By Bharath Ramesh
Product Management & Marketing Director
HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems
For front-line managers who are responsible for bringing digital transformation to the industrial edge, there are often difficulties with system deployment and day-to-day operations to contend with. At an auto plant or electronics factory, there might be hundreds of systems using distinct Operational Technology (OT) devices like PLCs or DCUs to monitor and control manufacturing processes. For an oil rig located in the blistering desert or frozen arctic, there are temperature extremes and a lack of on-site IT staff. A wind farm in a rural area may only have wireless connections, and routine IT systems management tasks like performing firmware and other updates requires an expensive service call.
With the launch of the HPE Edgeline EL300 with OT Link and a suite of new IT management tools, IT and operations managers can now better orchestrate data acquisition, analysis and control suited to these types of OT/IT edge environments, and do so more quickly and with a lower impact on IT and OT staff. Moreover, the unparalleled OT-IT integration enabled by the Edgeline EL300 and its edge-focused management tools can enable the latest IoT, AI, and analytics applications right at the edge.
Additional literature: before diving into the details of the new HPE Edgeline OT Link software and hardware offerings, you should read this article explaining what the โEdgeโ is and how industries can benefit.
HPE Edgeline EL300 features & management tools
The HPE Edgeline EL300 is part of the Converged Edge Systems family which includes the Edgeline EL1000 and EL4000 Converged Edge Systems. Like the other models, the EL300 gives managers access to uncompromised enterprise-class IT converged with OT at the industrial edge. But the EL300 brings additional, complementary features as well:
- A military-tier, fan-less system tested to higher levels of shock and vibration compared to traditional IT equipment, and certified to operate in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) and as high as 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Modular slots and antennas for adding WiFi, BT, and LTE connectivity.
- Edgeline OT Link Platform (OTP) software and certified hardware modules to facilitate data acquisition and control from different types of industrial devices.
- Configurable I/O modules allowing direct connectivity to CANbus, MODBUS, Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) and General Purpose I/O (GPIO) devices and sensors.
The EL300โs ruggedized hardware profile and flexible networking, compute, and storage options make it an ideal candidate for deployment in harsh edge environments, whether itโs the factory floor or an offshore drilling rig. But equally impressive are the EL300โs management capabilities, which take IT/OT convergence to the next level.
The EL300 is embedded with the new HPE Edgeline Integrated System Manager (iSM). It shares the core features, look and feel of HPEโs familiar Integrated Lights Out (iLO) software for deploying and managing local Edgeline systems, but adds edge-specific capabilities such as remote management over WiFi and LTE connections.
The EL300 is also supported with the Edgeline Infrastructure Manager (EIM), a powerful management tool that provides a dashboard view into the health of hundreds to thousands of managed systems at a site. EIM can also automate discovery of new devices and be used to easily deploy firmware and software updates.
The EL300โs OT data acquisition, control and networking modules allow Edgeline systems to โtalkโ with a greatly expanded variety of OT equipment, from IoT sensors to sprawling SCADA systems. Additional tools simplify management of connected equipment, and the workflows that drive them. They include:
- HPE Edgeline OT Link Platform software, which automatically recognizes and exposes all OT Link certified hardware in the system, and lets non-coders create and supervise data movements using a simple drag-and-drop workload flow designer.
- The optional HPE Edgeline Workload Orchestrator (EWO), which provides centralized deployment and management of containerized applications, middleware, and flows.
The EL300, like all Edgeline systems and management tools, is fully compatible with Aruba ClearPass and other IoT security solutions for protection in high-risk edge environments. But the EL300 also includes a silicon root of trust, a new silicon-based security technology that prevents compromised firmware from running on edge systems. HPE is currently the only vendor to offer this extra layer of security to industrial customers.
Taken together, the robust capabilities of the EL300 can help businesses manage vast amounts of data streaming from IoT sensors and connected equipment, driving new insights and efficiencies. It further brings datacenter-grade IT to businesses interested in leveraging analytics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and specialized applications. It is, in short, a platform for digital transformation at the industrial edge.
You can learn more about the EL300 and Edgeline Converged Edge Systems by downloading the Edgeline Family Guide. To see the convergence of IT and OT in action, register to visit one of the HPE IoT Innovation Labs in Houston, Texas; Geneva, Switzerland; Bangalore, India; or Singapore.
Learn more at www.hpe.com/info/edgeline
About the Author
Bharath leads WW Product Management & Marketing for the Converged Servers, Edge and IoT Systems Group at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Heโs currently driving adoption of HPEโs pioneering Converged Edge System products and solutions specifically designed to tackle the challenge of collecting, rapidly analyzing and actioning on the enormous quantities of data being generated at the various โEdgesโ such as Industrial IoT, Telco, Media and Enterprise. Over his 14-year career in HP/HPE, Bharath has worked on over 20 products in roles ranging from hardware engineering to program management. Prior to joining HP/HPE he designed avionics systems for spacecraft, and is a keen proponent of IT+OT convergence, especially at the edge.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bramesh
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