Industry IoT Consortium
Being faced with new opportunities can be the same as being faced with new challenges. The industrialized world is embarking on a new journey—the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The journey will be long, which is fortunate for those designing the path forward. Like all journeys, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place before setting off. The essence of the IIoT involves lots of ‘things’ that will need to work in concert in order to be effective.
Three of the main goals of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)community are (1) clarify the rich but often confusing landscape of IIoT connectivity, (2) set a stable long-term foundation for IIoT interoperability and architecture strategy, (3) provide practical, useful and tangible guidance for IIoT connectivity requirements assessment, technology evaluation and selection. The ‘Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework’ (IICF), published by the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) in February 2017, accomplishes these goals.
Within the context of control systems and field devices, proprietary protocols are the rule as opposed to the exception. Although some standardized protocols are beginning to emerge, many of these will not interoperate without configuring specialized gateways that add cost and complexity. Such a situation places constraints on the ability of industrial organizations to cash in on the promise of the new Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) wave of technological and productivity advancements. But there is hope. Progress towards a converged communication protocol environment is being made on several fronts.
IIC members have identified many of the best practices and key challenges that lie ahead and summarized them in a technical white paper, Smart Factory Applications in Discrete Manufacturing. Authored by the IIC Smart Factory Task Group, the whitepaper provides a comprehensive summary of the benefits and business value of the Smart Factory, a description of the core IoT technologies, and discussion of the barriers to adoption.
A new IDC FutureScape offers top 10 predictions for the Worldwide IoT in 2017. The research evaluates 10 emerging trends and ranks them in terms of their likely impact across the enterprise and the time it will take each prediction to go mainstream (meaning the middle of bellcurve of adoption). This blog breaks it down and summarizes the trends.
Much has been written lately about IIoT endpoints and their many potential security vulnerabilities. As defined by the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), endpoints are devices that employ both computation and communications resources and expose functional capabilities. A thorough understanding of these vulnerabilities in relation to the IIoT system is crucial in addressing the architectural considerations required to protect endpoints.
In February 2016, the IIC announced its first security assessment-focused testbed: The Security Claims Evaluation Testbed. IIC member companies are collaborating in this testbed to provide an open and highly configurable cybersecurity platform for evaluation of endpoint, gateway and other networked components’ security capabilities. By connecting their equipment to the testbed, IIC members and non-members are able to evaluate the security of their devices within two different scenarios: individually on a device level, or with a system of other endpoints, gateways, etc. Join the free webinar offered by the IIC on Thursday, January 26th at 11:00am to hear Dan describe the results and lessons learned so far from the Security Claims Evaluation Testbed.
by Dr. Stan Schneider, CEO, Real-Time Innovations, Inc. The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) is “ground zero” for the Industrial Internet of Things. It’s the largest of the Internet of Things (IoT) consortia with over 250 members. No other organization approaches its respect or potential to drive the next industrial revolution
An attack to an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) system typically starts with an attack on one or more endpoints.The IIC has recently presented an endpoint protection/security model and policy in its Industrial Internet Security Framework (IISF) document.The key areas of focus include endpoint data protection, physical security, root of trust, endpoint identity, access control, monitoring and analysis, secure configuration and management, and integrity protection. You can download the complete document for free.
There is a great deal of discussion and articles out there around the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its promises: Smart connected technology is radically revolutionizing the industrial landscape at an unprecedented pace, and the fact that a fully smart plant will be achievable in our lifetime makes it even more exciting!