Schneider Electric has announced significant updates to Wonderware Online, its cloud platform capable of collecting, visualizing, and managing operational data across industrial operations.
Wonderware Online, built on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, offers users a secure, easy to use solution that offers seamless convergence of operational and information technology (OT/IT) with security, discoverability, and extensibility all being native to the platform.
For example, Wonderware Online includes the Wonderware Online InSight Connector, a productivity tool that allows customers to link time-series data stored in Wonderware Online into Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Excel Online. This enables users to run custom formulas, perform ad hoc analysis and create Excel-based reports and charts. The Wonderware Online InSight Connector is available from the Microsoft Office 365 store.
Customers currently use Wonderware Online to consolidate distributed data sources, contextualize that data through the use of advanced applications, and provide enterprise-wide access from anywhere on any device. The intuitive interface allows users to easily access intelligence to support smarter, faster business decisions.
According to the company moving data management capabilities to the cloud with Wonderware Online built on Microsoft Azure enables:
- Greater flexibility to access detailed, high-fidelity operational data while minimizing IT burden and cost typically associated with deploying a traditional application.
- Improved cybersecurity with Microsoft Azure secure data authorization, authentication and encryption.
- Enriched natural language search and navigation capabilities for quick access to relevant information without knowledge of the system configuration.
- Augmented intelligent newsfeed analytics, with out-of-the-box pattern detection technology that automatically highlights unusual data behavior that helps customers detect and prevent issues before they become costly problems.
- Accelerated feature updates and improved availability for faster, uninterrupted access to operational data and powerful analytics.
With the amount of data from low-cost sensors and smart devices increasing exponentially, industrial organizations are searching for solutions to take full advantage of the industrial IoT. Both end users and OEMs demand a highly secure software infrastructure with broad connectivity, including the MQTT protocol. Users require a system that is modular and extensible, can manage and analyze huge amounts of data, and unlock actionable insights for an increasingly mobile workforce.
“Wonderware Online is a modern, secure and cost-effective way to collect and visualize performance data on the fly, with minimal IT burden,” said Michal Postula, Wonderware Online Product Manager, Schneider Electric. “With the help of Microsoft Azure, we provide an intelligent service that is open, scalable, and available globally anywhere, anytime.”