, AVEVA are making new sign-ups free of charge until the 30th of June!
I’m not talking about a knee jerk reaction to the current climate, this is the technology and solutions that SolutionsPT have been providing for many years that can help to immediately address your current concerns. Any of the tools and implementations discussed can help you today, tomorrow and for years to come. Introduce the future now and start realising the rewards.
Download our latest webinar to find out more!
