The cloud was a game-changer in enabling large amounts of data to be stored and processed without interfering with local servers and processes. The ability to keep data off-site in dedicated servers at an affordable price made it practical for companies to retain and use the data their machines were producing. As a result, companies started to rethink their industrial networks. Old serial bus protocols began to decrease in popularity in favor of Ethernet, which is already widely used in cloud networks. The reason for this is that serial bus protocols would need to eventually be translated to Ethernet. Moreover, they are highly specialized and require years of experience and training to properly implement and support. Over the past years, Ethernet connectors have evolved from miniaturized versions of four- to eight-wire
INTERCONNECTION: ETHERNET CONNECTIVITY ENABLES SEAMLESS
COMMUNICATION FROM SENSOR TO CLOUD Industry 4.0 is for all devices, sensors, and machines, with a critical aspect being the communication between them. Machines have used data for decades; however, the data was locked away at the individual machine or device level. Data was not collected, collated, or used to make decisions. Industry 4.0 flips this practice on its proverbial head and allows all data to be used to build a complete picture of a system or machine. Previously, data was important for “in the moment” functionality. Devices that use different data protocols, in a sense, didn’t speak the same language. Translating and collecting data was expensive, and storing it was even more of a challenge. Therefore, data existed in silos.
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