With industries around the world jumping onto the IT bandwagon, IT engineers are on the lookout for products and solutions that allow them to easily connect their OT systems to IT networks. Although IT engineers are generally well versed in the various IT protocols used to transmit data across a network, they are less familiar the many OT protocols used in their applications. There are 3 key actions that can help you create a secure and efficient data connection between your OT and IT systems.

• Convert I/O signals to multiple protocols: RESTful API, SNMP, Modbus, Active Tag
• Deliver data to an IT cloud or database
• Ensure data completeness: supplement data automatically, on demand, or on a schedule

Moxa’s Smart I/O is a gateway that converts I/O signals to multiple protocols, and supports the most often-used protocols for retrieving I/O data, including:

• RESTful API
• SNMP
• Active tags (exceptions are actively pushed to MX-AOPC UA Server)
• Modbus/TCP

Due to the fact that IIoT applications require collection and processing of vast amounts of data, and with the amount of data being processed expanding at an ever-increasing rate, how to deploy data to a cloud securely and efficiently is a key aspect of system performance. Moxa’s MX-AOPC UA Suite provides the most seamless, efficient, and cost-effective way to deploy OT data to an IT cloud.

Traditionally, it has been difficult for IT engineers to write agent programs to poll the thousands of registers used for field site data. This difficulty stems from the fact that field site data is handled using fieldbus protocols, but the data needs to be written to an IT database. These difficulties are compounded considerably when it comes time to scale up a facility, particularly since the additional load created can put a tremendous strain on systems that rely on legacy data acquisition methods. MX-AOPC UA Suite can be used to collect data from field site registers via Modbus protocol. The data can then be provided to an IT cloud, such as Azure Cloud, an MES, or a web service, or MX-AOPC UA Logger can be used to write the data to an IT database, all without the need for additional programming effort.

Everyone has heard the old adage, “garbage in, garbage out,” but the reality is that ensuring the quality and integrity of big data is not easy. A cause for concern is the inevitable unexpected connection interruptions that plague any network, and which could result in data loss and expensive shutdowns of important business processes. Moxa’s smart data acquisition method helps shrink the amount of data that needs to be transmitted and ensure data completeness. After each network connection, MX-AOPC UA Logger will compare historical data stored on the SD cards located in individual Moxa ioLogik 2500 devices with the real-time data it has already stored locally, and then supplements any missing data by requesting that the devices retransmit any lost data. Additionally, users can trigger data supplements at any time, on a specific date, or every day at a specified time to ensure data completeness. This kind of smart data acquisition enhances the quality and integrity of big data, resulting in more accurate analyses.