Industrial Network Technologies and Control Systems: The Opportunities and Challenges for IoT Services and Platforms

Historically, industrial networks for automation, control, and monitoring purposes have relied on a number of different technologies and approaches, often both application and vendor-specific, creating many different closed systems with a limited range of possible applications. More recently, the growing adoption of standard Ethernet and IP-based networks within industrial plants, as well as the introduction of the Internet of Things concepts within the industrial context has begun a technological shift that will eventually bring to what is referred to as the convergence of Information Technologies (IT) and Operational Technologies (OT)—a concept that envisions the integration of the operational and enterprise systems and the sharing of data across this two domains to derive a number of benefits on both industrial operations and the business level. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is but one of the new ways to refer to this evolution of the industry, and in the past few years it has been one of the major subjects of discussion within the industrial sector.

In this report ABI Research analyzes this topic starting from a general overview of the IT-OT convergence concept and points out the main drivers, benefits and challenges of this technological shift. The core of the report is dedicated to Industrial Communication Networks for Automation, Control, and Monitoring applications, discussing their requirements, the architectures and the deployed technologies. It conveys the differences with the conventional IP-based networks typically within a home or an office environment. Finally, ABI Research provides a series of forecasts including SCADA systems, industrial controllers, and field devices, both in terms of deployment and connectivity.