Cisco Digitizes Industrial Solutions with IoT

Today Cisco announces the extension of scalable industrial solutions in the Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio with new IoT products. With these new technologies, Cisco continues to extend its leadership in the Industrial IoT space.

Enhanced Cisco Solutions Support Three Major IoT Use Cases:

Connected Machines:

With 92 percent of today’s 64 million machines not connected to a network, there is a great opportunity for organizations to make their production environments smarter and more efficient.

Cisco Connected Machines delivers a complete solution to securely connect devices, transform machine data into real-time insight and grow recurring business when working with machine builders and manufacturers.

By implementing the Connected Machines solution, Cisco’s manufacturing customers can benefit from the domain expertise of machine builders to drive machine process improvements through real-time corrective action and continuous, predictive maintenance.

Under the Connected Machines solution, Cisco is now offering an extension of new products, including:

IE4000 with IOx: This application framework runs on all IOx-enabled network infrastructure. The platform has pluggable micro-services and can reliably integrate with IoT sensors and cloud applications in a highly secure way, while processing data closer to the machine.

Connected Streaming Analytics: Provides real-time analytics running on the IE4000 for small footprint deployment with IOx-enabled fog applications

Cisco’s IE4000 switch, IOx enabled fog applications and Connected Streaming Analytics combine to securely connect machines, extract the machine data and deliver real-time actionable insights.

Mazak, a leader in manufacturing machine tools, is utilizing Cisco Connected Machines for its SmartBox, a solution that connects manufacturing equipment to a factory network.  The SmartBox utilizes the Cisco IE4000 with the MTConnect fog application and connected streaming analytics. This technology is helping them build toward what Mazak is calling an iSMART Factory.

“Mazak continues to drive toward its iSMART Factory concept that uses advanced manufacturing cells and systems together with full digital integration to achieve free-flow data sharing in terms of process control and operation monitoring. Within that concept, the connection of today’s manufacturers to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) allow them to achieve levels of efficiency and productivity never before realized,” said Brian Papke, president of Mazak Corporation. “And while the Mazak iSMART Factory concept centers around open connectivity and the Internet, we must also provide those manufacturers the highest level of security possible, and we do so through our Mazak SmartBox technology developed in collaboration with Cisco.”

Connected Factory:

The Cisco Connected Factory, enhanced with new IoT connectivity and security products, delivers a complete Industrial Zone solution for customers to scale security, simplify network management and extend the scope of IoT. As part of the Connected Factory framework, Cisco is announcing two new industrial switches IE4010 and IE1000, and enhancements to industrial security appliance ISA3000

IE 4010:This highly secure, easy-to-manage multi-gigabit speed ruggedized switch includes in-line Power over Ethernet/PoE+ multi-speed Ethernet ports, that can power up to 24 other devices in industrial applications.

IE 1000:This highly secure, compact, lightly managed ruggedized switch includes in-line Power over Ethernet/PoE+ multi-speed Ethernet ports that power up to eight other devices in industrial applications.

ISA 3000:This enhanced threat protection appliance is purpose-built for industrial applications that require support for Common Industrial Protocol (CIP).

With Cisco Connected Factory, manufacturing customers benefit from a complete solution to securely connect machines and sensors and gain insight from IoT data in order to reduce cycle time, increase availability and reduce risk. And some are well on their way to achieving value from an overall Connected Factory architecture. One example of this is Israel based manufacturer Lordan.

Lordan is a manufacturer of thermal-engineering heating and cooling systems and has a global reputation for delivering high-quality custom-made designs and supply flexibility. To advance its IoT strategy and to work toward increasing overall efficiency on the factory floor, Lordan installed a Cisco 829 Industrial Router with WiFi access point, Cisco IOx, and the fog application LeaderMES.

“Within 2 weeks we could produce overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) reports and make decisions based on real data, not assessments.  Within a month of installing LeaderMES, we increased our manufacturing floor productivity by over 10 percent,” said Yair Avigdor, COO, Lordan.

Hopf, a solution provider based in Germany that offers a range of products and services, is also seeing the value of industrial switching.

“No doubt about it, Cisco IoT technologies and solutions are already world-class. But now with the IE 1000 switch, we can cost-effectively deliver substantial quality and security. This helps customers who are facing a growing demand for entry level Ethernet ports to utilize Cisco solutions,” said Tilman Taubert, Senior Customer Solution Architect, Hopf Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH.

LoRaWAN solution: Increasing number of devices are connecting to the Internet, expected to reach 50 billion by 2020. Approximately 45 percent of such IoT devices are constrained by battery power and require long range for IoT connectivity.

The Cisco solution for LoRaWAN combines Low-Power-Wide-Area (LPWA) LoRaWAN with WiFi and cellular technologies and is designed for cost-effectively connecting billions of such battery powered, low-data rate and long distance IoT sensors.  The solution includes the Cisco Integrated Module for LoRaWAN , which extends existing industry-leading industrial routers IR809 and IR829 with a ruggedized LoRaWAN interface, Cisco IoT Field Network Director, and partner’s back-end LoRA® network server.

The Cisco solution for LoRaWAN offers customer a fully integrated architecture that enables both service providers and enterprise customers rapidly realize business outcomes with IoT. The Cisco solution for LoRaWAN can be deployed for a wide range of use cases in industrial and smart city applications such as the following:

Connected Assets (Asset tracking and asset management)

Logistics (supply chain management, consignment tracking)

Smart cities (smart parking, street lighting, waste management, etc)

Intelligent buildings

Utilities (water and gas metering)

Agriculture (soil, irrigation management)

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) in Germany, a longtime Cisco customer, is already realizing the value of LoRa® technology. As part of its digital transformation strategy, the HPA deployed the Cisco solution for LoRaWAN and has installed sensors along Kattwyk Bridge at the entrance to the port. The bridge, which can be raised and lowered in order to let cargo ships pass through, is one of the first to deploy LoRa® technology. Sensors enable the technical maintenance department to precisely and predicatively plan maintenance and repairs, leading to lower maintenance costs and less downtime.

“Right now, the use of LoRa® technology and sensors along the Kattwyk Bridge help us tremendously improve operations,” said Dr. Sebastian Saxe, CIO & CDO of Hamburg Port Authority (HPA). “We no longer have to wait for a problem, but can proactively address issues before they arise. This will be one result of a sensor study, which will be published at the end of 2016. As we move into the future,we will look to technology like the Cisco Interface Module for LoRaWAN , which is what we’re using in the heart of the Port Authority to drive smarter transportation, maintenance, and logistics.”

The extensions of these IoT solutions is yet another example of Cisco’s commitment to enabling organizations to increase efficiency, security and scalability with IoT. Are you seeing transformation in the industrial IoT space? Share your comments below.

The LoRa® name and associated logo are trademarks of Semtech Corporation or its subsidiaries. Semtech, the Semtech logo and LoRa® are registered trademarks of Semtech Corporation. LoRaWAN is a trademark of Semtech Corporation.