IT/OT integration: Unlock your facility’s efficiency and uptime potential.
Integrating information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) can help industrial organizations of all sizes improve efficiency, troubleshoot issues, and reduce costly downtime. But merging these two systems, which often have competing priorities, poses challenges.
Paul Nuss, a Siemens industrial networking, software, and cybersecurity expert, discusses IT/OT integration principles, benefits, challenges, solutions, and the Siemens SCALANCE portfolio of industrial communication products.
Hi Paul. Please introduce yourself and your role at Siemens.
I’m a portfolio manager at Siemens with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Michigan State and the ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Certificate. I’ve been with Siemens 17 years across manufacturing, operations, R&D, and product marketing. For the last six years, I’ve focused on industrial networks, including hardware, software, and cybersecurity.
Let’s talk about IT/OT integration.
IT/OT integration, collaboration, or convergence all refer to using industrial process (OT) data in an IT environment to solve challenges and achieve gains. Many OT systems were designed when enterprise-wide data visibility wasn’t possible. Now, technology enables operators to leverage OT data in new ways, saving time and money.
The goal is to establish secure, transparent digital threads of data from factory floors to boardrooms. Achieving this requires the right industrial network infrastructure and close IT/OT collaboration to ensure data is delivered securely, in the right format, without disrupting operations.
Examples include using smart devices to track inventory and automatically place replenishment orders, optimizing automated guided vehicle (AGV) movements to save energy, or combining plant-floor production data with ERP systems for real-time delivery estimates. Technologies adapted for plant floors include industrial Ethernet, Wi-Fi, PCs, cloud applications, analytics, and AI.
However, IT technologies must be tested and adapted for OT environments due to differences in standards, regulations, and change management.
What are key concerns for achieving IT/OT collaboration and plant-wide digitalization?
The biggest difference lies in priorities: OT focuses on safety, availability, integrity, and confidentiality (SAIC), while IT prioritizes confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA). Overlooking these differences can lead to problems.
OT requires deterministic communication — machines often must coordinate within milliseconds. Delayed data can cause safety incidents. While IT can tolerate delays like a slow-sending email, with OT, safety trumps security. For example, if an operator must urgently access a workstation, restrictive IT password policies could impede critical safety actions. IT and OT must set policies together.
What’s one solution to address these concerns?
Start by forming an IT/OT collaboration team. One of its top priorities should be designing and configuring an industrial network aligned with industry standards. This ensures OT data can be securely accessed and used in IT environments without disrupting production.
For instance, remote machine repair or automated feedstock replenishment both require secure OT networks with proper configurations. Core components include industrial switches, routers, access points, clients, and security appliances — technologies that protect and manage OT data flow. These networks enable PLCs to send signals to machines and transmit production data to enterprise systems for analysis without impacting operations.
Introduce us to the Siemens SCALANCE portfolio.
The Siemens SCALANCE portfolio — one of the most complete industrial networking offerings on the market — includes scalable switches, routers, industrial wireless LAN, Industrial 5G, and security appliances.
SCALANCE works with our SINEC software for network management and SINEMA Remote Connect for secure remote access. They support multiple configuration methods and removable media for fast backups and deployment.
Tell us about SCALANCE Ethernet switches.
The SCALANCE XC-300 range of industrial Ethernet switches offers high port densities, including a unique DIN rail device with 32 RJ45 ports — reducing cost per port and device configurations. XC-300 switches support industrial protocols and are vital for secure, segmented OT networks.
The SCALANCE S security appliance enforces network boundaries, enables secure remote and role-based access, supports key switches, and provides system hardening.
Any success stories?
One of the world’s largest brewers needed to expand and optimize their industrial network. Siemens redesigned it with SCALANCE devices, adding secure remote access and network management to improve overall performance. Now, their laser-guided vehicles rely on SCALANCE W wireless devices for reliable, real-time communication with traffic management and MES systems.
Unlock your facility’s potential with Siemens and RS
Siemens connects the real and digital worlds with solutions that improve efficiency and resilience. RS offers a wide selection of Siemens products, including the SCALANCE portfolio and a comprehensive range of industrial networking solutions, ranging from switches, routers, and industrial wireless LANs to industrial security appliances.
RS also offers a wide range of other Siemens industrial data communications solutions, as well as motors and motor controls, circuit protection, industrial controls, PLCs and HMIs, power products, and relays.
For help identifying, procuring, deploying, and maintaining Siemens solutions designed to improve your industrial operations, contact your local RS representative at 1.866.433.5722 or reach out to the RS technical support team.
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