Stratus “Always-On” solution to simplify high availability IT/OT deployments
Stratus Technologies, Inc. has simplified the deployment and upkeep of high availability industrial automation systems with the introduction of the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for the IIoT. The Stratus solution bundles Stratus ftServer technology together with VMware vSphere 6 virtualization technology, as well as application monitoring and built-in support for OPC UA integration.
Stratus is reducing the complexity and risk that can be associated with software defined industrial automation technologies, bringing the best of both worlds to both operational technology (OT) and IT environments, according to Jason Andersen, vice president of business line management, Stratus Technologies. "The business potential IIoT can bring to industrial automation is a game changer for our customers," Anderson said. "As more software is being deployed to support IIoT, successful IIoT implementation is reliant on absolute integrity of data right from the source.”
"Industrial automation and 'always on and available' are synonymous," adds Craig Resnick, vice president, ARC Advisory Group. "Manufacturers and processors live in an environment where eliminating unscheduled downtime is a top business priority, and now in a world that embraces the benefits of IIoT and IT/OT convergence, 'always on and available' extending from the plant floor to the enterprise is more important than ever. The Stratus Always-On infrastructure for IIoT, combined with its OPC UA integration for industrial automation connectivity, provides the industry with a proven solution that is modern, future-ready and can address the continuous availability issues of IT /OT convergence head-on."
For OT organizations, the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT is intended to deliver an operationally simple platform, an intuitive dashboard with visibility into system and application health, and continuous availability. And for IT, the solution provides a standard platform that can be integrated into existing management and security processes.
“As SCADA and sensor systems increase in complexity and their data collection rates move to milli-second intervals, the need for reliability and availability increases even more,” Anderson said. “In addition, with continued virtualization adoption in IT, we are further reducing complexity for our OT customers by delivering our solution with VMware vSphere 6."
Stratus is streamlining and simplifying the continuous availability and management of industrial applications in three ways:
- Operational Simplicity - By consolidating traditionally disparate systems, ftServer Gen8 for VMware streamlines the management of different devices, such as servers, management consoles and external storage, into a single high-performance solution for industrial automation teams in remote locations with limited IT resources.
- Full Visibility - By integrating Sightline Assure, Stratus delivers full visibility across the entire infrastructure (from bare metal to the applications), enabling continuous monitoring in order to predict performance issues in advance, and prevent unplanned downtime and data loss.
- Open Platform Communications - By adopting the OPC standard the Stratus solution becomes an integral part of the entire industrial automation infrastructure and interoperability with other business critical applications is further extended.
All of these technologies are available today from Stratus industrial automation partners worldwide.
