As the data from factories scales exponentially, the ability to access that data transparently becomes critical. If we want the Industrial Internet of Things to truly be a game changer for the manufacturing industry, open standards will be a major enabler of that transformation.

A recent magazine article outlined six steps to take to implement the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). It was mostly political – form a team, get buy-in from a C-level executive, etc. The political approach may be valuable, but for engineers the steps are different. So here are the six technical steps to the IIoT.

OPC UA wherever you look. This was my first impression at Hannover Fair, which just closed its doors for 2017. With the rise of Industrie 4.0 and the IIoT, OPC UA came into focus for all industries and so came the products which support it. This is well-deserved of course. And then there is TSN – another attention-grabber for the fair visitors. But, not to be missed, was important news from PI...

"More attendees, more solutions, more international!" was the short-form report on Hannover Fair. See the numbers and have a visit to the PI Booth.

TSN (Time-sensitive Networking) is a promising new IEEE technology for Ethernet that combines the bandwidth of IT (information technology) networks with the latency of OT (operational technology) networks.

In process automation, rapid installation and easy operation of field devices are important user requirements – consistently across manufacturers. Therefore PI has developed a profile specification in the form of PA Profile 4.0 that is independent of the communication protocol.