The Record - Issue 19: Winter 2020

116 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om M anufacturers may understand the maxim of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” better than those in other industries. It is as true for the products they cre- ate as for the tools they use in their processes. Successful manufacturers have learned to blend their IT solutions with their operational technol- ogy (OT) to gain a big-picture view of their enter- prise, allowing them to boost productivity and efficiency while lowering operating costs. ICONICS, a group company of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, provides a wide range of software solutions to help organisations visualise, historise, mobilise, analyse and cloud-enable their data and use it to its fullest potential. Manufacturers can achieve holistic automation through universal connectivity. ICONICS’ flag- ship GENESIS64 HMI/SCADA suite is compat- ible with multiple IT and OT communications technologies including OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), Modbus, BACnet and simple net- work management protocol (SNMP). It works with database connections such as generic Object Linking and Embedding Database, Microsoft Open Database Connectivity, and SQL, as well as with web services using both Simple Object Access Protocol and representational state trans- fer (REST). Meanwhile, ICONICS IoTWorX software provides compatibility with Advanced Message Queuing Protocol for bidirectional com- munication with cloud services like Microsoft Azure, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport for outbound communication with third-party apps, REST communication with web services, and JavaScript Object Notation messaging. Version 10.96.2 of the ICONICS software suite will be compatible with EtherNet/IP and sup- port communications with, and automatic net- work discovery of, Ethernet-enabled Mitsubishi Electric PLCs. This eliminates the need for third- party OPC servers. Manufacturers can reap great benefits from a well-rounded automation strategy, using OPC UA, Modbus and now EtherNet/IP and Mitsubishi Electric device connectivity to mon- itor and control traditional manufacturing and automation equipment. They can also use BACnet to tie in facilities’ building systems for energy management and predictive maintenance, as well as SNMP for monitoring IT and network devices. Plus, they can implement multiple secure proto- cols for better cloud connectivity. Using ICONICS’ universal connectivity to achieve holistic manufacturing automation will reinforce another maxim: “in business, it’s all about connections.” Melissa Topp is senior director of global marketing at ICONICS Achieving holistic automation ICONICS software is helping manufacturing companies to connect their IT and operational technology and automate their processes to boost productivity and lower costs ME L I S S A TOP P : I CON I C S V I EWPO I NT