Enterprise IT vendor Cisco today announced four new digital solutions for industries manufacturing, transportation, utilities, and oil and gas.
The solutions aim to help customers connect machines and assets and digitize data across the business, Cisco said at an event in the U.S.
Cisco has also launched its new industrial Internet of Things (IoT) security solution called Cisco IoT System Security and professional services to mitigate the risk of system disruption — and efficiently assure compliance. Dell is one of the leading players in the IoT solutions space.
Meanwhile, a Cisco-supported study said 40 percent of leading companies will be displaced from their market position by digital disruption in the next five years.
75 percent of these companies have yet to address this risk by prioritizing their digital strategy, said the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation.
Cisco’s Digital solutions
Cisco said Connected Machines for Digital Manufacturing enables rapid, standards-based, repeatable machine connectivity, and global factory integration while enabling OEM digitization and new business models — including secure remote access, monitoring and serviceability of machines.
FANUC America and Cisco intend to implement the solution to enable robot connectivity and analytics for proactive maintenance.
Rick Schneider, North America CEO, FANUC, said: “Preventing unplanned downtime is a huge savings for our customers and makes the FANUC robots with ZDT a tremendous value. With Cisco, we are helping our customers access this new value and also re-imagining our go-to-market strategy for after-sales service and support.”
High-tech manufacturer Flex, at an event in San Jose, has outlined how it is already using the Connected Machines solution and FANUC Robots to drive efficiency and quality in its operations.
“With Universal Mechanical Assembly process partnering with FANUC, we are now able to get data to create a pool of knowledge. This helps us take action through analytics and ultimately leads to a more robust ‘process’ performance — leading to a world class, smart factory,” said Murad Kurwa, senior vice president of Engineering, Advanced Engineering Group at Flex.
Cisco is also launching cost effective solution bundles to accelerate infrastructure digitization for customers for the Factory Network, Factory Wireless and Factory Security.
The enterprise IT vendor said Smart Connected Pipeline for Digital Oil and Gas allows oil and gas companies more control over their pipelines, helping to protect assets from accidents or cyber-attacks.
Schneider Electric and Cisco have partnered to bring the Smart Connected Pipeline solution to market, and are already working with customers such as Italian multinational oil and gas company, ENI.
Patrick Albos, SVP, Oil and Gas Segment, Schneider Electric, said: “The Smart Connected Pipeline brings SCADA and IT infrastructure together in a converged, secure, easy to deploy and use platform, and brings significant business value in optimizing and reducing cost of pipeline operations.”
Cisco said Substation Security for Digital Utilities enables highly-secure power grids for reliable, more efficient service across the utilities industry. Utility companies in North America must comply with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC/CIP) Version 5 mandated standards.
South Carolina utility SCANA will deploy Cisco’s Substation Security Solution to enable the utility to comply with these regulations.
Cisco said Connected Mass Transit for Digital Transportation will enable the delivery of greater safety, mobility — and a better passenger experience.
Situated on the River Danube, the Austrian City of Linz is implementing the solution to streamline operations across its tram network.
Cisco IoT System Security
Cisco said IoT System Security delivers secure connectivity, visibility and control to assure that IoT initiatives deliver competitive advantage for customers across all verticals.
“Cisco IoT System Security solution will make an immediate impact for customers by accelerating secure IT-OT convergence with an end-to-end security solution, simplifying compliance and mitigating threat vectors,” said Sujeet Chand, CTO of Rockwell Automation.
Cisco IoT System Security portfolio includes IoT-specific security with the introduction of a new, dedicated security appliance (ISA-3000 for application visibility, policy enforcement and threat defense) and a Fog Data Services security solution.
What CIOs are saying
Ed Rodden, CIO of SugarCreek, said: “We are using Cisco’s Connected Machines solution as we build our new 418,000 square foot factory of the future. Cisco’s new Industrial IoT platform will provide us the ability to use all our company’s available pieces of data, including video and security, from all kinds of devices and to tie them all together to drive more operational efficiency in the new factory.”
James Bielstein, CIO of Advanced Manufacturing Deployment for GE’s manufacturing facilities worldwide, said: “In order to start down the path to becoming a Brilliant Factory, the first step is to deploy a modern IT infrastructure. This infrastructure will give our plants the flexibility and security needed to develop a digital thread from product design to shipping.”
Randy Senn, CIO of SCANA Corporation, said: “With new regulatory requirements, including North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) compliance, and a commitment to cyber security, SCANA is continually modernizing our systems and our grid for increased reliability and to better protect against cyber-threats.”
Arya MM
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