From Telit: "Why You Need an IT/OT Systems Integration Specialist"

Successfully implementing industrial IoT technology requires a breadth of experience. Data analysis depends heavily on information technology (IT)—computers, storage, big data analytics and numerous applications designed to process electronic data. However, in manufacturing, operational technology (OT) yields much of the data needed to drive informed decision-making. Legacy industrial control systems often lack networking abilities, relying instead on programmable logic controllers (PLCs) or proprietary protocols that provide constant monitoring of input devices but are limited in their connectivity.

What is OT Systems Integration?

As modern IoT solutions reach greater and greater scale and complexity, the fields of IT and OT have been converging. In order to create a viable IoT system, OT and IT need to be integrated to provide comprehensive availability of data for analytics. Sensors, PLCs, and other devices on factory floors or agricultural fields must be fully connected to each other and to an IoT portal. While new sensors and devices are designed for IoT functionality, legacy OT equipment can be tricky to connect. That’s why an OT systems integration specialist—an expert on device connection and management—is an essential partner for building a complete IoT solution.

Complementary Connections

Many enterprises approach one of several large IT systems integrators, such as global software company SAP, to craft their IoT solution. But while IT is a crucial component of IoT, many IT providers lack the expertise needed to address the challenges of OT integration and recognize the benefit of bringing in OT specialists to complement their skills.

For example, SAP is currently partnering with on several customer projects, leveraging Telit to provide the operational onboarding needed to power their solutions.

With our versatile portal and robust set of middleware, we’re able to connect a wide variety of new and legacy devices, sensors, and machines and streamline secure data transmission to the cloud. Data filtering can be performed at the gateway, sensor, or cloud level depending on the customer’s needs, helping to streamline analytics down the line. We work closely with the client and IT provider to get the process started, creating a customized architecture that encompasses data pathways, logic applications, and store-and-forward capabilities to prevent data loss.

Case in Point

Telit has partnered with PST Electronics to streamline a large-scale rollout of connected car and telematics products and services in South America. Using Telit’s IIoT platform for device management, the company will manage more than 150,000 devices via a single portal. Telit is designing and implementing a customized solution for PST, relocating the existing platform to the Telit IoT platform. To do that, Telit is replicating several existing protocols and developing a highly scalable proxy solution to send commands and receive data from the devices.

As a result, PST will be able to support the existing legacy devices plus new devices which communicate directly with and leverage the device management features of the Telit IoT platform.  PST can now focus investments on the analytics and applications for their end customers and not on how to get access to the right data. 

When OT and IT experts join forces, it’s a match made in heaven. Their joint work produces a robust IoT solution that’s agile, scalable, and ultimately successful.

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