Kepware s Latest Communications Platform Addresses Need for Enterprise Service Bus

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1 ARC VIEW APRIL 26, 2012 Kepware s Latest Communications Platform Addresses Need for Enterprise Service Bus By Craig Resnick Keywords Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), Kepware Technologies, KEPServerEX, OPC UA, Communications Platform, M2M, API Summary Kepware Technologies, a developer of communication and interoperability software solutions for the automation industry, recently briefed ARC Advisory Group about the company s This ARCview addresses the growing need for an enterprise service bus KEPServerEX Communications Platform. This is designed to provide enterprise applications with direct, that enables communications and data sharing between plant floor devices and enterprise applications real-time access to machine- and device-level data. and presents one supplier s solution. Key findings from this briefing include: There is a growing need in the marketplace for an enterprise service bus that enables communications and sharing of data between the plant floor and enterprise applications. Different solutions are required to meet the different requirements for sharing data between multiple devices on the plant floor versus sharing data between the plant floor and the enterprise. What Is an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)? Questions for Kepware Technologies included: What are the key characteristics and functionalities of an enterprise service bus? and On what technologies and standards are enterprise service buses based? Manufacturers and other industrial organizations require connectivity at all levels of their respective enterprises to avoid creating islands of information. Connecting devices at the field, control, and operations levels is no longer sufficient. Today's industrial plants need to connect plant-level devices, applications, and systems with enterprise-level systems and applications. Solutions that connect the plant floor with the enterprise often fall under VISION, EXPERIENCE, ANSWERS FOR INDUSTRY

Group about the company s This ARCview addresses the growing need for an enterprise service bus KEPServerEX Communications Platform.

2 ARC View, Page 2 the category of an enterprise service bus, for which secure interoperability is a prerequisite. An enterprise service bus provides a common information infrastructure or a single communications backbone, with all applications able to exchange data and information without barriers. This common information infrastructure should be functionally transparent, logically concise, and based on standards. Typical Functions Standardize interfaces for all applications Standardized documents to exchange Information Transformation Applicationindependent processes Data quality rules Transaction queuing Transaction tracing Adapters What Are the Challenges to Deploying an ESB? Manufacturers actively wrestle with the high-level issues that surround, intersect with, or impinge upon their operations management space. They want to bring all their disparate applications (maintenance management, LIMS, WMS, HMI, etc.) together under a single platform. They want to extract Considerations real-time information from manufacturing operations to improve API's, Web Services, etc. their performance and create work processes that synchronize and Internally developed standards, ISA, OAGi, etc. coordinate this information with Operations application to standards, enterprise applications to standards, etc. Cross functional processes, integration, etc. their business and supply chain systems. They also want easier, more automatic changeovers when new products are introduced. While, historically, manufacturers considered Valid completeness, values, IT projects as factory automation, consistency, etc. with the goal to improve quality and Reliable delivery, application unavailability, communications productivity; some leaders now focus on factory synchronization, failures, etc. Trouble shooting, compliance, performance, recovery, etc. Legacy applications, operations management, enterprise, labs, etc. with the goal to coordinate production with demand pull from the supply chain, real-time interaction with financial control, and supply chain design. The primary purpose for an enterprise communications bus is to address these challenges by providing standardized and guaranteed communications across all sites and systems over an extended period of time. This requires functionality in the bus design to support a large number of existing and future communicating applications.

This common information infrastructure should be functionally transparent, logically concise, and based on standards.

3 ARC View, Page 3 Enterprise Applications What Are the Requirements for an ESB? The technology landscape continues to change. Instead of messaging middleware, manufacturers are selecting an enterprise service bus and other components of a service-oriented architecture, such as technology and application platforms. Instead of an MES application, manufacturers are looking for integrated suites of applications that knit together all their execution, logistics, maintenance, quality, tracking, reporting and visibility needs throughout all operations and across multiple plants. Portals and business process management tools are becoming commonplace in supplier solutions. All these technologies are designed from the ground up to support information sharing across multiple areas. Leading manufacturers wisely choose to tackle enterprise-wide and plant floor architecture first, recognizing that this will be critical to getting the right solution for each of their functional areas. Enterprise Service Bus Site Applications - Operations An enterprise service bus must have a foundation based on proven open communication standards, such as OPC UA. It must provide secure interoperability at the automation level by embedding the technology within plantlevel devices and applications, as well as extend communications from the device and automation levels up to enterprise applications and systems. How Kepware Solves These Requirements and Challenges According to the company, Kepware Technologies introduced its KEPServerEX Communications Platform to address the market demand for enterprise service bus solutions. The company provides this capability by developing and writing communications protocols, as well as adapting to third-party application programming interfaces (APIs) for information exchange. These leverage its own solutions along with industry standards, such as OPC UA, to eliminate the need for users to create their own custom interfaces. Kepware s KEPServerEX provides proven technology for adding new enterprise adapters to enable the vertical flow of information from the plant floor into the enterprise. It also supports the horizontal flow of information between devices for machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity.

Instead of an MES application, manufacturers are looking for integrated suites of applications that knit together all their execution, logistics, maintenance, quality, tracking, reporting and

4 ARC View, Page 4 KEPServerEX provides interoperability solutions that enable manufacturers and other industrial organizations to leverage plant floor automation, control, and asset management information throughout their organizations. It supports more than 250 communication drivers for open standards and most major automation suppliers, including BACnet, DNP3, Modbus, Rockwell Automation, GE Intelligent Platforms and Siemens. The solution also supports client interfaces based on open standards and both custom and proprietary interfaces. These include OPC DA, OPC UA, OPC A&E, DDE, relational databases and SNMP agents. The solution also supports native supplier interfaces including GE NIO, Oracle MOC, and Wonderware Suitelink. Centralized Communications Is Key KEPServerEX provides centralized communications that control and limit the number of information requests made to equipment and systems. With a single communications platform, all communication and data manipulation occurs within the single server platform and Kepware s KEPServerEX provides proven all driver configurations use the same technique technology for adding new enterprise and user interface. adapters to enable the vertical flow of information from the plant floor into the The solution provides advanced communication enterprise. It also supports the horizontal flow of information between devices for and network tools, including driver-level diagnostics to enable device-level analytics. Users machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity. can also employ this tool to diagnose OPC communications. This provides the end user with the ability to monitor communications and the networks from their PCs or servers. End users can also monitor their IT hardware through SNMP agents and plug-in options. Other features help speed deployment. These include automatic tag database generation, a multiple tag generation utility, the ability to import and export configurations, and advanced tags for linking and computing various data sources. The company designed KEPServerEX with a multi-threaded channel communications architecture that further speeds both implementation and scale on demand, from a single device and tag to thousands of devices and millions of tags.

It supports more than 250 communication drivers for open standards and most major automation suppliers, including BACnet, DNP3, Modbus, Rockwell Automation, GE Intelligent Platforms and Siemens.

5 ARC View, Page 5 Conclusion ARC believes that KEPServer EX represents an excellent example of a modern enterprise service bus; a software platform that connects disparate devices and applications across an enterprise in a standard manner. Plugand-play functionality eliminates the need for users to perform additional integration or develop custom drivers for their installed systems, software, and devices. Challenges for enterprise service bus solutions in general, and Kepware Technologies KEPServerEX Communications Platform in particular, include developing a large and diverse installed base of customers and soliciting user testimonials to help demonstrate both proof-of-concept and communicate the ROI that this type of solution can deliver. For further information or to provide feedback on this article, please contact your account manager or the author at cresnick@arcweb.com. ARC Views are published and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group. The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC.

Plugand-play functionality eliminates the need for users to perform additional integration or develop custom drivers for their installed systems, software, and devices.

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