Editorial team
InfoWeb Marketplace · Editorial team
Published on 7 October 2021 · 2 min read
Data exchange is an important factor to consider when integrating the different levels of production (operational technologies, OT) and management (information technologies, IT). Non-standard variables and interfaces are very common, not to mention the need to support access rights and specific security criteria. While OPC UA has established itself as the standard technology for achieving these objectives, a lack of optimization can hinder the efficiency of Industry 4.0 applications.
Softing Industrial's dataFEED Secure Integration Server acts as an abstract interface between the OT and IT worlds, combining in a single component the essential functions needed for efficient data exchange. In its role as an aggregation server, this middleware uses the OPC UA address space modeling for interface abstraction and data aggregation. In doing so, this abstraction handles changes or extensions within a domain (OT/IT) automatically. This system offers several advantages, notably the ease of integrating new IT applications into an overall solution, in order to take advantage of the short innovation cycles in the IT field or to make targeted changes to the production environment. With aggregation, data from several sources can be consolidated on a single OPC UA server, so that the IT application only accesses this one server. This simplification of the communication infrastructure reduces the configuration effort for users.
The integrated security model of the dataFEED SIS makes it possible, with its filters, to restrict the address space of the individual OPC UA client applications and the access types, which can be predefined. In addition to the full implementation of the OPC UA security functions, lists can be defined to control access to data from specific IP addresses. Detection of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks targeting OPC UA authentication is also included.
Whether the customer keeps its current configuration or plans to install a new plant, deploying dataFEED Secure Integration Server offers many decisive advantages for Industry 4.0 applications. A major supplier of process control systems for a power plant had to integrate 1,5 million variables into an overall system. However, access to such a volume of variables was a major problem for many OPC UA clients. For this reason, the power plant application opted to use the variable filtering option to implement targeted, variable access restrictions for the different OPC UA clients. In addition, only read access is granted to specific variables. This method prevents the unauthorized overwriting of assigned data values. For a major automotive parts supplier, choosing the dataFEED SIS made it possible to manage the aggregation and filtering of data from several heterogeneous OPC UA servers.
Security for Industry 4.0 with Softing Industrial
InfoWeb Marketplace · Editorial teamPublished on 7 October 2021 · 2 min read
Data exchange in Industry 4.0 applications
Data exchange is an important factor to consider when integrating the different levels of production (operational technologies, OT) and management (information technologies, IT). Non-standard variables and interfaces are very common, not to mention the need to support access rights and specific security criteria. While OPC UA has established itself as the standard technology for achieving these objectives, a lack of optimization can hinder the efficiency of Industry 4.0 applications.
Interface abstraction, data aggregation and security
Softing Industrial's dataFEED Secure Integration Server acts as an abstract interface between the OT and IT worlds, combining in a single component the essential functions needed for efficient data exchange. In its role as an aggregation server, this middleware uses the OPC UA address space modeling for interface abstraction and data aggregation. In doing so, this abstraction handles changes or extensions within a domain (OT/IT) automatically. This system offers several advantages, notably the ease of integrating new IT applications into an overall solution, in order to take advantage of the short innovation cycles in the IT field or to make targeted changes to the production environment. With aggregation, data from several sources can be consolidated on a single OPC UA server, so that the IT application only accesses this one server. This simplification of the communication infrastructure reduces the configuration effort for users.
The integrated security model of the dataFEED SIS makes it possible, with its filters, to restrict the address space of the individual OPC UA client applications and the access types, which can be predefined. In addition to the full implementation of the OPC UA security functions, lists can be defined to control access to data from specific IP addresses. Detection of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks targeting OPC UA authentication is also included.
Direct customer benefits with the deployment of dataFEED Secure Integration Server
Whether the customer keeps its current configuration or plans to install a new plant, deploying dataFEED Secure Integration Server offers many decisive advantages for Industry 4.0 applications. A major supplier of process control systems for a power plant had to integrate 1,5 million variables into an overall system. However, access to such a volume of variables was a major problem for many OPC UA clients. For this reason, the power plant application opted to use the variable filtering option to implement targeted, variable access restrictions for the different OPC UA clients. In addition, only read access is granted to specific variables. This method prevents the unauthorized overwriting of assigned data values. For a major automotive parts supplier, choosing the dataFEED SIS made it possible to manage the aggregation and filtering of data from several heterogeneous OPC UA servers.