Product News: Skkynet DataHub service for Microsoft Azure
Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. announced that its DataHub technology for secure, real-time industrial data communications is now available at Microsoft Azure Marketplace. With the DataHub service, Azure customers can securely acquire, monitor, control, consolidate, and share their live process data, per Skkynet.
“The DataHub service provides a unique way to securely integrate operations technology with IT on Microsoft Azure,” said Paul Thomas, president of Skkynet. “Users can now aggregate data feeds from multiple sources, and feed data to dashboards, data lakes, and other connected programs―without exposing their production systems.”
“I've been working with pharmacy production equipment, grocery store water systems, municipal facilities, and universities where the managers all need the same thing: secure access to their process data,” said Rick Lisowski, president of Skye Controls & Design in Spencerport, NY. “Connecting the hardware they use to the DataHub software running on Azure puts it all together. Now my motto is: I can get any data from anywhere and push it to where you need it.”
"Microsoft Azure Marketplace empowers customers to discover, try, and deploy software solutions that are certified and optimized to run on Azure," said Jake Zborowski, general manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. "Azure Marketplace helps solutions like Skkynet reach more customers and markets."
The Skkynet DataHub service connects to Azure IoT Hub for real-time remote monitoring, control, and data logging, its maker notes. Using standard industrial protocols like OPC UA or MQTT, users can directly connect to popular applications and programs that run on Azure, or at remote locations.
Security is based on Skkynet’s patented technology that uses outbound-only connections to ensure that no attack surface is exposed on a local plant network. It requires no IT policy changes, no open inbound firewall ports, no VPNs, and no extra hardware while allowing real-time bi-directional data flow through DMZs and network proxies up to the cloud.
Skkynet’s products and services—DataHub software for in-plant, the Skkynet DataHub for Microsoft Azure, the SkkyHub cloud service, and ETK for embedded devices—provide secure access to industrial data through open, standard industrial protocols, allowing users to fully integrate OT with IT systems and other applications anywhere in the world, they note. Secure by design, Skkynet promises its solution requires no VPN, no open firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware. Secure integration of embedded devices, on-premise systems, and remote locations through seamless, end-to-end connectivity in real time lets users derive maximum value from Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0.
