Having covered the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) concept since it first began appearing several years ago, it’s been intriguing to observe the rise of different trend lines as industry interest becomes more directed and technology suppliers respond. Early on, the biggest trends revolved around the deployment of greater numbers of sensors to gather more data. Then came the increasing focus on data collection and analysis. More recently, the biggest trend lines have focused on edge computing and its role in IIoT versus cloud computing or in hybrid data aggregation/analysis deployments. And don't forget the data communication trends such as OPC UA, MQTT and AQMP.
Though the technologies and applications around these trends continue to develop as industry begins deploying increasing numbers of IoT projects, I have begun to see another new trend line emerging. This one is focused on device management.
在2017年IoT Solutions World Congress今年秋天，在巴塞罗那，我与两家不同的公司开会，这两家公司都促进了设备管理对IIOT的重要性。两家公司也很快指出，这种趋势有可能对OEM产生最大的影响。
My first meeting was with Wind River about the recent update to its Helix Device Cloud for a variety of device management approaches (在此处阅读有关Helix设备云更新的更多信息). The other meeting was with Jeff Benck, president and CEO, and Shahram Mehraban, vice president of marketing, of Lantronix. At the IoT Solutions World Congress event, Lantronix announced the availability of itsMACH10全球设备管理器.
Benck说，这是“我们的第一个物联网管理软件产品”。“借助Global Device Manager，OEM和系统集成器现在可以快速为其IoT设备提供强大而安全的Web规模设备管理。”
Based on Lantronix’s Mach10 IoT platform, Global Device Manager enables OEMs and system integrators to remotely monitor and manage their installed base of devices. Mehraban said integration with Mach10 Global Device Manager is done through REST API calls, “eliminating the need for learning additional programming languages or any porting.” He noted this means that running maintenance operations—from custom configurations to firmware updates to equipment resets and reboots—can be done with a few mouse clicks “whether it’s one machine in a remote building or thousands of machines distributed across the globe.”
Benck补充说，Mach 10 Global设备管理器允许OEM和系统集成商创建自定义门户，以提供安全的多用户和基于角色的访问，同时使客户的设备，应用程序和数据分开，安全和私密。他还指出，Lantronix托管了Mach10 Global设备管理器数据存储的云系统，但是该存储也可以根据OEM或最终用户的喜好在前提上部署。
“Our history has always been in the machine-to-machine hardware segment for OEMs,” said Benck. “But about 18 months ago, we began to see that it’s not just about getting machines connected; we saw a bigger role in the IoT solutions space for software that would allow OEMs to deliver management capabilities to their connected equipment in the field. That’s what led to the Mach10 Global Device Manager.”
Mehraban强调，Lantronix针对OEM，而不是最终用户使用此版本。他说：“ OEM和最终用户在物联网周围有不同的要求。”“您必须考虑OEM的客户和OEM作为服务组织。Mach10能够创建不同的门户网站的能力，例如OEM监视和服务其设备的门户，以及对OEM客户的有限门户网站，即表示服务访问可以针对OEM的特定用例。”
作为如何部署Mach10全球设备经理的一个例子，贝克引用了提供市政公园和建筑物的灌溉设备OEM。“该OEM将带有控制器的金属盒放在现场，以控制灌溉设备。为了更新现场中的这些控制器，OEM在使用MACH10 Global设备管理器之前，用于使用USB发送维护。即使在与设备具有远程连接的情况下，这也是必要的。缺少设备管理软件功能意味着软件或固件升级等过程需要与控制器直接互动。现在，借助Global设备管理器，他们可以验证系统状态，固件级别正在运行，框中的哪个软件，并根据需要进行所有更新。”
“OEMs tend to be good at working with hardware,” Mehraban said, “but they don’t always have the application development skills needed for IoT solutions deployment. That’s why we’re working closely with system integrators to help OEMs with that aspect of IoT.”
Both Benck and Mehraban agreed that IIoT is changing the OEM business. “We see more and more OEMs looking to add apps for value added services,” said Benck. “IoT is changing ideas about the OEM business model. They have to become more strategic.”
Lantronix Mach10全球设备管理器视频
