Until recently, hardware manufacturers only offered the operating system and a suitable board support package. The embedded specialist Kontron is now able to offer a comprehensive portfolio of software components and services for networking based on SUSiEtec thanks to its alliance within the S&T Group with its sister company S&T Technologies. SUSiEtec stands for "S&T's User focused Solutions for IoT Embedded", i.e. special user-oriented embedded solutions in the IoT area, and puts the IoT infrastructure - from the sensor or actuator to the edge computer and the embedded cloud to the private or public cloud - together like pieces of a puzzle and combines them into a complete package. This also includes embedded (on-premises/private) and public cloud integration as well as hosting.

Until the takeover of Kontron in 2017, S&T was a traditional system house with a focus on IT services. As cloud computing and connected devices have long been established in IT, S&T has already been able to gain years of solid experience in this area. As another subsidiary of the S&T Group, Kontron is now also benefiting from this as a provider of industrial embedded/IoT modules, boards and systems. The collaboration between the two subsidiaries creates the link between the field level, where embedded computer technology is already established in many machines, also known as OT, and corporate IT, including the cloud. The ability to offer OT (Operational Technology) and IT (Information Technology) from a single source in the age of Industry 4.0 is now being addressed with SUSiEtec.

Networking hardware and IT to create a smart factory

For companies that want to network their systems, public clouds such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services are advantageous at first glance, as companies do not have to worry about setting up and operating the infrastructure themselves. This eliminates around 50 percent of the effort. The use of a public cloud in the IIoT sector requires a realistic, differentiated approach, and its suitability depends very much on the application. This applies in particular to industries in which fractions of a second are crucial for machine control or real-time data analysis is required for fast decision-making processes, for example in the context of machine learning on the machine. The established clouds now offer a very wide range of services. However, limitations in terms of bandwidth and latency will remain for the foreseeable future. The concept of "digital twins" in the cloud for machines is certainly forward-looking, but is not yet a real alternative to on-site machine control for most industries. In addition, many companies - not only in Germany - still feel more secure when they keep their data physically on site. Instead of outsourcing everything to the cloud, many companies follow the motto: only data that is neither security-relevant nor time-critical is sent to the cloud.

At second glance, it is noticeable that the major cloud providers are not prepared to make individual adjustments for their customers. They only offer a basic product; there is no provision for individual tailoring to customer wishes and needs. This is where Kontron and S&T Technologies come into play with SUSiEtec. What the Board Support Package is for operating systems, the network adaptation is for the cloud, which Kontron and S&T Technologies take care of with SUSiEtec. Users can access the modular software framework and only use those elements that are required for their individual solution.

"From Edge to Fog to Cloud" - secure, fast and flexible

Berhard Günthner (Managing Director of S&T Technologies) and Russel Agrusa (CEO of Iconics) announced the partnership between the companies at SPS IPC Drives 2018: The integration of SCADA functionalities into the SUSiEtec IoT software framework enables the visualization of complex Industry 4.0 processes in the cloud. © S&T Technologies

SUSiEtec supports the "From Edge to Fog to Cloud" approach. This means that companies analyze their data exactly where it is needed. Further processing or historical data is moved to the cloud, provided there are no security concerns. Data is collected at the edge of the network and evaluated and filtered by intelligent IoT devices and edge analytics for machine control. Only data that is important for further evaluation is forwarded to the embedded cloud, i.e. the company's internal on-premises/private cloud close to production. If still necessary, filtered and less time-critical data can be outsourced to a public cloud.

Kontron has chosen Microsoft Azure as its preferred platform for IIoT solutions. SUSiEtec removes the traditional boundaries between data collection, processing and provision, enabling the integration of IT and OT. SUSiEtec is fully integrated with Kontron's gateway, fog computing and server platforms. Most of them are already "Azure Certified for IoT".

Microsoft Azure IoT Edge and SUSiEtec enable users to seamlessly scale computing power between computing resources on the device, in the embedded cloud, in the on-premises data center or in the public cloud. This allows them, for example, to decide dynamically where data analysis should take place - depending on the desired level of security or performance. Both companies use container technology to adapt the application landscape to the user's "from edge to fog to cloud" approach. With this technique, for example with Docker as the technology basis, the application and its dependencies are isolated and can then be moved from system to system like a file and run independently of the hardware. SUSiEtec also handles the "containerization" of existing applications.