Trend Micro, majority owner in TXOne Networks, identified the potential challenges faced by IIoT stakeholders early on and has been working on several fronts to secure the entire ecosystem, from data center to device.

Typically, information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) have operated within industrial organizations as isolated and independent networks with different teams, objectives, and requirements. Organizations are teeming with machinery and devices that were not originally designed for connectivity to the corporate network, which means they often lack the ability to be easily updated or patched for security measures.

There is a critical need to secure these devices, identify clear ongoing ownership, and to provide a holistic view across the broadening attack surface within enterprises.

TXOne Networks combines these strengths and responds to the growing security needs of industry, such as smart factories that require a unified solution for delivering deeper visibility into both devices and protocols. These complicated environments are made up of multiple layers requiring protection that sits in and between IT and OT. The responsibility for the security of these combined layers is typically unclear.

“I’m excited about this venture and how Trend Micro continues to take diverse yet focused growth steps that allow our teams to remain concentrated on core strengths while giving room to better serve customers and advance into new markets,” said Eva Chen, chief executive officer for Trend Micro. “Partnering with Moxa will combine more than 60 years of expertise to accelerate our ability to view and secure the extended enterprise including these important but often overlooked OT environments.”

TXOne Networks will build security gateways, endpoint agents and network segmentation to secure, control, and provide visibility of operational technology and equipment. Unlike some solutions focused solely on protecting assets nearest to the IT layer via detection, TXOne Networks has expertise closest to the OTlayer and will provide proactive, timely and easily implemented solutions to secure the industrial control systems (ICS) world. In addition to investing intellectual capital, funds and dedicated headcount, each parent company lends complementary channel expertise.

For its part, Trend Micro brings IT channel partner strength while Moxa brings OT channel partner strength. Together, these reinforce the business model and geographic territory targets. TXOne Networks will be led by Dr. Terence Liu, Trend Micro Vice President and former CEO of Broadweb. With experience building both products and teams, Dr. Liu will bring nearly 20 years of security product expertise to this new team.

“With this joint venture, Moxa and Trend Micro will position TXOne Networks as a global leader in the industry to create effective IIoT security solutions that help ensure that IIoT applications and critical infrastructures are secure,” said Andy Cheng, Strategic Business Unit President for Moxa Inc. “Industrial automation customers around the globe will be able to reap the benefits of having a holistic OT/IT security solution to protect assets and reduce operational risk.”

TXOne solutions also will enable OT customers to optimize network infrastructure for more IIoT opportunities. They will benefit from Moxa’s expertise in building reliable networks to bring more legacy and disparate networks into on industry-grade Ethernet backbone and raising the security level of the entire network’s communication to help drive nonstop productivity and cost reduction. Professional services will also be provided including security risk assessment, security breach response, and access to threat intelligence from trend micro research and its zero day initiative (ZDI).

“In a world where attacks are getting more persistent and sophisticated, while organizations are struggling with skills shortage and alert fatigue, these two groups are joining forces to successfully secure enterprises around the globe,” said Dr. Terence Liu, General Manager, TXOne Networks. “I am eager to pursue the opportunities and challenges this team will tackle in the months and years to come.”

The post Moxa tackles security in industrial IoT manufacturing & energy environments appeared first on Windpower Engineering & Development.

Written by Keri Gunther, IIoT and Computing Division Manager
Moxa

The internet of things (IoT) provides wind-farm operators control to monitor and regulate much of a wind farm’s operation no matter how much distance separates the two. It also enables plant managers and manufacturers to track tools, equipment, and processes in a quick and efficient manner. Data collected by IoT devices supports better decision-making and optimized operations.

The internet of things (IoT) has significantly changed O&M at many wind farms. IoT provides near real-time access to information and data from internet-connected devices, such as turbine sensors and condition-monitoring software. It lets wind-farm operators monitor and regulate much of a turbine’s operations through remote access, which may result in tremendous time and cost savings.

Wind operators or techs no longer have to visit a wind site, typically hours or days away, to determine asset health. They can simply access data online through a click of a keyboard or touch of a smartphone.

An industrial-grade IoT network offers wind-farm operators many benefits including improved operational management, access to real-time data, and automatic system warnings. Such advantages can also apply to centralized office, control centers, or manufacturing facilities. By connecting devices via the Internet it is possible quickly and efficiently share and extract pertinent information, ultimately streamlining and optimizing operations.

For example, IoT-connected sensors let manufacturers monitor in-house tools or track turbine components that are in storage or en-route to a project site. IoT technology can also be used to monitor equipment use, employee workload, or simply adjust the office temperature.

Industrial IoT gateways — such as those offered by Moxa, an industrial networking solutions provider — provide essential hardware and software features to get data from edge devices to cloud services, and include built-in support for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and others. The result is faster development, integration, and time to market.

One way a business can leverage IoT technologies safely and efficiently is to transfer data from centralized servers and PCs to distributed cloud-based server systems. Cloud-based systems are optimized for storing large volumes of data and sharing it with minimum latency. There are additional benefits to using a cloud-based server.

• A quicker time to market. For most companies, installing IoT onsite involves network infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the rise in data traffic. It also means building new data management and analysis capabilities, and deploying new devices and sensors. This typically results in high costs and is a drain on company infrastructure. Alternatively, cloud-based IoT offers quick and simple deployment at a lower cost.
• Greater data mobility. Data that’s stored in a cloud server is accessible from almost anywhere and free from infrastructural or networking constraints. A quality system lets users connect devices and sensors to powerful data acquisition and analytics applications in the cloud, which can then process data so it’s available in any format.
• It’s scalable. A cloud-based IoT system means there’s no need to maintain complex network infrastructure, development platforms, or applications typically required to process IoT data. It’s flexible and lets companies scale up and down depending on their storage requirements.

The IoT transition
For companies contemplating a cloud-based IoT transition, the task may seem daunting. Here are three key steps that describe how data can be collected from edge devices and transferred to cloud-based platforms, quickly and easily.

1. Collecting data. Step one involves prep work to ensure reliable transfer of data across a network. Enabling IoT applications requires collecting large amounts of data from many sensors and devices. Typically, these are outdated, legacy devices that are incompatible with IP-based networks. So it is important to employ serial device servers (which transfers data between a computer serial port and an Ethernet local area network) and protocol gateways (which enable devices to communication) to ensure device interoperably. This, in turn, makes data collection easier and more efficient.
2. Connecting data. The second step of IoT connectivity focuses on a company’s internal network to ensure it is reliable and secure. Essentially, it is the bridge between a company’s end devices and the cloud.

   To ensure reliability, it is important to assess a network’s bandwidth. Typically, network operators will need to upgrade current switches, access points, and routers to support the increased levels of data traffic. Additionally, this is a good time to consider adding or improving connection redundancy within the network. This design uses multiple or redundant pathways to prevent loss of control or data in the event of unexpected network failures.

   To meet cybersecurity standards, it is critical that each network device meets the IEC 62443 Industrial Security Standards. Devices that comply with these standards offer important security features, such as user control, password-based authentication, account, identifier, and authenticator management, data integrity and confidentiality, and others. This ensures mission-critical applications stay operational and remain protected from unwanted access.

Moxa Remote Connect (MRC) is an easy to deploy solution to establish and manage secure communication tunnels with remote equipment — without requiring VPN router configuration or reliance on a manufacturer’s cloud service.

3. Transferring data. The third step involves transferring data securely to a cloud-based platform. There are multiple ways to do so, and determining which approach is best for a business is key.

Technology research and advisory firm, ARC Advisory Group recently identified four new platforms needed for IoT digital enterprise:

• Device connectivity platform: the hardware and software required to enable connectivity between the cloud and field data.
• Cloud computing platform: the on-demand delivery of computing, database storage, and other IT resources through a cloud services platform.
• Cloud application platform: the software platform that runs the applications. Both the computing and application platforms can be summarized as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), a service model that delivers computer infrastructure on an outsourced basis to support enterprise operations. Typically, IaaS provides hardware, storage, and network applications.
• Cloud analytics platform: The system that analyzes data and provides intelligent, actionable suggestions.

Choosing the right cloud-based IoT service provider is key to successfully harnessing data and turning it into real actionable insights for your business. Do your research. A quality IoT platform should make tasks and business decisions easier and more efficient.

The post Why a cloud-based IoT platform is good for business appeared first on Windpower Engineering & Development.

However, for those who have yet to make the transition, there are likely many questions around how to take the IIoT from a theoretical concept to something more practical.

To help with this, Moxa has broken down the IIoT into three main pillars to illustrate how data can be collected from your edge devices and transferred to cloud-based platforms so it can be made actionable.

1. Collecting data
Collecting data-enabling IIoT applications requires collecting large amounts of data from numerous sensors and machines. Often times, these sensors and machines may be considered legacy devices that are not compatible with IP-based networks. This is where media and protocol conversion come in.

By leveraging devices such as serial device servers and protocol gateways, you can make your devices interoperable, which makes the data collection process easier and more efficient. Additionally, many companies are incorporating edge-computing platforms for more efficient data processing at the local field site.

Essentially, the first pillar involves the preparation of data before being sent across the network.

2. Connecting data
The second pillar of IIoT connectivity focuses on your internal network and making sure it is designed to handle the vast amounts of device data you plan to collect by looking at network reliability and cybersecurity measures. In fact, this is arguably the most important pillar of your IIoT setup because it’s the backbone of your operations.

To ensure your connection is reliable, it’s important to consider the bandwidth impacts of the new data being collected. Often times, network operators may need to upgrade their current switches, access points, and routers to support the increased levels of traffic. Additionally, this is a good time to consider adding or improving any connection redundancy within your network.

When considering cybersecurity, it’s important to make sure each network device is designed to meet the IEC 62443 Industrial Security Standards. Devices that comply with these standards will offer features around account, identifier and authenticator management, password-based authentication, public key authentication, use control, data integrity and confidentiality, and more.

So in short, the second pillar ensures mission-critical applications stay operational and remain protected from unwanted access. It is the bridge between your end devices and the cloud.

3. Making data actionable
While the first two pillars are fundamental to enabling the IIoT, they generally consist of technology that has been around for decades. The third pillar, on the other hand, tends to be less understood and involves transferring your data securely to a cloud-based platform in order to make it actionable for your business.

However, like with most technology, there isn’t a single way to do this. With a wide range of competing technologies and cloud-based applications, it is often difficult to determine which approach would be best for your business.

To help customers with this, Moxa has compiled information that breaks down the various IIoT platforms and provide a few example architectures that can help your business get connected. A good place to begin is by understanding the various IIoT platforms recently identified by the ARC Advisory Group.

The post Three major considerations when developing connectivity for the IIoT appeared first on Windpower Engineering & Development.