Exploring Remote Asset Monitoring with IoTWorX: What, Why, and How

If you’re in industrial automation or building management, then key to your operations is the health of your assets. Clearly, you would want to make sure these are performing optimally so that their value is maximized. So, whatever the asset, from a piece of equipment to an entire building, this means these assets are running at their absolute best, and for this, you will need real-time visibility into your assets using operational data. Currently, with the evolution of digitalization and smart operations, many companies are using on-premises historians to capture operational data. They are also using SCADA systems for connectivity and analysis of this data along with HMIs to visualize this information in meaningful ways to make data-driven decisions. Perhaps though, they are living within the means of their on-site building management system (BMS) and whatever basic analytics it may provide. But what if there are remote sites with remote assets? How can your company feasibly and economically monitor these assets and use the data captured from these assets to optimize operations? One extremely easy and practical way is the use of an edge to cloud IoT solution like ICONICS IoTWorX.

ICONICS IoTWorX Provides Remote & Secure IoT Connectivity

IoTWorX is a software solution capable of remotely managing vast collections of IoT gateways and that leverages cloud analytics to turn that data into actionable information. It is a solution for qualified and tested edge devices and combines ICONICS cutting-edge IoT software technology with its proven HMI/SCADA, analytics and mobile solutions running in the cloud. IoTWorX offers remote connectivity to virtually any automation equipment through supported industry protocols such as OPC UA, BACnet, SNMP, Modbus, Takebishi DeviceXPlorer (DXP), databases, web services, and more. IoTWorX also provides secure cloud communications to deliver information to Microsoft Azure through Azure IoT Hub. Data is then available to Microsoft Azure services and the ICONICS Suite of solutions.

The Substantial Benefits of a Remote IoT Gateway

ICONICS IoTWorX IoT gateway delivers substantial benefits. For example, easy remote IoT gateway management is one of the most important benefits of this solution since the IoT gateway doesn’t have to be preprogrammed. In fact, the box (from whichever preferred vendor you choose) can simply be delivered on-site for your IT staff to install. The gateway will securely connect with cloud services and can be managed remotely. Another unique benefit is that it isn't just a communications interface, as so many others are, but supports both data visualization through onsite user defined dashboards and local alarm management. It gives users the ability to view local displays of KPI information, providing timely insight into operations. Additionally for visualization, gateway devices running IoTWorX support ICONICS KPIWorX, which means you can connect to the local gateway with any type of mobile device or web browser with network access. You’ll be able to pull up local displays of information for the KPIs you need and want. IoTWorX is also crucial to having a quick turnaround for addressing alarms since you don't have to wait for an alarm to be published from a cloud-based system. And even if connectivity to the cloud is lost, your local alarming will continue to operate. Moreover, concerns about publishing data to the cloud are alleviated because IoTWorX publishes data securely to the cloud through Microsoft IoT Hub, one of the most secure data brokers available.

Why You Need an IoT Software Solution

At this point, some of you might be wondering why you would need or want to commission new IoT gateways on site if you have an existing HMI/SCADA system. IoTWorX is designed to aggregate information from remote sites to provide a new overview of operations. Another use case involves the monitoring of equipment and processes to offer asset management as a service. These IoTWorX-enabled gateways can be configured remotely and operate at the edge to collect and send all the necessary data to a centralized historian and HMI/SCADA system running in the cloud. This architecture provides you with the crucial analytics, alarming, dashboards, and automated notifications essential for remotely monitoring operations and improving the performance of assets across all sites/facilities/equipment.

Two Types of Customers that Can Benefit from an IoT Software Solution

There are two main types of customers that can benefit from ICONICS’ IoTWorX solution. The first wants to monitor their own assets for building or data center management. The second wants to build a business around providing a service to monitor these assets and can also provide additional services in troubleshooting and truck roll outs to fix assets before the customer even knows there’s been a failure. Moreover, this service can also include generation of monthly reports to show different building metrics like the amount of energy used, the number of hours equipment ran, the maintenance needs and scheduling, and so on.

The Value Proposition of ICONICS IoTWorX

ICONICS IoTWorX delivers a powerful value proposition. You can use this toolkit to collect data locally with store and forward, and then send it to a central historian (like Hyper Historian) and a SCADA system (like GENESIS64). And from that central control center, you can remotely manage your gateways and monitor all your assets. Also, with IoTWorX, you have one of the best data security guards, Azure IoT Hub, keeping your operations secure.

IoTWorX is for any sized company, not just for the large and established. ICONICS has a substantial amount of experience and knowledge in helping and guiding companies, no matter the size, on their digital transformation journeys. Get in touch, so we can talk about how to start your company on its journey of making the most out of your remote assets, and, by extension, making the most out of your operations.