CSIA member businesses have been based on a parts and smarts mind set, coupled with good old fashioned ingenuity and determination. This approach has resulted in improved processes for customers and increased profit margins for themselves.
The times are changing, though, and customers' needs go beyond process automation. End users continually want to streamline operations, increase safety and improve output but often need more data points, or things, with Ethernet interfaces in order to do that. Examples of things that are being installed on a network include video sensors, optical relays, PLCs, VFDs, protection relays and flow meters.
Research shows that the number one network opportunity is the factory Internet of Things (IoT). By 2025, the value estimate is between $1.2 to 3.7 trillion (source: The internet of things offers a potential economic impact of $4 trillion to $11 trillion a year in 2025). While newer industrial copper and fiber networks and components provide improved accessibility and cost savings to the end user, it also increases the possibility of intruders accessing the PLCs and disrupting critical operations. The countermeasures, or in other words, emerging opportunity, for CSIA members could be recommending firewall and monitoring applications for customers with critical facilities such as WWTP. These solutions are usually installed right next to the PLC and HMI that you installed last week! There are many different levels to network security and the topic is not trivial. I will be participating on the panel discussion titled From Cables to Cybersecurity: The importance of a robust infrastructure in order to meet future network needs on Friday, April 22 at 10:45 am at the CSIA Executive Conference in Puerto Rico. I hope to see you there.
I will also be at booth #41 at the conference's vendor expo. Meaningful firewall solutions are not cheap, so I’m offering a 50% off deal for CSIA members at the Executive Conference. This should help take the sting out of just getting started. I look forward to seeing you there.
