Industrial Asset Hub
Automatically discover, identify and manage your industrial assets across the enterprise, regardless of vendor or type. How? By combining proven common device management methodologies in a scalable, open and secure cloud service - the Industrial Asset Hub (IAH). That’s how you simplify industrial asset management.
Start your journey today and get Industrial Asset Hub from the Xcelerator Marketplace.
Figure: OT management big picture
How does Industrial Asset Hub work
IAH discovers all OT devices reachable from a device with an installed Asset Gateway in the industrial producer’s on-site installation. The discovery works independent of device type and vendor. IAH reports status and inventory information in the device-specific format through a common and stable API as well as a cloud-based web UI.
After discovery, identify devices via the respective Asset link based on comprehensive device and status information. This information comprises vendor, device type (e.g., PLC, HMI, network router), order number, serial number, MAC addresses of the network interfaces, as well as software, firmware, and hardware versions. All information is collected in the centralized inventory list, which can be extended with custom fields. Access the inventory list through IAH’s web dashboard application, or integrate it into dashboard solutions, central IT asset management systems, or other applicable systems through the well-documented API. This way, IAH users gain transparency of device inventory and access to device state information and installed firmware versions at any time and anywhere in the world.
Industrial Asset Hub Building Blocks
Figure: IAH deployment view
Industrial Asset Hub (IAH) consists of three key components (technical view):
- A centrally hosted cloud-service (SaaS, also referred to as backend service), encompassing and exposing all capabilities to support the users. These capabilities can be reached via a web-based UI application and well-documented and openly accessible APIs.
- A gateway software (also referred to as Asset Gateway), which is hosted on premise to route information and servicing functions to the backend service. The communication between the Asset Gateway and backend service is established with firewall-friendly protocols.
- A selection of Asset links, which act as middleware, between the Asset Gateway and the field devices.
The Asset Gateway and one or more Asset links are hosted on Industrial Edge devices, SCALANCE LPE devices, or as docker-compose on any machine which can run containers.