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62 SMT Magazine • November 2015 panies looking to increase their security should begin with an IT-friendly OS, such as SE Linux, that they can securely provision and configure to properly authenticate and authorize users to maintain system integrity and maximize sys- tem availability. Communication Especially within the IIoT, we need to stan- dardize on an Ethernet-based protocol that is capable of leveraging new Ethernet technolo- gies to create an open and deterministic net- work. This network must meet IIoT latency, de- terminism, and bandwidth requirements while maximizing interoperability between industrial systems providers and the Consumer Internet of Things. Clearly, we will need standards that support interoperability between multiple ven- dors, but we will also need networking technol- ogy to ensure low-latency communication on a converge network. IEEE has formed the Time Sensitive Network task group to evolve IEEE 802.1 to meet these requirements. Flexibility The key to the IIoT is that no one knows exactly what it will bring. Though we can't tell the future, we must still be prepared for it. In addition to being secure, these systems need to be continually modified and maintained to meet ever-changing functionality and system- maintenance requirements. Using traditional approaches to add new functionality can get complicated. As more capabilities are added, software updates are needed or more systems must be added. Soon a tangled web of intercon- nected components starts to form. These new systems and functionalities have to integrate not only with the original system but also all of the other systems. The thought of this gets even scarier when you imagine modifying and updating thousands or millions of systems lo- cated all over the world, including some in re- mote locations. The Way Forward The existence of parallel networks within organizations and the major investment made in them have been major inhibitors for the IoT. However, today, cloud storage, cloud compu- tational power, and cloud-based big data tools have met these challenges. It is simple to use cloud storage and cloud computing resources to create a single aggregation point for data com- ing in from a large number of embedded devices (such as the DAANs) and provide access to that data from any group within the organization. This flexible hardware architecture solves the problem of the two parallel embedded and IT networks that don't interoperate, thus remov- ing a substantial amount of the hardware com- plexity and makes each new problem primarily a software challenge. The same principle must be applied to soft- ware tools to form a powerful hardware-software platform that creates a unified solution. An ef- fective platform-based approach does not focus on hardware or software but instead on the in- novation within the application itself. A prime example of this is Airbus, which is using NI Lab- VIEW software and reconfigurable hardware to accelerate its development process as it builds the Factory of the Future. Airbus found this plat- form-based design approach cut their develop- ment time by a factor of 10. By using a platform- based approach you can solve the challenges of the IIoT today and in the future. SmT mANAGING bIG DATA From AN ANALoG WorLD Chandran Nair is the vice president for asia-pacific at national Instruments. " This network must meet IIoT latency, determinism, and bandwidth requirements while maximizing interoperability between industrial systems providers and the consumer Internet of Things. " FeaTure