Posts

New Release of Cogent DataHub Features OPC UA and Video Camera Support

/by
Major new release of Cogent DataHub v8.0 enables Industrial IoT and secure in-plant data connectivity.

Mississauga, Ontario, March 1, 2017 – Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (“Skkynet”) (OTCQB: SKKY), a global leader in real-time cloud information systems, announces that Cogent Real-Time Systems, a Skkynet subsidiary, has issued a major new release of its Cogent DataHub® software to include support for OPC UA and streaming video.  Version 8.0 of the Cogent DataHub can connect and integrate data for virtually any industrial system, ranging from legacy equipment to state-of-the-art Industry 4.0 and Industrial IoT systems.

“With OPC UA and in-band video streaming capabilities the Cogent DataHub is poised at the forefront of the IIoT wave,” said Andrew Thomas, Skkynet CEO. “The DataHub is uniquely positioned to extend OPC UA by seamlessly connecting it to the previous generation of OPC (OPC Classic), while providing full integration with video streams, SQL databases, Excel spreadsheets, a web-based HMI, and the SkkyHub™ service for cloud connectivity.”

OPC is a series of standards for connecting industrial hardware and devices with HMIs and other software.  OPC Classic has millions of installations established over twenty years.  OPC UA (Unified Architecture) was introduced to expand the domain of OPC beyond traditional industrial applications, and to provide improved networking and security.  “The DataHub effectively provides a fast, easy and non-disruptive upgrade path to existing industrial control infrastructure built around the OPC standards” said Mr. Thomas.

The latest version of the Cogent DataHub fully integrates OPC UA as one of its standard protocols, along with OPC DA and other industrial protocols to support OPC networking, OPC server-server bridging, aggregation, data logging, redundancy, and web-based HMI. Capable of handling over 50,000 data changes per second, the DataHub is also seamlessly integrated with Skkynet’s SkkyHub and ETK for secure, end-to-end Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0 connectivity.

The Cogent DataHub connects to Skkynet’s SkkyHub service to securely network live data in real time from any location. It enables bidirectional IoT-based supervisory control, integration and sharing of data with multiple users. Secure by design, the service requires no VPN, no open firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware. It also connects to the Skkynet Embedded Toolkit (ETK), to provide real-time, bidirectional data exchange with embedded devices.

About Skkynet

Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: SKKY) is a global leader in real-time cloud information systems. The Skkynet Connected Systems platform includes the award-winning SkkyHub™ service, DataHub®, WebView™, and Embedded Toolkit (ETK) software. The platform enables real-time data connectivity for industrial, embedded, and financial systems, with no programming required. Skkynet’s platform is uniquely positioned for the “Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” because unlike the traditional approach for networked systems, SkkyHub is secure-by-design. For more information, see http://skkynet.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, such as the inherent uncertainties associated with new business opportunities and development stage companies. Skkynet assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Although Skkynet believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Investors should refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in Skkynet’s annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Industrial Analytics: Predictive and Prescriptive

/by

A few blogs back we looked at growing interest in extracting value from IoT data through industrial analytics.  This interest has not sprouted up overnight.  Since the beginning of computer-assisted control systems, plant engineers and managers have been using their increasingly powerful and sophisticated tools to gather data, and then use the data to improve their processes.

For much of that time, the idea was to collect data in a database, and then at the end of the month or quarter, run various analytical tools on the data to see where the problems and bottlenecks were, and what could be changed.  This approach had some value, but it is essentially a reactive model.  Today, there is a general trend underway to go beyond simple reaction like this, and move towards the ability to predict problems, and if possible prescribe a solution.  In a recent blog, Blurred Lines Between Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics Mike Guilfoyle at ARC Advisory Group explains the value of each of these approaches to analytics, as well as their differences.

He breaks down this kind of pro-active analysis into three parts: performance, predictive and prescriptive, distinguished as follows:

  • Performance describes what is happening or has happened, and is the starting point of all analytics, reactive or pro-active.  The focus here is on current or past performance.
  • Predictive looks forward to what is most probable to happen, given the current conditions, using Big Data, machine learning, and other IT tools.
  • Prescriptive uses all of the above inputs, and adds to that a knowledge base and decision-making algorithms to prescribe what action can or should be taken.  In some instances, the system might actually even carry out the action, which is referred to as “closed-loop control.”

Guilfoyle goes on to identify some of important differences between predictive and presciptive analytics.  In fact, he will be leading a session on analytics best practices at the ARC Industry Forum this week.  You may not be able to attend, but his article is a good introduction.

In any case, the trend towards predictive and prescriptive analytics and any kind of closed-loop control based on such approaches highlights the need for secure, real-time access to plant data.  It is yet another example of the closing gap between OT and IT, and is an unmistakable benefit of the Industrial IoT.

Skkynet to Exhibit New IIoT Technology at ARC Industry Forum

/by
New embedded systems technologies and Industry 4.0 protocol support drive Skkynet’s demos of the Industrial IoT.

Mississauga, Ontario, January 31, 2017 – Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (“Skkynet”) (OTCQB: SKKY), a global leader in real-time cloud information systems, will demonstrate the latest release candidate of the Cogent DataHub® connecting via SkkyHub™ to the newest Renesas Synergy™ Platform, at the ARC Industry Forum on February 6-9 in Orlando, Florida.  The hands-on IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) demo will let users interact securely with a live embedded system from their mobile devices over OPC UA, the recommended protocol for Industry 4.0.

“People need to see something working, and interact with it, to truly understand what we mean by an end-to-end IIoT solution,” said Paul Thomas, President of Skkynet. “This demo brings the IIoT out of the realm of speculation and into the domain of practical solutions that the C-level executives who attend the ARC Industry Forum expect to see.”

The ARC Industry Forum brings together CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, VPs, directors and managers of some of the largest industrial companies in the world.  This year’s focus on the IIoT focuses on the convergence of IT, OT (operations technology), and ET (engineering technology) and explores the move “from Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) concepts to real IIoT products, solutions, and services.”

The Skkynet technology being showcased includes the latest version of the Cogent DataHub, which  fully integrates OPC UA and other industrial protocols to support OPC networking, OPC server-server bridging, aggregation, data logging, redundancy, and web-based HMI. Capable of handling over 50,000 data changes per second, the DataHub is also seamlessly integrated with Skkynet’s SkkyHub and ETK for secure, end-to-end Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0 connectivity.

The demo also includes the Renesas Synergy Platform running the Skkynet Embedded Toolkit (ETK), which allows embedded devices to make a secure connection to the Cogent DataHub or SkkyHub, enabling real-time, bidirectional IoT data flow. Skkynet’s SkkyHub service connects to the ETK and the Cogent DataHub to securely network live data in real time from any location. It enables bidirectional IoT-based supervisory control, integration and sharing of data with multiple users. Secure by design, the service requires no VPN, no open firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware.

About Skkynet

Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: SKKY) is a global leader in real-time cloud information systems. The Skkynet Connected Systems platform includes the award-winning SkkyHub™ service, DataHub®, WebView™, and Embedded Toolkit (ETK) software. The platform enables real-time data connectivity for industrial, embedded, and financial systems, with no programming required. Skkynet’s platform is uniquely positioned for the “Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” because unlike the traditional approach for networked systems, SkkyHub is secure-by-design. For more information, see http://skkynet.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, such as the inherent uncertainties associated with new business opportunities and development stage companies. Skkynet assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Although Skkynet believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Investors should refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in Skkynet’s annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Will this be the year that your enterprise makes the IIoT leap?

/by

For the second January in a row, we’re using this lead issue to look ahead at the industry conversations likely to follow over the next 11 months. Like last year, there’s still no bigger buzz than the impact that digital transformation and the industrial internet is having both on work and on the people who do work.

I’m writing this note on the 10-year anniversary of the launch of the iPhone, which marks a genuine milestone in the history of both internet-enabled communications and mobile computing. As the iPhone evolved and the iPad emerged, savvier organizations and IT workers caught on early to the opportunities available to digitize operations. For example, a close friend who works in commercial real estate directed his teams early on to rethink his organization’s processes as each new Apple device launched, reducing business friction in the field and moving toward nearly paperless operations.

Many other contributors this month round out the digital conversation:

  • IFS CTO Dan Matthews identifies three myths that cause organizations to hesitate on IoT projects.
  • Skkynet’s Bob McIlvride examines how to combine in-house skills with outside expertise to build systems that enable deeper data-driven insights into your assets.
  • Bruce Hawkins and Scott Bruni review the foundational IIoT steps that plant teams can take, noting that roughly 60% of the instrumentation needed for critical assets often already exists.
  • Tech Toolbox’s Sheila Kennedy surveys the network security solutions landscape in an age of IT-OT convergence.
  • Jeff Shiver of People and Processes outlines six steps that can improve the speed and quality of cultural change in your organization.
    Finally, in her Big Picture Interview, Bentley Systems’ Anne-Marie Walters looks ahead to the role that 3D modeling will play in the internet-enabled asset management landscape.
Click here for full article

2017: Predictions for Smart Manufacturers

/by

The start of the new year brings new hope, new resolutions, and new predictions from the pundits. For the year 2017 and beyond, IDC FutureScape has published their vision, 10 Predictions for the Manufacturing Industry.

“It’s important to note that technology continues to reshape the relationship between business and IT for innovation and digital transformation,” says the document summary.  “Manufacturers want to work smarter using digital technologies in their products and processes and throughout the value chain.”

Of the ten predictions given, at least five of them involve or imply Industrial IoT and Industrie 4.0.  Three of these five promise to be beneficial, while the other two represent stumbling blocks that any alert C-level executive would do well to heed.

Benefits

The proponents and early adopters of smart manufacturing have seen and expect to see more evidence of its benefits.  Among these benefits, here are three related to the IIoT that the IDC report predicts:

1. IT and OT integration will continue to provide advantages in efficiency and responsiveness within the organization.  By 2019, about 35% of large multinationals will be integrating their IT and OT systems at a significant level, and deriving those benefits.

2. Increased use of IIoT among as many as 75% of the world’s major manufacturers by 2019 will power real-time analytics, which in turn will drive predictive maintenance and similar initiatives.  As a result, these companies will reduce risk and bring their products to market more quickly.

3. Integration of supply chain, plant operations, and life-cycle management will offer gains in the overall value of their businesses for the 50% or so of manufacturers who are expected to be pursuing this goal by the end of 2020.  This integration will be made possible, to a greater or lesser extent, by the IIoT.

Stumbling Blocks

Offsetting these benefits, the IDC report foresees a few potential obstacles to unfettered growth and success through implementing the IIoT.  Understanding these predictions can be a first step towards addressing them:

1. An imbalanced approach will reduce ROI. Despite wide-scale adoption of smart manufacturing and IIoT initiatives, by the end of 2018 only as few as 30% of those investing in these technologies will be able to reap the full benefits.  Those few will be in this favorable position because while investing in IIoT, they were also actively keeping their related business models and technology up to date.  Rather than tacking on IIoT technologies at a superficial level, these are the ones who will grasp the deeper implications, and incorporate truly smart manufacturing.

2. Increased connectivity will demand a redesign of security architectures.  Most implementers of the IoT in the industrial space continue to pay lip service to security, while relying on architectures that are not secure by design.  The IDC predicts that by 2018 the number of interconnected devices, communication layers, and cloud ecosystems will have grown so large and complex that it will be painfully obvious that they simply cannot function in a robust and secure way, using traditional architectures.  We say, “Why wait?”  Using a secure-by-design approach now will pay off handsomely right away, as well as in the foreseeable future.

IIoT: Choose the right tools for the job

/by

Note: This article was originally published in Plant Services magazine.

The American poet Carl Sandburg wrote, “They will go far and see much, and they will never be any good for sitting with the sitters and knitting with the knitters.” As true today as it was almost 100 years ago, those who sit tight and stick to their knitting rarely accomplish much. Right now in the world of manufacturing and industry, a new horizon is opening up: the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Are you curious? Do you want to go far and see how much you can do with it, or will you just sit back and knit?

Even from a distance, the benefits of the IIoT are visible. Plant Services contributing editor Sheila Kennedy highlighted many of them in August in her article Yes, IIoT can drive operational improvements. Put briefly, the IIoT offers a number of ways to optimize your system performance by providing data-driven insights into your processes. Among other things, you can see how well your assets are performing, implement predictive maintenance, simplify logistics, coordinate procurement, and drive down resource costs.

OK, you may say, that all sounds fine. Suppose I am interested. How will it work? Can the IIoT fit with my current system? How much will all of this cost? What about security? And supposing I do want to build IIoT connectivity and capabilities in my plant, how should I get started? Should our company try this on our own, or should we seek expert outside guidance or assistance?

Who builds it?

Taking the last question first, building your own system from scratch may not be the best way, according to those who have tried it. A recent Machina Research survey, “Lessons Learned from Early Adopters of the IoT,” shows that most early adopters in the IoT space who took a do-it-yourself approach found the task to be more complicated to implement than they had expected. “When asked about primary concerns around IoT, adopters have some insight that nonadopters just don’t yet have,” the report’s authors wrote. “Adopters point to ‘complexity of the IoT solution’ as the largest concern around IoT, a concern that nonadopters have yet to consider fully.”

On the other hand, if you do decide to bring in an expert, you’ll have to decide who is most qualified for the job. In her blog post “The IIoT Integrators Are Coming“, Stephanie Neil at AutomationWorld claims that control system integrators are not gearing up for the IIoT quickly enough and that SIs from the IT world are stepping in to fill the gap. They are more than happy to bring their experience implementing IoT for IT applications to the OT world. Naturally, some OT system integrators see things quite differently. They point out that it is easier for an OT company to add IoT to its portfolio than for an IoT company operating in the IT space to learn industrial process control. Jeff Miller of Avid Solutions wrote a blog post titled “We Are Ready for IIoT” to make the case that control system integrators are gearing up for the task.

The right tools for the job

Whomever you choose, an in-house team or a system integrator, you can save a lot of time and money by not reinventing the wheel. You can benefit by using tools, and you’ll want to choose the right ones. Because the IIoT looks a lot like SCADA, some may be tempted to continue using the same tools. This can be a mistake, though, because industrial data communications software was not built for the open spaces of the Internet.

Take security, for example. The IIoT presents security challenges that industrial system designers never contemplated. First, there is the obvious need to eliminate the chance of attack from outside the perimeter. But there’s also a need to protect the system and its data from inside as well. Using designed-for-IT approaches like Microsoft’s RDP or a VPN may seem like the logical choice, but Microsoft Developer Clemens Vasters raises valid concerns in a paper titled “Internet of Things: Is VPN a False Friend?” Useful as they are for the purposes for which they were designed, RDPs and VPNs give each user the keys to the kingdom – access to applications and data far beyond what they might need or what you might want them to see. The 2014 attack on Target via a VPN shows how dangerous and costly that can be.

What is needed is a secure-by-design technology that does not rely on a VPN and keeps all firewall ports closed. This can be done by making outbound-only connections to a secure cloud service. This design exposes zero attack surface and makes your system invisible to hackers. At the same time, it allows for bidirectional data communication through reverse proxies, which corporate IT departments are increasingly recommending as a standard for ensuring the security of OT systems. Needless to say, developing this kind of technology from scratch is not a project for your average plant engineering team. Instead, you can get the most out of your team and keep costs down by using a tool designed for the job.

The tool you choose should also support real-time data throughput speeds at scant milliseconds above network or Internet latencies. Ad-hoc approaches like collecting process data in an SQL database and then accessing it from the cloud will slow down your applications like a sloth at the DMV in “Zootopia.” You won’t get the response you need. Just because you may be using the Internet is no reason to compromise on speed.

And the tool should be convenient. It should fit unobtrusively and connect seamlessly with any new or existing system, with no need for programming and no dependencies. If the outside network or the Internet goes down, your primary control system should experience no effect whatsoever. The IIoT should be considered as data access or at most supervisory control. All low-level control should be completely isolated.

Start gradually

With the IIoT team assembled and tools in hand, start gradually. There is no need to tackle a huge project. Pick the low-hanging fruit. Kennedy suggests identifying functionality that is already close to the IIoT and using components that are easy to access. You may be able to connect sensors, monitors, or other devices in different locations and aggregate their data or even bridge their data sets.

A well-designed, cloud-based IIoT system does not require much upfront investment in time or money. As long as you work with a provider who offers a monthly subscription, you should be able to start a pilot project for as little as $100 per month. And if the service is reasonably complete, it should only take a few days to get up and running. Of course, you’ll need to ensure that such a system meets your specific needs, whether that means offering data archiving options, web-based HMI, access to analytics packages, or something else.

The adage “well begun is half done” applies here. If you work with a good team, choose the right tools, and start with something manageable, chances are you will succeed. Once you’ve got some initial experience, the next project can be more elaborate and ambitious, and the one after that even more so. Soon you will be going far and seeing for yourself what the IIoT can do for you and your bottom line.