C h a p t e r 3
Historically, factories have heavily relied
on both informational technology (IT) and
operational technology (OT). However,
these two pieces of infrastructure have
been effectively independent and unique
entities up until this point. Now, with the
digital factory, factory operators are
beginning to think about IT and OT in a
different way.
In general, IT is the side of the factory
concerned with non-time-critical
infrastructure, such as data storage,
processing, and networking. On the
other hand, OT is the side of the factory
concerned with real-time infrastructure,
such as the sensors, machines, and
equipment that interact with the real
world.
While the factory to this point has been
able to operate with IT and OT as two
disparate technologies, the paradigm
of the digital factory has rendered this
disaggregated architecture obsolete.
As the digital factory centers around
the real-time availability of operational
data, users of the technology are now
demanding the ability to get their data off
the factory floor and into their hands for
analysis.
CONVERGENCE OF IT AND
OT NETWORKS
Darshan Pandya
Staff Robotics & Automation Engineer, Walmart
Traditionally, IT and OT have
been independent of one another.
Recently, the boundaries between
IT and OT have started to get
blurry, and we see more overlap
between the two. This opens the
path for advanced analytics and
smarter decision-making for
enterprises."
14
Leading the Way to the Digital Factory
