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64 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2018 Industry 4.0. Use of results of cloud-based data analysis is simply not timely or suitable for these kinds of applications. Any delays, for example, in the event of specific control of production machines, reacting perhaps to a product arriving for processing which needs to be qualified for routing conformance, beyond a sub-second cannot be tolerated, otherwise productivity is compromised. Due to upload restrictions, data getting into the cloud from manufacturing can become minutes or even hours old by the time it gets there. It is therefore inevitable that there is the need for compatible software on both sides of the cloud/site divide. An effective hybrid model would perform data acquisition on the shop- floor, processing it in a smart way to convert it into discernable events or facts. These are then easily utilized by dashboard, local alert generation analysis, smart Industry 4.0 func- tions, and then ultimately the clear meaning- ful record in to the cloud for more advanced and long-term analysis. With compatibility between software both in the cloud and at the site, maximum value can be obtained with the minimum of overhead. The use of data in the cloud and cloud-based systems for manufacturing data can become practical, really achieving expected values. The cloud is no longer the fog that some people have begun to experience. Though cloud tech- nology is relatively new, the fundamental "GIGO" principle remains the same. SMT007 Michael Ford is the European marketing director for Aegis Software. Researchers from Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton have discovered a way of enhancing the capabilities of an emerging nanotech- nology that could open the door to a new generation of electronics. In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers show how they have pushed the memristor to a new level of performance after experimenting with its component materials. Memristors could hold the key to a new era in elec- tronics, being both smaller and simpler in form than tran- sistors, low-energy, and with the ability to retain data by 'remembering' the amount of charge that has passed through them – potentially resulting in computers that switch on and off instantly and never forget. The researchers demonstrated a new memristor technology that can store up to 128 discernible memory states per switch, almost four times more than previously reported, by evaluating several configurations of func- tional oxide materials – the core component that gives the memristor its ability to alter its resistance. "This is a really exciting discovery, with potentially enormous implications for modern electronics. By 2020 there are expected to be more than 200 billion inter- connected devices within the Internet of Things framework – these will generate an incredible amount of data that will need processing. Memris- tors are a key enabling technology for next-gener- ation chips, which need to be highly reconfigurable yet affordable, scalable and energy-efficient," said Themis Prodromakis, Professor of Nano- technology and EPSRC Fellow at the University of Southampton. This memristor technology will be show- cased at ISCAS 2018, an international circuits and systems conference, in Florence, Italy, in May. New Tech Standard Could Shape Future of Electronics Design