by Tony Paine, Platform President, Kepware IIoT promises to let everything within an industrial environment connect to get complete visibility into operations and allow the best real-time decisions—with or without human intervention. In a perfect world, the IIoT connects all hardware and software components (the Things) that comprise an automation system. These connections will bring…

Kepware Technologies, a software development company focused on communications for automation, announced the opening of its Tokyo, Japan office. While the company has a solid foothold in more than 100 countries through channel partners, this marks the first international location for Kepware. The office is located at 8F Pacific Century Place in the Chiyoda district…

On July 20, 1969, a pair of cryptic error codes almost cost the U.S. the moon landing. The “1201” and “1202” alarms reported by Buzz Aldrin were as much a mystery to mission control as they were to the astronauts in the midst of a harrowing descent toward a boulder field on the moon. But…

The Internet of Things (IoT) is approaching a tipping point. The IoT market is projected to grow from $33 billion in 2013 to $71 billion in 2018, according to Juniper Research. Cisco predicts that some 25 billion devices will be connected by 2015, and 50 billion by 2020. IoT will enable smarter automation that allows…

Perhaps one of the biggest roadblocks related to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the inability to easily move manufacturing data into enterprise applications for analysis. In an effort to overcome that hurdle, Kepware Technologies, a maker of industrial communication software, has released a gateway that pushes data coming from it’s KEPServerEX communication platform…

These days, you can’t talk about emerging technology without mentioning the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Big Data. And on that note, the plant manager may mentally check out of the conversation and go back to managing the daily operations. While the ability to collect and store massive amounts of machine data is a…

Most companies in an industrial setting now have at least a base level understanding of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). In fact, many have realized that this concept is an evolution of machine-to-machine (M2M), predictive analytics, smarter manufacturing and other ideologies for improving the industrialized world. With this baseline of understanding in place, the…

Ocean Data Systems (ODS) announced that Dream Report version 4.64 is now available. This release is primarily focused on OEM partner enhancements for Schneider Electric, GE Intelligent Platforms, Mitsubishi and Yokogawa, but it also delivers feature and productivity enhancements to benefit all existing customers. Partner enhancements are focused on additional connectivity with their products. Version…

When Kepware Technologies works on updates to its KEPServerEX communications software, sometimes it is looking to add new functionalities to capture new markets and sometimes the focus is on expanding existing capabilities to address customer needs. The latest release, KEPServerEX version 5.18, falls firmly in the latter category. “This release is very much focused on…

Though there is plenty of hyperbole that often goes along with claims of ubiquitous data streams and winning business strategies making the Internet of Things (IoT) ready for liftoff, a tremendous standards foundation has actually made IoT ready for manufacturing applications. Automation associations and their relentless pursuit for interoperability standards for 30+ years have positioned…

The amount of data available to us every second of the day is staggering. We’re surrounded by opportunities to access information about everything, everywhere. As just one example in our personal lives, we’ve watched the Fitbit craze explode around us, everyone interested in how many steps they’re taking throughout the day. But how many people…

The upstream oil and gas industry has a great opportunity these days to look for ways to be more efficient in its operations. Improved efficiency and higher asset performance translates to increased profitability, which can help take the sting out of the current market value of this industry’s product and best position the companies in…

Finding and leveraging energy savings in commercial buildings has accelerated over the past 10-15 years largely because of modern building automation systems (BAS) and the BACnet standard development in the U.S. and globally. Direct digital control (DDC) has kicked pneumatic control systems to the curb, and energy data is now readily presented to facility managers,…

The new scheduler plug-in enables users to move the scheduling of data requests from the client to the server to optimize device communications for networks with limited bandwidth. Its centralized scheduling functionality allows users to prioritize schedules and define when and what specific data sets to poll-providing control and monitoring of network utilization. It also…

In an effort to become one of the most responsible food companies on the planet, General Mills has embarked upon a massive global mission to make more nutritious products, reduce the company’s environmental footprint, and increase the safety and sustainability of key ingredients. There are many moving parts in the overall plan, but one project…

While attending the recent Splunk Worldwide Users’ Conference, the high level of interest in industrial machine data was apparent. To an industrial automation audience, this hardly seems surprising. But when you consider that most of the people in attendance at this conference were not your traditional industrial controls engineers looking to link a device that…

The typical user interface device—the control—is no longer a sufficient means of accessing machine or system data. Mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, offer the promise of un-tethered data, if you can access it. Software and tools for “mobilizing” machine data exist, “but they often involve high licensing or learning costs,” noted Benson…