Electric.ie March/April 2018 Editon

ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 53 Reaping the benefits of industrial IT/OT convergence ർ By Ray Dooley, Industry Offer Manager at Schneider Electric Ireland. T here is a growing human obsession over the ability to remain connected at all times. Whether this be via amobile phone, tablet device, a light bulbor even an energy resource, the demand and expectation is growing. As the Internet of Things becomes more engrained within the details of our everyday lives, we expect deeper insights to help informour daily lives. Š‹• ‹• ƒ’’Ž‹…ƒ„Ž‡ –‘ „‘–Š –Š‡ ‘ƥ…‡ǡ Š‘‡ ‘” –Š‡ ‹†—•–”‹ƒŽ ’Žƒ– ƪ‘‘” environment. Š‡ †—•–”‹ƒŽ ‡˜‹”‘‡–…ƒ „‡‡Ƥ– tremendously from the increased insights under the umbrella of the Internet of Things. Doing so, will involve a high level of cooperation between the IT and operational technology groups, in charge of monitoring the physical devices such as valves and pumps that use sensor technology. This trend, otherwise known as the Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) convergence trend, allows analytics of real time and historical data for full control of physical plant. Working towards IT/OT alignment: The challenge It’s easy to forget that IT and OT originate ˆ”‘ –™‘ ˜‡”› †‹ơ‡”‡– ’Žƒ…‡•ǡ ‡ƒ‹‰ the challenges of their alignment are also often missed. While IT is focused on storing and analysing data, OT focuses on simply making things work. For example, OT has long been established as hardware that detects or causes a real-time change through direct monitoring and control whereas IT has not historically provided †ƒ–ƒ –‘ ƒơ‡…– –Š‡ ”‡ƒŽǦ–‹‡…‘–”‘Ž ‘ˆ operational plant. ‹–Š •—…Š ‡•–ƒ„Ž‹•Š‡† •‹Ž‘•ǡ –Š‡ Ƥ”•– challenge is to get everyone “singing from the same hymn sheet” and develop a language native to all. This will require establishing new processes, responsibilities and owners of architectures as maintenance and environmental demands of the –‡…Š‘Ž‘‰‹‡• †‹ơ‡”Ǥ Ž› ™‹–Š •—…Š…Žƒ”‹–›ǡ will engineers be able to extract the most relevant data and utilise it in a way that „‡‡Ƥ–• ƒ† ‹ˆ‘”• ƒŽŽǤ Achieving industrial security Security is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome when connecting IT and OT. We’ve seen headline after headline of breaches, leaks and hacks, meaning security can no longer be an afterthought and must be an integral part of the design strategy. It must become embedded within the systems. Further downtime can be eliminated by implementing centrally managed and monitored UPS (uninterruptable power supply) systems that are tied to hardware and software systems which are part of the entire network infrastructure environments. Together, IT and OT can guarantee the highest availability of critical systems; OT ensuring the processes are always running and optimised and IT supporting the availability of hardware systems, always-on connectivity, cyber security, applications and data/ analytics. Leveraging both disciplines in conjunction with clean reliable power will provide the insights and control platform for optimising plants and whole enterprises. Working in real-time By merging IT and OT together, engineers will gain access to the additional insights they now need. IT/OT convergence will practically take real-time process control information and make it available at the business level, so rapid decisions can be made. Integrating IT systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with OT systems like Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) will help solve key business issues all plants face in terms of ’”‘†—…–‹‘ ‡ƥ…‹‡…›ǡ ’”‘…‡•• ”‡Ž‹ƒ„‹Ž‹–› and safety, along with moving ancient legacy systems into the new age. With heightened visibility and better insight of enterprise operations, newways of collaboration between previously isolated groups can be established and full potential can be achieved. Enhancing the business process of the future Only when organisations, dedicate •‹‰‹Ƥ…ƒ– ‹˜‡•–‡– ‹–‘ ‹–‡‰”ƒ–‹‰ ITwith previous non-networking architectures like SCADA systems, will they encounter the ability to take real- time process control information and make it available for rapid business decision making. Today, the industry is moving quicker than it ever has. To get ahead, and crucially to stay ahead, technological and operational convergence must be proactively investigated to remove operational siloes in favour of enhanced business communication and analytic insight in the longer term. Ultimately, aligning ITwith OTwill contribute to more informed decisions, productivity, sustainability and greater ‡ƥ…‹‡…›Ǥ Š‹• ™‹ŽŽ „‡ –Š‡ ‡› –‘ ‡•—”‹‰ ƒš‹— „‡‡Ƥ–…ƒ „‡ ‰ƒ‹‡† ˆ”‘ processes within a business and ensuring the longevity of a business’s health. Despite the challenges it may present in merging these two once very separate environments, with clear planning and communication, businesses can realise huge gains from these changing technology systems. Schneider Electric