Cisco’s dedication to innovation often retains us centered on what’s forward for industrial networking. New digitization alternatives. New sustainability imperatives. New ways in which we can assist organizations to realize strategic targets.
Right now, we’re doing one thing totally different. We’re wanting again and reflecting on how far industrial networking has come.
The start
It was 20 years in the past—March 3, 2003—that we launched the Cisco Catalyst 2955 Collection. It was our first Industrial Ethernet swap designed to be used exterior conventional IT-managed areas. With connectivity on the manufacturing unit flooring as our first goal, we introduced the 2955 Collection throughout Nationwide Manufacturing Week. Because the press launch urged, we had our eye on alternatives to deploy ruggedized switches in different industries, too—particularly, energy technology and wastewater therapy environments.
In 2003, we had been well-known for our enterprise networking options—the sorts of merchandise that IT groups deploy in climate-controlled information facilities and carpeted workplaces. As we began displaying up at industrial conferences, reactions might typically be summed up with this query: What’s Cisco doing right here?
What’s Cisco doing right here?
The reply: We arrived to assist industrial organizations in adopting IP connectivity all through their operations, alongside manufacturing strains, inside electrical substations, deep inside mines. The previous 20 years have introduced an explosion within the quantity and number of functions that IT and operational expertise (OT) groups are supporting—typically in a number of the wettest, dustiest, non–climate-controlled locations on Earth.
From the start, we’ve labored onerous to earn and maintain our seat on the desk. Right now we’re a market chief not simply in ruggedized switches however in turnkey industrial networking options. We’re proud to say that our options play a key function in selling a round economic system for a extra sustainable future. You’ll discover our ruggedized gadgets in designs for wind turbine and photo voltaic farms, in addition to infrastructure for managing distributed power sources and charging electrical automobiles. Our gear helps mines that make lithium battery manufacturing doable in addition to on the battery manufacturing crops themselves. We’ve even elevated the sustainability of our personal merchandise—by anodizing quite than portray, minimizing the usage of dangerous chemical compounds.
We’re equally excited that our options are serving to to assist nationwide safety and advance house exploration. You’ll discover Cisco’s applied sciences embedded inside the latest, most subtle rockets, tanks, and drones, to call a couple of belongings.
We’re pleased with how effectively our gear has carried out over the lengthy haul. With gear buzzing alongside for years inside salt mines, automotive crops, subway stations, and different harsh environments, Cisco Industrial Networking options proceed to face the check of time.
We’re continually working to advance the options and capabilities of our industrial options, and we keep true to our core strengths: glorious experience and constant merchandise.
We’re bringing IT to the bodily world
Whether or not made to be used in conventional IT areas or rugged environments, our merchandise use distinctive Cisco strengths of their underlying networking applied sciences. The {hardware} is constructed utilizing the Cisco Safe Growth Lifecycle, which follows a secure-by-design philosophy from product creation by finish of life.
Cisco IoT networking platforms use the identical working system, clever community administration system, and safety functions as those who assist a number of the largest enterprise networks on this planet. IOS XE, Cisco DNA Heart, Cisco Identification Companies Engine (ISE), Cisco Safe Community Analytics (Stealthwatch), and Cisco SecureX not solely present a uniform constant administration and safety technique between enterprise and operations community but in addition additional IT and OT collaboration.
One other necessary functionality that our industrial switches share with their enterprise cousins is the open containerized platform—Cisco IOx—which gives compute sources for working functions throughout the switches, the place information is being generated. Cisco Cyber Imaginative and prescient sensors that run in IOx carry out deep packet inspection (DPI) on community site visitors with the intention to determine related belongings, site visitors patterns, and potential safety vulnerabilities and assist to find out insurance policies for community segmentation.
To enhance distant entry to industrial gear that’s tough to achieve or to scale back journey prices, our merchandise supply Safe Gear Entry (SEA), a normal service that may change the numerous proprietary and doubtlessly unsecure entry applied sciences in use at present. Cisco Edge Intelligence extracts, transforms, and shares information from related belongings on the IoT edge to multicloud environments and permits clever analytical functions to make the best choices.
Again in 2003, we had been excited to be constructing a presence on manufacturing unit flooring. We had been growing robust partnerships and laying the groundwork for growth throughout vertical markets. In 2023, we’re proud to look again at what we’ve constructed—and to proceed enjoying a component as industrial organizations digitize operations and remodel the way in which the world works.
Now and into the longer term
As we glance to the longer term, we see clear tendencies in industrial operations—extra use of cloud-based functions, virtualization of management features, and extra synthetic intelligence/machine studying (AI/ML)–powered analytics. Software program-defined approaches will use software program to handle and optimize your entire manufacturing course of, together with product design, scheduling, provide chain administration, high quality management, and upkeep. “Digital twin” expertise will simulate a product from its design, manufacturing, and efficiency when deployed and optimizes the product and manufacturing system earlier than funding in bodily prototypes and constructing of meeting strains.
These makes use of are doable solely by high-performance networking, built-in safety, and machine-to-cloud connectivity. I’m proud to say that Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches and the remainder of our IoT portfolio is gearing as much as lead this cost.
Keep tuned as we proceed to evolve our portfolio and convey the longer term to you.
As you contemplate your priorities for industrial networking, take a better take a look at a few of our most up-to-date improvements at Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches, and register for an interactive panel dialogue during which will talk about key traits of extremely succesful industrial switching.
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