If SaaS is combined with a pay-per-use billing procedure, the customer only pays for the actual use of the software. In addition, the customer benefits from updates and new functions of the software without the need for someone on site to update an existing system. An ingenious solution at first glance. But does or should all data have to be managed in this way?

Cloud as an "extended workbench" for data
PROXIA MES uses DDA (Distributed Data Architecture) technology to combine the advantages of centralized data storage with the benefits of cloud-based data storage. This allows users to decide for each type of data whether it is stored locally within their own IT infrastructure or in an external cloud, such as Microsoft Azure.

For example, product-describing, sensitive or critical data can remain within the "walls of the company". At the same time, however, certain telemetry data from systems can be stored in the cloud so that it can be made available to external service providers, for example. By using an MQTT gateway (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport), the data can even be written directly to the cloud if required.

Hybrid use of both concepts - making optimum use of the cloud in the MES context
With PROXIA's "Distributed Data Architecture" (DDA) data storage architecture, time-critical and know-how-relevant data (e.g. transaction data from production orders) is only temporarily stored or filed in the local database. Non-critical and/or context-free data or even secure archive data that only needs to be accessed infrequently can be "outsourced" to external cloud storage.

The full integration of OPC-UA, the communication architecture for Industry 4.0, and protocols such as MTConnect and MQTT not only increasingly standardizes the connection of machines and systems, but PROXIA users can also freely choose what type of data should be stored in which location (local database or cloud). The next steps towards Industry 4.0 and for all upcoming requirements on the way to the smart factory have thus been taken.

Highlights and benefits - PROXIA MES and cloud technologies

• Why decide for or against the cloud when you can have both?
• Scalable storage solutions using the latest cloud technologies
• Sensitive and time-critical data remains in your company's private core database
  Cloud data provision for targeted external use outside the company
• Compliance with the highest data protection guidelines combined with the greatest possible flexibility and storage scaling
• Hybrid operation of both concepts as the basis for Industry 4.0: secure, scalable, flexible and comprehensive