Additionally, the product is priced on a per-tag basis, so users don’t have to pay the typical price of a full-blown OPC Server if they are just monitoring a couple hundred tags at each site. It’s Linux-based, so users don’t incur OS-related cost when adding additional nodes. And Linux-based OSs typically require fewer updates and patches than Windows-based systems.
ThingWorx Kepware Edge is a more cost-effective and manageable solution.
Updating hundreds of remote Windows machines could keep an IT team busy full time. That can be expensive and creates IT headaches. So why don’t organizations utilize this on-site, distributed architecture today? To date, most have balked at the idea of deploying a Windows-based machine and full OPC Server at each remote site. This makes it much easier, more secure, and cost-effective to send that data to remote monitoring and control applications and cloud-based IoT platforms. Easier because these platfroms can natively consume protocols like OPC UA and MQTT, more secure because those protocols use modern encryption, and cost-effective because those protocols only send data when it changes, decreasing bandwidth usage. The solution is a change in architecture. If compute is added at the device or asset site, data can be translated into secure, efficient protocols before leaving the local network. No machine builder customer is going to allow critical production data to leave their operations network without adequate security. In many cases, such as with machine builders, connecting remotely via these insecure industrial protocols simply isn’t an option. It’s also inefficient, since Modbus and other similar protocols are request-response protocols, meaning they are constantly using bandwidth. It means that insecure protocols, such as Modbus, are going beyond the local network. Connecting to a centralized OPC Server is also less than optimal. Unconnected assets obviously leave value uncaptured-they cannot be monitored, controlled, or analyzed for performance improvements. Today, these assets either go unconnected or are connected to a centralized OPC Server via a wide-area network.
ThingWorx, the leading Industrial IoT platform.Cloud, industrial IoT, and big data platforms via MQTT, including Azure and AWS.Traditional and next generation industrial automation clients via OPC UA.The product provides data access from these devices to: Allen-Bradley ControlLogix devices such as ControlLogix, CompactLogix, MicroLogix, and legacy PLC 5 and SLC 500 devices using gateway/ENI modules.
Any device using the ubiquitous Modbus Ethernet protocol, including controllers from Schneider Electric, B&R, ABB, and many others.Specifically, the product can connect to: In this post, I'll detail what the product is, why we built it, and how it is different from other Kepware products.Īs detailed on the ThingWorx Kepware Edge product page, “ThingWorx Kepware Edge allows the most valuable features of KEPServerEX to be deployed in Linux-based environments, enabling connectivity directly at the site of the machine, device, or sensor.” This enables an improved connectivity architecture when connecting automation applications (like SCADA, MES, or Historians) or IoT applications to remote PLCs, sensors, or other devices. It is the first "Version 1.0" Kepware product released in more than 12 years and represents a dedicated and coordinated effort from all departments and functions. Today, the entire PTC Kepware team achieved a major milestone by releasing ThingWorx Kepware Edge. Thursday, OctoIntroducing ThingWorx Kepware Edge Posted by Jeff Bates