Industrial IoT data management firm OSIsoft has announced the general availability of its Edge Data Store software for remotely monitoring critical assets.
The product, released from testing with limited customers, allows industrial operators to collect, store, and access data from assets and sensors in remote environments to be integrated with primary control network data in either centralised or cloud-based database software and analytics tools.
OSIsoft customers have already deployed Edge Data Store in pilot mode, variously, including on hardened gateways to monitor personnel safety at sea, track performance of pumps in the field, and to optimise the efficiency of large-scale battery solutions around the globe.
Netherlands based oil-and-gas company Rolloos has piloted the edge solution to link its CCTV cameras into a “comprehensive detection system” to track personnel as they enter active zones on drilling floors on offshore rigs. Rolloos is making the camera data available to offshore operators for immediate support and for streaming to onshore operators for further analysis.
Martijn Handels, director at Rolloos, said: “We can track people from video and can combine that with the output from the equipment data to improve efficiency even more. Then, we can stream it back to shore using the Edge Data Store. Easy, reliable access to edge data has enabled real-time monitoring of personnel and equipment to improve both employee safety and overall process performance.”
Edge Data Store shares the same data storage and API technologies as OSIsoft Cloud Services, meaning custom applications developed for the cloud can be used at the edge and vice versa. The product provides no-code connectivity to common industrial protocols, to expose data for use by field-based technicians and applications.
OSIsoft noted that, despite industrial progress with IoT, data from remote operations has remained isolated because of poor network connectivity, and development of rugged-enough edge-based data management tools for critical operations has proved difficult.
It said Edge Data Store overcomes these challenges, as the software self-heals after hard reboots from power outages and runs on low-cost, rugged devices with Windows or Linux operating systems.
In addition, it said remote areas are often subject to limited connectivity, and data transfer costs are closely monitored, citing the example of snow on a satellite dish, which could knock out communications “for days at a time”, leading to data loss, downtime, and field visits in harsh conditions.
Chris Felts, senior strategic product manager for OSIsoft, said: “Our pervasive data collection strategy, with support for over 450 industrial protocols, has been utilised by thousands of customers, and we’re supplementing these capabilities with edge connectivity.
“Edge Data Store is a major step toward helping industrial customers capitalise on the promise of IoT and ubiquitous sensing. By supporting both edge to on-premises and edge to cloud data patterns, Edge Data Store provides an easy way for customers to improve operations with full end-to-end visibility.”
Michael Siemer, president at OSIsoft, added: “Edge technology simultaneously drives centralised knowledge and distributed decision making. For 40 years, OSIsoft has pushed the boundaries of real-time, high fidelity operations data. Edge technologies decentralise information access and empower essential employees to make local decisions for safer, smarter operations.”
