Facing uncertainty and fierce competition, businesses have sped up digital transformation to bolster the flexibility and resilience of their operations. By merging IT and OT systems, businesses can take full advantage of digital technology to enhance local, remote and cloud-based operations. Jonathan Lang, research director of worldwide IT/OT convergence strategies at IDC, points out that an enhanced, more capable industrial network backbone is now even more important for improving business resilience.

Facing uncertainty and fierce competition, businesses have sped up digital transformation to bolster the flexibility and resilience of their operations. By merging IT and OT systems, businesses can take full advantage of digital technology to enhance local, remote and cloud-based operations. Jonathan Lang, research director of worldwide IT/OT convergence strategies at IDC, points out that an enhanced, more capable industrial network backbone is now even more important for improving business resilience.

To prepare for the future, it is time for industrial networks to evolve, and Moxa is committed to helping them take the leap towards the next generation of networking.

Digital transformation is more than just introducing new technology

When only focusing on adding new technologies, companies will likely be unable to tap into their full potential despite the huge amounts of resources invested into the project. Achieving digital transformation for industrial applications not only involves introducing new technologies, but also seamlessly integrating all the systems on the network. A smooth-running and fully integrated infrastructure is the foundation that enables newly added technologies to work in harmony with existing systems to enhance industrial operations.

Among industry leaders, IT/OT convergence has gained a lot of ground as the best-practice method to integrate new systems and create value. According to IDC’s 2020 global IT/OT convergence survey, more than 30% of organisations are planning to integrate operational data from systems such as data historian software, industrial control systems and asset management into their enterprise data governance model for the first time.

When operational technology (OT) data is accessible to information technology (IT), it can be converted into a valuable asset and increase organisational agility. Therefore, seamless transmission of OT data between application endpoints, control centres and corporate headquarters is essential for merging IT and OT systems and making sure newly added technologies work flawlessly. This explains why enhanced, robust industrial networks are an indispensable part of any successful digital transformation.

Industrial networks need to take a leap forward

The rapid growth of IT/OT converged applications has led to more diverse and real-time data, as well as larger volumes of OT data. The complexity of industrial network infrastructure has also grown significantly. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the network’s reliability, which determines the stability of machine-to-machine and machine-to-control centre communications which, in turn, ensure continuous operations.

For the longest time, maintenance engineers were concerned only with whether the indicators on the network equipment were flashing green. Today, things are no longer that simple. As data is becoming the catalyst for future innovation, ensuring that data is delivered to the right place at the right time is critical. It is the job of futureproof networks to make that possible.

Therefore, businesses should instead direct their attention to functional reliability. That is, to meet future needs, businesses should not only focus on stable network connectivity, but also design their network to support seamless OT data connectivity.

Building an industrial network for the future needs the help of an expert

Transitioning industrial networks in this new direction is not easy, and is unfamiliar territory for most OT engineers. Shifting towards a future industrial networking model comes with its own set of challenges and hurdles, including:

• The integration of OT and IT systems exposes traditionally isolated OT networks to outside threats. Cybersecurity attacks in the OT field have also soared in recent years.

• The expanding number of network connections has greatly increased the complexity of management. It is impossible to rely on old, tried-and-tested methods to manage hundreds and thousands of network devices efficiently.

• Successful digital transformation relies on the ability to ensure uninterrupted operations. Maintaining system reliability while implementing digitalisation can be challenging.

• Industrial networks typically undergo minimal change from year to year. Considering long-term future usability when designing the network is important.

To help businesses overcome these hurdles and ensure a smooth transformation of their industrial networks, Moxa offers some suggestions. The company recommends choosing reliable hardware and software that can support the seamless data transmission and integration needs to sustain continuous operations. Additionally, dedicated OT network security is an essential building block that should not be overlooked in order to protect OT networks from cyberthreats, and maximise system availability.

Lastly, businesses should prioritise intuitive software to simplify management and reduce the workload on OT engineers. This allows for complex systems across the network to be more easily monitored and maintained. By combining the capabilities of network and data connectivity, businesses can incorporate intelligent functionality such as remote control commands and incident response mechanisms into their operations, and prepare for the needs of future OT applications.

With more than 35 years of industry experience and a deep understanding of OT networks, Moxa is committed to helping industrial networks take the leap towards the new generation of networking. Its futureproof networking solutions are designed to help businesses seamlessly merge their IT and OT systems and prepare them for transitioning to a digitalised future.

With an expert like Moxa, businesses can worry less about their industrial networks and focus on fully embracing digital transformation, so they can leverage these digital innovations to boost performance and set themselves apart from the competition.

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