Organiser Messe Frankfurt Middle East offers digital programme for global security, safety, and fire protection industry in 2021
Dubai, UAE: Intersec, the world’s leading security, safety, and fire protection trade fair, has been rescheduled to take place in January 2022, organiser Messe Frankfurt Middle East confirmed today (24 September 2020).
The 23rd edition of the three-day event was originally set to run from 24-26 January 2021 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, however the move to 2022 comes after extensive consultation with key industry stakeholders.
“We’ve spoken to many of our exhibitors, industry trade associations, supporters, and partners over the last couple of weeks and have heard first-hand the many challenges they’re facing putting pressure on their ability to participate at Intersec in January 2021,” said Alexandria Robinson, Intersec’s Show Director.
“Moving Intersec to its customary January dates in 2022 at the Dubai World Trade Centre will allow time for recovery.”
Ms. Robinson said Intersec will be very active throughout 2021 via its ongoing webinar series, while the team is now working toward creating a virtual event early next year to engage industry leaders, regulators, government agencies and opinion formers.
“We might be restricted physically, but we know there is a definitive need for critical conversations and discussions to address the challenges the industry has faced,” she said.
“By hosting these talks via a digital forum it enables us to keep connected to the industry and nurture our existing relationships, whilst sharing solutions and common goals. We’ll share further details and plans about the digital event in the coming weeks.”
Intersec’s popular free-to-attend webinar series, of which there’ve been 11 so far in the last four months, has kept thousands of attendees abreast of the latest industry trends and opportunities.
“We know we have a vital role to play in connecting and supporting the industry, and the Intersec webinars stimulate meaningful conversations, collaborations and success stories,” added Ms. Robinson. “We will continue to run these and support our stakeholders in every way possible until we meet again personally, and safely, at Intersec 2022.”
“One thing is absolutely certain: our community is resilient and will bounce back. It has been involved in many frontline situations throughout the course of this year and it will continue to play a critical role in the months ahead. Throughout 2021 and come January 2022, we’ll have much to share and learn from each other.”
Intersec in 2020 featured 1,100 exhibitors from 56 countries, while attracting 33,872 visitors from 135 countries. The global industry event is supported by Dubai Civil Defence, Dubai Police, the Security Industry Regulatory Agency (SIRA), Dubai Police Academy, and Dubai Municipality.
More information is available at: www.intersecexpo.com.
According to the latest research report on the digital signature sector from Marketsandmarkets, this market is predicted to grow from USD 2.8 billion in 2020 to USD 14.1 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 31.0% during the forecast period. Government initiatives and transition towards digitalisation are suggested as the drivers for this impressive overall market growth.
Digital signature solution providers offer software to help organisations easily create digital signatures that comply with industry standards and offer support for working with accredited certified authorities. The software providers in the market are focusing on delivering encryption software, PKI solutions, email encryption solutions, and APIs to help end users securely sign documents. Software solutions, as compared to hardware solutions, are growing at a faster rate and contributing maximum in terms of market size in the digital signature market.
The Banking and Financial Services vertical is witnessing digital transformation at every level with rapidly changing customer demands and represents the highest CAGR according to the researchers. The use of online services, such as internet banking, mobile banking, and stock trading has soared. The BFSI vertical is focusing on understanding digital consumer behaviour, preferences, and choices through customer-centric business applications. Digital signatures help BFSI firms in simplifying complex business processes by offering enhanced security and improved turnaround time for on boarding customers.
In terms of geography it is North America that shows the highest take-up in this sector, according to the analysts this is down to the presence of several prominent market players delivering digital signature solutions to all end users in the region. The US and Canada both have strong economic conditions and are expected to be major contributors to the growth of the digital signature market. The geographical presence, significant Research and Development (R&D) activities, partnerships, and acquisitions and mergers are the major factors for the deployment of digital signature and services.
Key and innovative vendors in the digital signature marketplace and named in the report by Marketsandmarkets, include Adobe, Onespan, Thales, Docusign, Idemia, Ascertia, Zoho, Globalsign, Entrust Datacard, Digicert, and Identrust.
G4S is currently urging its shareholders to dismiss and ignore offer attempts from privately owned Canadian security company, Gardaworld. The latest offer of 190 pence per share, was estimated to be valued by Reuters at 2.95 billion pounds and was unanimously rejected by the board of G4S as significantly undervaluing the company.
Established in 1995, and based in Montreal Canada, Gardaworld is the largest privately owned security services company in the world. The company offers security solutions and professionals to protect people, assets and reputation globally. Gardaworld employs around 102,000 trained and dedicated professionals serving clients in North America, Africa and the Middle East, including Fortune 500 companies and governments and it has also served in the UK for around 15 years.
According to reports Gardaworld has made various attempts to engage with G4S over the last three months, but without success, and now is urging G4S shareholders to take note of this latest offer of 190 pence per share.
Reuters reports that G4S recently revealed it had already declined two previous offers in June for 145 pence per share and 153 pence per share each.
The Board at G4S believes that the timing of the proposals is highly opportunistic, coming as it does at a time of severe turbulence in global financial markets.
Earlier this year, G4S sold the majority of its conventional cash businesses for 727 million pounds to The Brinks Company, and the board believes this move greatly enhances the group’s strategic, commercial and operational focus and strengthens further its financial position. It says that the company is increasingly well placed to deliver growth, profitability and substantial free cash flow and that the group’s resilient performance in the first half of 2020 provides confidence in the strategy and its execution.
Stephan Crétier, Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of Gardaworld, acknowledges that G4S is an important UK employer and a significant provider to both the public and private sectors, but said that he believes G4S “needs an owner not a manager.”
The latest report from Marketsandmarkets on the access control market includes the suggested impact of COVID-19 on the sector, including global forecasts to 2025 projecting a growth from USD 8.6 billion in 2020 to USD 12.8 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 8.2%. Increasing deployment of wireless security systems and rising adoption of IoT-based security systems with cloud computing platforms are the key factor that is driving the growth of the access control market according to the researchers.
Biometric readers are expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period. Biometric technologies are used to measure different physiological parameters for identification and authentication purposes in access control systems. The market for biometric reader-based access control systems has been further categorised into fingerprint recognition, palm recognition, iris recognition, face recognition, and voice recognition. Biometrics is one of the fastest-growing technologies used to secure perimeters. This technology enables identifying a person’s physical characteristics to provide controlled physical access to infrastructure. This technology is being increasingly used in government facilities, manufacturing units, power stations, defence establishments, and enterprises.
The analysts find that the commercial vertical is the largest end user of access control systems, including facilities such as enterprises and data centres; BFSI; retail stores and malls; and entertainment areas. Manned security for all physical locations is difficult and expensive. The demand for access control systems is increasing since they reduce the need for manned security to a greater extent, thereby reducing security expenditure. These factors are encouraging commercial facilities to adopt access control systems to protect people and properties.
Geographically North America is the largest market, as it is considered by the researchers to be more advanced than in other regions in terms of the implementation of access control systems. Companies in the US, Canada, and Mexico are making efforts to enhance their expertise and develop innovative access control systems and services. This provides them with greater competitive advantage to increase their share in the region’s access control market. The growing number of cyber and malware attacks in the region has compelled several governments and security agencies to enhance security features in their transactions through the deployment of RFID and biometric technologies, which is further contributing to the overall growth of the access control market.
Major companies involved in the development and supply of access control and mentioned in this latest report include, Dormakaba, Ass Abloy, Johnson Controls, Allegion, Honeywell, Identiv, Suprema, Thales, Bosch, NEC and Idemia.
We kindly invite you to the biggest information security event in Slovenia, INFOSEK CONFERENCE, happening in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, from the 30th of September till the 2nd of October 2020. INFOSEK is in its eighteenth successful year of providing information security professionals from around the world an opportunity to learn about the latest trends, events and issues in the information security and information risk management. The conference is the most comprehensive and important forum on Information Security in the region.
We cover topics such as PSD2, business continuity (resilience & recovery), cyber security, ethical hacking (threats, vulnerabilities, attacks, malware, phishing, social engineering), digitalization, authentication, crypto currency, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, GDPR, ect. You can find more about this year’s programme on our website https://infosek.net/en
We are sure the event represents a big opportunity for every individual and a company to gain knowledge and to network with potential customers.
Every year we host guests from major banks, insurance companies, big health institutions, educational institutions, different governmental organizations and big private companies from IT world.
The conference will take place in HIT hotel&casino Perla, but due to the situation we will also host the conference online. We will be streaming every session live, online participants will also have the possibility to actively participate in the sessions.
For more information about the event please contact maša.arčon@palsit.com
https://infosek.net/en
London, September 2020 — Ever settled another bill for changing your office locks and thought, “there has to be a better way”? In fact, there is. Access control and digital keys are easier and more cost effective than you imagine.
While mechanical keys will keep a building secure, they lack the flexibility to adapt to your changing security needs. Standard physical keys are difficult to track without a key management system. Some types of key are quite straightforward to cut without permission. And when a key goes missing, changing a standard mechanical lock or rekeying is time-consuming and often expensive — 100€ or more every time*.
Yet the alternative — electronic access control — can seem daunting, over-technical and potentially expensive. But this need not be the case, if you choose the right wireless access control system.
The basics of digital locking
Everything begins with the credential — the digital key your building users will carry at all times. Credentials can be plastic smart cards, fobs, wristbands or even stored in a secure mobile phone app. The best wireless access control systems let you choose the format to suit your business, and even to mix different types of credential in the same building.
When you swap keys for credentials, you bring enhanced flexibility to building security. Most importantly, if someone loses their credential, you can cancel it with a click. You’ll never rekey or change the locks again.
Electronic access control is highly flexible. So, if some staff should have access everywhere, but others only through the main door, it is easy to program the system to allow just that. Plus, you can program and reprogram credentials and wireless door locks as many times as you like: employees leaving or joining the company create very little workload.
If the worst happens and there’s an unexpected incident — unauthorised intrusion or theft — an access control system helps you handle it quickly and efficiently. Because everyone carries personalised credentials, your system software will tell you who went where and when. Yet another occasion when wireless access systems save you time and money.
Install fast, activate immediately
A modern, wireless system with digital door locks, programmable credentials and user-friendly software (to keep it all running) is easy, affordable and fast to install. It takes only one day to switch a medium-sized office from mechanical lock-and-key security to digital credentials. There’s no major cabling, no major adjustments around your existing doors and almost no noisy, dirty drilling.
All over Europe — at offices and sports venues, schools and university dorms, co-working spaces and medical practices — SMARTair wireless locks have transformed workplace security. SMARTair battery-powered cylinders, escutcheons, security locks and readers are fast to fit and can protect almost any door or access point, from boardrooms and storerooms to fire escapes and lifts. Little or no training is needed to use SMARTair’s management software: when your installer departs, hardware and software will be ready to go.
We spend six months of our lives looking for lost things**. Metal keys don’t have to be among them. SMARTair wireless security turns mechanical labours into key-free, happy workplaces.
There is an easy way to make your security stress-free. To learn more, you can download a free SMARTair® screen paper now at: https://campaigns.assaabloyopeningsolutions.eu/smartair-forget-about-keys
Following on from yesterday’s statement that Integrated Systems Europe was being postponed we are pleased to confirm that the show will take place at the Fira Gran Via, Barcelona on 1-4 June.
The decision to reschedule the exhibition from early February came after a period of consultation with exhibitors, the venue and local authorities. In recent weeks we have been working closely with the venue and local suppliers to ensure that the move can take place as smoothly as possible.
From our many conversations, it is clear the industry can’t wait to get back together doing business face to face and we are committed to delivering an engaging and safe in-person ISE in 2021. The postponement of the event to early June provides additional time for the industry to adapt and restore balance. We look forward to hosting the AV community in our new home in Barcelona.
Watch out for our regular updates on all that is taking place at ISE 2021.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mike Blackman
Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events
By Iain Deuchars, General Manager, ComNet International.
Our perception of cybersecurity focuses on attacks through firewalls to corporate entities across the internet. Still, we do not think of an attack directly via network equipment.
IP security and surveillance systems put physical network connections in both secure and unsecured locations. Unsecured locations provide ample opportunities for the would-be attacker, however secure locations must be viewed similarly. The attack could originate from an individual fully entitled to be within the secure area.
The threat to the network comes from a physical connection to the active network devices, or by removing an edge device and attaching unauthorized equipment in its place. Electrical Ethernet ports are based on industry standards, so connecting to these is simple. As every laptop today has such a connection, the probable weapon of attack is readily available.
Ethernet switches are offered as managed or unmanaged, where managed platforms have many features and allow the user to configure and remotely monitor the device. For security, managed units offer facilities to prevent unauthorized entry to the network. Unmanaged forms do not. Thus managed Ethernet switches should be used throughout the network.
It tends to be the case that the simplest features offer the best security, and with Ethernet managed switches, that persists. The ability to disable a switch port that’s not being used might seem an obvious security feature. Still, it is one that a lot of network operators fail to employ and may not even know exists on their devices. The rules, as you can imagine, are straightforward. If the port is not being used, disable it so no unwarranted party can plug directly into your network. If the port needs to be used for legitimate traffic in the future, then simply open it via the management system. And while we’re talking about the most straightforward features being the best, the default username and password of the device should be changed to a username and password commensurate with the security policy. No point in employing all this security if it could be changed by our attacker gaining access by merely reading the manual!
For active connections, ComNet’s Port Guardian feature can be used to shut a port, based on a loss of link being a potential attack. The feature can be further expanded to shut down ports if power is lost to the active device – just in case our attacker is smart.
We must secure access to the physical devices, so add a sensor on the door of equipment enclosures. An open door provides an easy target for any attacker and allows the elements to damage your enclosed equipment. And remember, it doesn’t just need to be active equipment. If the enclosure simply houses cable management, that provides an opportunity to break into the network. Secure enclosures are an absolute must in unsecured locations!
To conclude, managed Ethernet switches should always be used for maximum security and will provide remote configuration and monitoring. The managed device must be configured based on the security levels and operational requirements of the user. Those who ignore the basics of network security and opt instead for cheaper, unmanaged devices, are exposing their networks to the risk of hackers.”
About ComNet:
ComNet products come with a lifetime warranty, making ComNet the supplier of choice for transmission requirements. All products are designed, built, and tested in the USA to hardened industry requirements and have proven reliability operating in challenging environments of -40 and +70 degrees. These include petrochemical refineries, oil and gas pipelines, and heavy and light rail transportation. ComNet is an ACRE company. For more information, visit www.comnet.net.
The manufacturing sector is more productive and efficient than ever thanks to the industrial internet of things (IIoT). And it couldn’t come at a better time — global manufacturing output growth has been decelerating since 2018, according to quarterly reports published by the United Nations
By a&s International
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The UNIDO attributes deceleration to increased risks and uncertainties including tariffs and trade tensions that have affected the world’s industrialized economies.
Despite a slowdown in manufacturing growth, the rise of smart factories and adoption of IIoT and cloud technologies have grown. By using the vast amount of data generated
from the Internet of Things, IIoT and cloud, manufacturers are able to predict equipment breakdowns, prevent unplanned downtime and reduce costs. However, due to this, understanding what to deploy, how to implement it and what the benefits of IIoT and cloud technologies are is critical.
Industrial Internet of Things Improves
Smart Factory Productivity
The industrial internet of things is driving the growth of smart factories and helping manufacturing be more productive and efficient.
Today’s smart factories are growing thanks to the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), which has brought about the industrial internet of things (IIoT). As global manufacturing output slows, productivity and efficiency have become increasingly important. By using IIoT technologies, manufacturers and smart factory operators are able to collect and analyze data that enable them to optimize operations.
More Data, More Benefits Keeping up with technological innovation comes down to the aggregation, integration, processing and analyzing of data on IIoT platforms, said to Richard Howells, VP of Solution Marketing at SAP. “This is why factories are investing in IIoT in order to realize business benefits across the entire company. Many factors, applications and technological developments drive these business benefits and therefore demand for IIoT,” he said.
Nowadays factories are adopting digitization strategies that use IIoT technologies to capture additional sensor-based data (e.g., vibration, environmental, etc.) to augment their existing manufacturing data sources and provide additional insights. “This additional insight identifies opportunities to improve the operational efficiency of the asset or process as well as the health of the asset… We also see IIoT technologies being used to obtain data from older manufacturing equipment, that may be 20 to 30 years old,” said Enrique Herrera, Industry Principal for Manufacturing at OSIsoft.
However, manufacturers don’t always know exactly what type of data to collect when they want to start collecting it.
Patrick Smits, Marketeer at Ixon explained, “Objectives are not always clear from the start but evolve during the process. Using
an established IIoT provider with roots in manufacturing obviously helps lowering entry in Industry 4.0.”
IIoT in Practice The entire lifecycle of production can benefit from the many features and functions of IIoT solutions. This ranges from product design to monitoring of inventory levels in the supply chain.
Howells explained that predictive maintenance data gathered from IIoT can help minimize production downtime, which can cost a manufacturer tens of thousands of US dollars a minute, depending on the industry.
Utilizing predictive maintenance not only reduces downtime, it increases productivity by alerting operators to maintenance needs
before problems occur. Remote access that allows factory operators to connect to machines for remote support and remote assistance is another way IIoT can help optimize production processes. Smits pointed out that the ability to troubleshoot and monitor machines, as well as deploy new programmable logic controller (PLC) software over VPN, becomes much easier and saves a lot of unnecessary expenses when able to do it remotely.
More advanced use cases of remote access involves monitoring machine production or factory production, or using metrics and KPI’s to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), Smits added. To do this, factories must start by logging machine data and then combine and analyze this data in order to optimize the production process.
Using IIoT solutions can also help manufacturers identify the root causes of quality issues in their production, which can also cut into productivity and lower customer satisfaction. Howells pointed to edge-to-cloud closed-loop machine learning and advanced manufacturing execution systems (MES) to reduce quality issues.
“An enterprise can leverage IoT usage and performance data to continuously improve its products. Right now, this requires engineers to analyze the data, but as more products get connected and companies leverage more AI techniques, generative design software could automatically create improved designs based on IoT data,” Howells explained.
Future of IIoT in Manufacturing While adoption of IIoT projects is growing, IHS Markit reported that currently half of all deployments fail; failure of a project is defined as not meeting the customer’s expected payback. High failure rates are often
attributed to inflated expectations and a failure to gather support and cooperation from critical personnel within the company. Half the companies deploying IIoT projects expect to see payback within one year and are not getting the payback they expected, as many of these projects can take much longer to generate returns, according to IHS Markit.
Still the annual IIoT node shipments are expected to hit 224 million units in 2023, a 100 million unit increase from 2018, as reported by IHS Markit. However, to ensure more successful deployments of IIoT projects, providers must work together with manufacturers and smart factory operators to manage expectations and develop projects that can be executed successfully.
Choosing the Right Cloud for the Industrial Internet of Things
More manufacturers are looking to use cloud computing, but choosing between a public or private solution depends on need.
More manufacturers are deploying solutions that build upon the industrial internet of things (IIoT), making operators also look to cloud computing technologies.
Benefits of Cloud Computing for IIoT
There are many benefits of using cloud computing for IIoT. One being that a cloud service provider handles all IT-related issues such as security, scalability, user management, storage, hardware and connectivity aspects, leaving factories to focus on what they do best: manufacturing, according to Patrick Smits, Marketeer at Ixon. Manufacturers are also leveraging cloud computing to take advantage of resourceintensive, advanced analytics and machine learning technologies. “Using cloud technologies, manufacturers can gain additional insights, which are identified in the cloud using advanced analytics and then fed back to the operational environment. This expertise may also come from industrial equipment manufacturers that offer third-party digital services to manufacturers,” said Enrique Herrera, Industry Principal for Manufacturing at OSIsoft.
Already many manufacturers have started to adopt machine learning models and are applying them to smart manufacturing data, according to Richard Howells, VP of Solution Marketing at SAP. Doing so allows manufacturers to minimize repeatable tasks capable of being performed by software, improve the accuracy and predictability of maintenance schedules, and drive first-time-right results across the organization. Furthermore, since cloud environments offer almost unlimited compute and processing power, it can also provide a similar interface for work from the different points of view of different employees, engineers and senior management.
Cloud-based networks of connected assets are also enabling manufacturers to shift their business models to be more prescriptive
than reactive. By creating a central repository for collecting and tracking critical information, cloud computing further allows
manufacturers to develop smarter products to capture more information about how they are operating and performing around the globe, Howells added. Additionally, there are economical and environmental benefits to using cloud computing for IIoT. Using an IIoT cloud platform with shared infrastructure can save costs and lower overall power consumption.
Private or Public Cloud?
There are several main considerations when choosing between public or private cloud for IIoT. These include economies of scale, speed to provision and integration to manufacturing enterprise solutions. It is also important to understand what the user’s end goal is for utilizing cloud.
A private cloud could be ideal for customers who want their own dedicated platform with isolated data, storage and network environments. Since a private cloud would require the manufacturer to take care of essentials such as security, scalability, flexibility, data integrity, back-ups themselves, it is a good solution for those looking to attend to their own data security, privacy and protection needs.
On the other hand, a public cloud solution means the above-mentioned essentials (e.g., security, flexibility, etc.), are all taken
care of by the cloud provider. This may be preferable to some manufacturers.
Overall, worldwide spending on public cloud services is expected to more than double between 2019 and 2023, according to a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC). Discrete manufacturing — manufacturing of distinct items — accounts for a big portion of this growth.
Howells pointed to another opportunity, one that brings the benefits of private and public clouds together: a multicloud. “Multi-cloud is a strategy in which companies can store and manage their software in the cloud environments that best fit with their chosen environment and software, such as AWS, OpenStack, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform or others, helping companies realize both cost savings and efficiencies,” he explained.
Regardless, no matter which cloud model a smart factory chooses, the top priority should be understanding the individual business needs and matching that with the top benefits of each type of cloud environment.
User Education will Promote Growth
For now, one of the main challenges is convincing manufacturers that cloud solutions are more secure than most private cloud or on-premise solutions, where local IT departments are responsible for the security and management of data. Cloud providers actually have a much better track record in securing data and connectivity options than most local IT departments, according to Smits. Ultimately, more in-depth training and education of cloud benefits could help ease the concerns of manufacturers and further propel adoption.
IIoT Infrastructure and Hardware Requirements in Smart Factories
Ensuring the success of a cloud-based IIoT system in a smart factory requires the right network infrastructure and proper security
measures. It is estimated that there are currently over 1 billion connected IIoT devices being used in factories around the world. And although the IIoT market is growing exponentially, there are several barriers to even greater success. Deploying the right network infrastructure for cloud-based connected industrial internet of things (IIoT) solutions and securing that network are key to the market’s future growth.
From Fieldbus to Ethernet to Wireless
Today’s factories overwhelmingly use the industrial ethernet and fieldbus protocols for connectivity to manufacturing equipment.
Traditionally, the industrial sector used fieldbus — a group of industrial computer network protocols specifically designed for communication between industrial controllers and sensors — to connect to the industrial network; however, industrial ethernet
is set to overtake fieldbus as the primary network medium in 2020, according to IHS Markit.
Fieldbus technologies offer various advantages such as determinism and more physically robust connectors and components, but are not optimized to be linked up to a wider network setup or the internet, IHS Markit said. Their report added that the transition from fieldbus to industrial ethernet is key to future-proofing and benefiting from IIoT solutions. Industrial ethernet is not
only faster than fieldbus, but also supports the IP addressability required for IIoT.
The growing adoption of industrial ethernet is also expected to further enable the transmission of larger volumes of data due to the greater bandwidth compared to fieldbus. IHS Markit believes this will ultimately bring in more technologies like the cloud, which will “supercharge” the IIoT business.
Wireless technologies could also help advance connectivity in factories, although uptake has been slow. Enrique Herrera, Industry Principal for Manufacturing at OSIsoft explained, “There is significant investment by the telecommunications companies to push 5G and private LTE technologies into factories, but adoption is still in its early days.” These telecommunication technologies, though, may be more readily accepted with remote or geographically dispersed assets.
Securing Cloud and Network Infrastructure
Faster connectivity is allowing manufacturers to utilize cloud-based solutions, but security still remains a concern. Ideally, IoT connectivity hardware should not be directly accessible via the internet. Software on these devices is often not updated regularly, which makes exposing them directly to the internet not a good idea. This is especially true nowadays with vulnerability scanners like Shodan.io available to everyone and anyone.
Making sure every factory router is completely secure is more important than ever. To do this, Ixon’s strategy is to block all incoming traffic on the router. “On boot Ixon’s IXrouter sets up a secure VPN connection to our cloud platform to make sure all communication to and from the platform is well secured. All other access options are disabled by default, so there are no ports from the company network or internet that can be abused by hackers to gain access,” said Patrick Smits, Marketeer at Ixon.
From a cloud perspective, cloud providers are able to secure both the cloud infrastructure and on-premise hardware with highly skilled employees that monitor and remedy security issues full time, protecting the complete infrastructure against all possible attacks. These types of end-to-end solutions can be very well secured, according to Smits, because the complete IIoT ecosystem, including hardware, connectivity and cloud infrastructure, is controlled by the cloud provider.
Smart Factories are Adopting More As-a-Service Models
The utilization of the industrial internet of things has made it possible for smart factory operators to take advantage of various new as-a-service models to increase productivity.
More companies have started offering new “as-a-service” business models for the manufacturing sector. Increased adoption of the industrial internet of things (IIoT) and cloud technologies are giving manufacturers the ability to combat challenges like unplanned downtime and deferring upfront costs. Loses from unplanned downtime can cost manufacturers millions of dollars. Utilizing new applications enabled through IIoT can help overcome challenges such as this. IHS Markit estimates IIoT solutions can reduce unplanned downtime by around a 30 percent.
Many companies have started or plan to offer new service models, such as maintenance as a service or product as a service. These business models are empowered by IIoT platforms by sending alerts if a product requires maintenance or attention, among others.
Maintenance as a Service
Collecting large amounts of maintenance data has been made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT) and IIoT. The collection and analysis of this data have led to a new business model, maintenance as a service (MaaS). This service model gives smart factory operators and manufacturers the ability to remotely monitor machinery, create a smarter workforce and provide insight into the lifecycle of equipment.
Utilizing MaaS can help smart factories deal with the problems brought on by unplanned downtime. Furthermore, the information can be used to determine when maintenance should be scheduled before a breakdown occurs. By doing this, smart factory operators can shift from a preventative maintenance approach to a predictive maintenance approach.
Product as a Service
One factor hindering the growth of smart factories and IIoT solutions is the cost of equipment. The product-as-a-service (PaaS) business model allows smart factory operators to pay for processes and operations instead of purchasing the equipment outright. This takes the stress off manufacturers when it comes to maintenance expenses, product failures and ensures they will not be stuck with obsolete equipment when it comes time for upgrades.
The current market for PaaS is still pretty new, but the continued expansion of IIoT solutions and smart factories should propel development. For now, some PaaS providers are delivering value-added services to machines already owned by manufacturers to help ease the transition. In this case, PaaS providers could add performance monitors such as sensors and controllers to existing equipment. The data collected could then be used to improve efficiency and even the product itself.
Automation as a Service
The global automation-as-a-service (AaaS) market is expected to reach US$6.2 billion by 2022, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. Growth is attributed to the increasing demand for automation and the increasing adoption of cloud technology. In the manufacturing sector, AaaS allows manufacturers to shift from slow manual processes to faster automated ones. It is being increasingly adopted for various workflows, such as vendor management, purchase order management, request for quotation and inventory management, according to MarketsandMarkets. Using AaaS increases productivity and reduces operational cost by eliminating routine manual and clerical tasks, and minimizing the manufacturing lead time.
Future of As-a-Service Models in Manufacturing
More as-a-service models are sure to emerge as the need for efficiency, productivity and cost savings continues. Already models for IoT as a service and IIoT as a service exist and will likely continue to grow.
All of these as-a-service models, though, require the collection, sharing and processing of data. Concerns about data security and data ownership could pose challenges to adoption. However, the proper education, training and cooperation between all related parties on how to handle and secure data will ensure it is used to the advantage of manufacturing and not against it.
