Due to technological advances in recent years, water management companies have seen their remote monitoring systems grow exponentially in scope and complexity. Likewise, water management needs to be sure about the quality, integrity and availability of information in real-time to monitor and control the operation of the entire system and, support continuous improvement and renewal processes to increase the infrastructure efficiency.

Now, it is possible to collect all data from different manufacturers and equipment, homogenize it and process it in a cybersecureway with Edge Computing. Edge Computing is a distributed IT architecture that moves computing resources as close as possible to the source of the data, as opposed to processing data in the cloud or data centres. 

Edge Computing is about processing data closer to where it's being generated, enabling processing at greater speeds and volumes, leading to greater action-led results in real time. It is the solution for processing time-sensitive data, while cloud computing is used to process data that is not time-driven.

Besides latency, edge computing is preferred over cloud computing in remote locations, where there is limited or no connectivity to a centralized location.

Moreover, the use of Edge Nodes overcomes the barrier of fragmentation and hardware heterogeneity as it can integrate different equipment, as well as technologies and protocols. Regardless of the hardware, through Edge Nodes all data in the field is gathered, homogenized and processed cybsersecurely.

Real-time monitoring and control for operational efficiency in water plants

To operate more efficiently, water management operators face the challenge to monitor in a unified and comprehensive way all components that make up the OT and industrial automation architectures. The use of Edge Nodes (or Gateways Edge) allows connectivity with different equipment in each installation regardless of the various data reporting equipment. All installations are monitored in real-time and on the same visualization platform.

Download this use case and learn how can Barbara´s Edge Platform help you to:

1. Capture data from different manufacturers with their own protocols. 

2. Homogenize all data.

3. Transfer this data in a cyber secure way. 

4. Deploy and orchestrate AI at the Edge to make your machine and processes smarter

Cybersecurity at the Edge

The security through Edge Nodes or gateway Edge is guaranteed. Edge nodes are the bridge between the network and industrial equipment. They are responsible for isolating industrial equipment from possible attacks from the network and protecting the data that industrial equipment captures and sends to the nodes themselves.

To this end, the edge nodes that are deployed must have protection mechanisms in place for this purpose, and they must also be remotely upgradeable. Another best practice is to develop logic in the edge nodes that allows them to update not only themselves but also the industrial equipment to which they are connected.

As we mentioned before, by processing data close to the source, edge computing reduces the sharing of sensitive information and can help maintain high levels of data security, as well as compliance with data sovereignty regulations.

If you are interested in Cybersecurity in Industry4.0 we recommend:  IoT Edge in the Industry 4.0

Barbara, The Cybsersecure Edge Platform for Water Management

Barbara is the leading Cybersecure Industrial Edge Platform for water management, designed to process thousands of variables in real time from different types of equipment and distributed systems.

Its technology stack is composed by:

2) Barbara Marketplace, a wide catalogue of certified and ready-to-deploy Edge Applications with little or no customization, which minimizes time-to-market and optimizes return on investment.

3) Finally, Barbara not only monitors large infrastructures and distributed industrial automation systems, but it also incorporates industrial and multi-author Artificial Intelligence applications, already certified through containers, with the advantage of deploying at a large scale.

If you are in the process of digitizing water plants, contact us