The Industrial IoT (IIoT) has created a wave of big data that is coming in at an unprecedented rate and volume that most business operators are not equipped to handle. To add to the complexity, the information collected from the multitude of devices and sensors, deployed in every conceivable sphere of operation, also comes in a variety of different data formats. To gain meaningful insights into this huge volume of data and derive useful information that can help business operators make the right decisions, this data needs to be securely stored, analyzed, and integrated with back-end business applications. Considering that most industrial operators are not data scientists and do not have the in-house expertise to store and analyze big data, these tasks are best left to data experts. In this regard, cloudbased IIoT solutions have gained considerable ground by providing data solutions that are scalable, secure, and cost-effective. In addition, their ability to integrate devices with computing infrastructure, development platforms, and business applications in the cloud, has redefined the IIoT. Many companies are turning to the cloud to mine their IIoT data so that they can derive useful insights into their business operations. In this article, we discuss five reasons why you should consider moving your IIoT platform to the cloud.

Faster Time to Market

Deploying an IIoT solution is not an easy task. For most companies, an IIoT deployment involves upgrading their network infrastructure to accommodate the steep rise in data traffic, acquiring and deploying new devices and sensors, creating new databases, integrating the new systems with the existing infrastructure, and building data management and analysis capabilities. This could result in high costs and is a huge drain on the company infrastructure. Adopting cloud-based IIoT solutions helps you get your IIoT up and running at a faster pace, with better resource utilization, and a much lower cost compared to on-premise deployments.

Data Mobility

Cloud storage solutions provide data mobility to your IIoT devices and applications. Data stored in a cloud server can be accessed from anywhere and is free from the infrastructural constraints of private clouds, which means you get fast access to your data when you need it. Storing data in the cloud also makes it easy to use cloud-based tools to carry out predictive analysis of your IIoT data to facilitate your business decision making process.

Scalability

Adopting a cloud-based IIoT solution frees you from the constraints of an on-premise IIoT deployment. You no longer have to maintain complex network infrastructure, development platforms, and applications that are usually required to process IIoT data. Cloud-based solutions are available in a convenient pay-per-use model with services such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Applications as a Service, making it easy to develop the IIoT applications that you need. You can also benefit from the collective expertise of data scientists and business analytics experts who are usually involved in developing these solutions.

Integration

Most cloud-based solutions provide easy integration of your IIoT devices with your back-end applications such as enterprise software. This is a huge load off your back as you no longer have to worry about integrating your IIoT devices with your enterprise applications and systems. A good cloud-based IIoT solution lets you connect your devices and sensors to powerful data acquisition and analytics applications in the cloud, which in turn, can process your data and make it available to your back-end enterprise system in the format that they require.

Big Data and Advanced Analytics

Moving your IIoT platform to the cloud is the first step towards developing big data and advanced data analytics capabilities in your system. Cloud-based solutions are optimized for storing large volumes of data and can make the data available to your enterprise applications with minimum latency. You can also deploy advanced analytics tools available in the cloud to process your IIoT data to derive value from your data that can help you increase operation efficiency, reduce costs, improve your products, and serve your customers better.

Moxa Can Accelerate Your Move to the Cloud

Moxa’s ThingsPro™ Suite simplifies the development of IIoT applications and facilitates data acquisition as well as remote device management. ThingsPro provides Modbus communication, data acquisition, wireless networking, and device management capabilities in a few simple steps, allowing users to focus on developing applications. For integration with cloud-based solutions, ThingsPro provides interfaces to popular cloud solutions such as AWS IoT and Azure IoT. You can also use the ThingsPro Server to set up your own cloud and to manage data-acquisition gateways and devices deployed at your field sites. To learn more, visit our website. Also, read our tech note to learn how you can use ThingsPro to move your IIoT data to the AWS IoT Cloud.