Customers have long been asking us how they can connect a machine (or even an entire plant) to the Cloud (even to Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, Google IoT or Amazon IoT Core) to collect information and make analyzes and reports with the data collected in Production.
The way can also be complex, but now we are able to offer a solution based on middleware that is simple to install, configure and put into operation, secure and reliable: Skkynet DataHub.
DataHub is a unique tool that allows you to connect, concentrate, integrate and exchange your data in real time, from any source and to any user.
DataHub is a real-time middleware, which establishes secure, two-way data communication for industrial systems. It receives, integrates and streams data with impressive performance, reaching over 50.000 data changes per second.
DataHub integrates data and groups data from all sources and protocols into a single unified data set, to be stored and processed on a Historian, on premise and even in the Cloud. Any Client can access any subset of data using any supported protocol: OPC UA, OPC DA Classic, MQTT, Modbus, DDE, TCP, ODBC, HTTP, XML and more. It supports OPC UA and OPC DA both Client and Server.
DataHub can act as an IoT Gateway and transmit real-time industrial data via OPC UA and OPC DA directly into Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), to Cloud systems and Industrial Big Data analysis platforms.
DataHub Connects to any MQTT broker, including those for Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, Google IoT, and Amazon IoT Core, and has no restrictions on how many points to manage.
An example of using DataHub: Secure OPC Tunnel between Power Plant and Company Headquarters
In two recent projects, ABB Energy Automation Italia has developed a control solution that feeds data from power plant facilities directly to corporate offices, in real time, using Cogent DataHub. A key requirement was to provide a highly secure means of data transmission, with minimal risk of break-in. The DataHub tunneling solution establishes a secure and reliable connection between the power plant and corporate networks.
ABB Energy Automation's business is to implement software and control systems for power plants to ensure that the equipment operates with optimum output and efficiency. For these projects, it became clear that several Italian electricity companies would benefit substantially from monitoring plant performance directly from company headquarters. The Michael Mannucci, Project Engineer ABB, started looking for a way to make the connection, using the most reliable and secure means available on the market today.
“Clients today are very sensitive to security as they need to exchange information via the Web,” he said. “We had an OPC DA server on our equipment, but we found that using DCOM technology for networking was too risky – it requires opening too many ports in our firewalls. So we had to find ways to avoid using DCOM."
Web research led Mannucci to "discover" DataHub. For a first test, he connected the DataHub to the plant's DigiVis Freelance 2000 OPC server, then connected to an OPC Client, tunneling through the plant's firewall using a single open port. He then installed another DataHub on the corporate network, and then created a mirror connection between the two DataHubs.
For the production system, the company decided to use ABB's proprietary OPC server on the plant's secure LAN and connect it to the DataHub. From the DataHub, the data flows via a single port on the plant firewall via SSL encrypted TCP to a DataHub in the corporate offices, which is connected to the corporate LAN. The two DataHubs mirror the data, so that any changes to the data on the plant LAN are immediately received on the corporate LAN.
“For us, this OPC tunnel is great, because we only need to open a door and we are safe from possible break-ins that could happen using DCOM,” said Mannucci. “We are evaluating the installation of this same solution on all of our plants”.
It took Mannucci just a few days to go from initial testing to a working system of the first connected plant and a second system was up and running in a similar time frame. Both systems have been running 24/24 since installation and have not had any security breaches to date.
