Edge Xpert to help research centre develop 'factories of the future'
Working closely with CONFIRM, IOTech will assist in advancing technologies used in the acquisition and processing of data at the edge for smart manufacturing
Edinburgh, UK (31st March, 2022) – IOTech, IOTech, the edge software company, is collaborating with CONFIRM Smart Manufacturing, a world-leading research centre distributed across six Irish Universities.
Funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), CONFIRM is a collaborative and globally focused research centre. Its mission is to advance knowledge and transform industry to better equip the “factories of the future.” IOTech is supplying its Edge Xpert edge software platform, which CONFIRM will use to help connect various wireless solutions and machinery at the edge. This will enable data flow and reliable communication between different machines, manufacturing systems, manufactured goods and supply chains.
The collaboration will support research into how Smart Manufacturing can benefit from modern techniques for the acquisition and processing of edge data, along with integration and data sharing to the cloud and other IT systems.
“By leveraging IOTech’s Edge Xpert, CONFIRM researchers will be able to more easily acquire data from many different machine types at the edge, and then locally analyze and process that data,” said Prof. Dirk Pesch, CONFIRM Co-Principal Investigator in Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems. “Being able to efficiently perform these operations on premise with the help of edge computing is a key area for further research by our teams.”
The CONFIRM Smart Manufacturing Centre was set up in 2017 after the Irish government identified 14 high-priority areas where scientific research should be further developed in the country. “Future Manufacturing” was named as one of these priority areas. In response, more than 200 researchers are carrying out projects at CONFIRM. These range from cyber-physical manufacturing, supply chain, robotics and digital twin technologies, to name a few.
CONFIRM is hosted by the University of Limerick and partners with multiple other organizations such as University College Cork, Tyndall National Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, Maynooth University, Munster Technological University and Technological University of the Shannon. These institutions all help provide long-term research to advance manufacturing systems. CONFIRM also performs shorter-term, industry-led research projects with key multi-national industrial partners and many Irish-based technology companies.
IOTech’s Edge Xpert is a commercial and fully supported version of EdgeX Foundry™, the world’s leading ecosystem-enabled open platform for the IoT edge. The Edge Xpert product has many industrial-grade OT and IT connectors for integration with both edge device and cloud systems, respectively. Edge Xpert will provide CONFIRM with more edge flexibility, helping researchers develop hybrid edge and cloud architectures crucial for modern and scalable smart manufacturing systems.
“IOTech is pleased to be working with CONFIRM to provide advanced IoT capabilities for its Smart Manufacturing research facility,” said Keith Steele, CEO of IOTech Systems. “IOTech are also proud to be working with the centre to help fuel awareness and adoption within the industry, while also helping to give university students a first experience and exposure to the edge IoT industry.”
About CONFIRM
CONFIRM is dedicated to fundamentally transforming industry to a smart manufacturing ecosystem by integrating intelligence within products, machines, production systems and supply chains. As such, the Centre is focused on delivering research excellence to inform the future of manufacturing, while underpinning industry through research, talent and collaboration. CONFIRM believes in creating a community of practice where industry, researchers, and the general public can learn about smart manufacturing and industry 4.0.
About IOTech
IOTech builds and deploys vendor-neutral software platforms and tools to support the rapid development, deployment, and management of applications at the IoT edge helping drive IoT innovation, global market adoption, velocity and scale. The company’s products address the full spectrum of secure hard and soft real-time edge computing needs, dramatically reducing time to market, development and system integration costs for its partners, who are the supply chains to multiple vertical IoT market domains. IOTech leverages an open-source ecosystem to collaboratively improve time to market, develop global channel partnerships and achieve pervasive adoption of its software products.
Contact
Ken Zeszutko, Z Corp PR & Digital, 321-213-1818 / kenz@zcorppr.com