Partnership between secunet & PTC

Secure digitization - when IIoT platform and edge computing harmonize

Manufacturing companies must digitize in order to remain competitive. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) opens up diverse application scenarios that create added value for industrial companies: from remote monitoring and maintenance of machines and plants to data-driven product/production optimization and generation of new digital business models.

This sounds so simple in theory, but in practice it is a complex task for companies and requires interdisciplinary know-how. The development of an IIoT solution must ensure the smooth interaction of individual analog and digital elements, which means, among other things:

• Machines must be networked with each other,
• an edge computing environment must be developed on an industrial PC,
• systems must be connected to the Internet
• the IIoT platform's cooperation with the edge device must also be individually tuned in to enable communication between them

At the same time, IT and OT systems must be secured to prevent cyber attacks and thus financial damage or damage to the company's image.

Holistic solutions are required to implement this complex task. In this context, PTC has developed the market-leading IIoT solution platform ThingWorx, which enables customers to realize the full potential of IIoT and thus maximize revenue, reduce production costs and improve product quality.

To reflect the importance of IT/OT security in IIoT concepts, secunet became part of the PTC partner network in June 2021.

In this context, secunet edge offers a unique combination of an edge computing platform with secured operating system, secured Docker container environment, firewall as well as IIoT gateway functionality. There is also the option of central management of all machines, secunet edge devices and functionalities via the Central Management App for PTC ThingWorx. This creates the basis for a simple and secure connection to remote maintenance solutions, for example.

By combining PTC ThingWorx and secunet edge, the user saves a lot of development effort that typically occurs in an IIoT project. This results in clear added value: the overall solution is individually tailored to the customer's needs, ready for immediate use, and enables secure digitization.

The partnership between PTC and secunet thus provides the basis for the simple and rapid implementation of digitization projects without having to sacrifice flexibility, scope, quality or even IT security.