Fabio Coelho de Souza Silva
Project Coordinator

Cloud Computing technologies, widely known as “cloud”, are already a consolidated reality in the market. It is undeniable that this technology is here to stay and change the way the IT sector gets related to companies and organizations. To cut a long story short, Cloud Computing is related to an infinitely available and flexible computing capacity. This way, hardware and network infrastructure is seen by users as a service where they pay only for what is effectively used. Flexibility and scalability are keywords of this concept, which allow computing resources, maintenance costs and application scalability optimized, among other benefits. 

Figure 1: Cloud computing as one of the Industry 4.0 basic pillars

And how important is Cloud computing in the context of Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT) and process supervision? Well, this technology has a fundamental role by turning possible and easy the implementation and scalability of systems for data analysis and storage. That is what makes possible to remotely access information and control devices, making easier to share data and enhancing collaboration between departments of a company.

Many people still keep prejudice in order to embrace this technology in business world, despite using it in a daily basis in their private life. The objective of this article is clarify some things, pointing out what is myth and what is fact regarding this technology. Hopefully this will help your decision in adopting Cloud supervision systems to be based on solid and clear criteria.

Is my data secure outside my company?

Speaking of Cloud supervision systems usually means that your process data will travel and will be stored outside your company's IT infrastructure. But is this a problem?

Most of Cloud based services follow a series of international security standards and good practices, with certifications that assure platform performance and security. Following international standards for protecting your data makes it, a lot of times, more secure on the Cloud than it is in your local network and storage system, once a local network can be easier accessed by unintended ones.

Another point of concern are the protocols used for transmitting this data. As many industrial communication protocols have a security layer and many Cloud systems do not allow unsecure communication, this should not be a major concern.

Local applications are more likely to problems caused by vulnerabilities in the user systems. If a computer gets infected, a malware can compromise tool security policies to get or modify private information. This does not happen in Cloud applications, since all command processing is done in the data center.

Is the Cloud supervision system information I see on my computer screen real time?

When communication media like 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi are used to bring data from devices to our system, either local or cloud-based, we need to be aware that the temperature information displayed on the computer screen is usually not up to date with the current value measured by the sensor. For instance, the acquired temperature value takes seconds, sometimes minutes, to travel through the chosen communication media and finally is displayed on the user screen. So, when talking about online supervision systems, we need to consider parameters like communication media, network latency and service availability to understand why online information are not as “online” as we might think.

NOVUS data loggers, like FieldLogger and LogBox Connect family, send data to the Cloud with a timestamp to record the exact moment that data was read from the sensor. This way, users will know the time instant of the data displayed, which eliminates errors due to communication delays or failures.

Figure 2: Data sent by devices does not get to the Cloud instantly

Is the data saved in my data logger memory identical to the data in my Cloud system?

The measured values ​​must be identical, what can change is the timestamp associated with each record. So, there are two ways to present the records in a supervisory system:

1) The data logger sends the log to the cloud without a log-associated timestamp.

In this case, the timestamp will be the time when the record arrived at the cloud server.

Example: The log was sent by the data logger at time X, however, it arrived at the cloud system at X + Y, being Y the time that the log took travelling on the internet until it reached the server.

Depending on the communication infrastructure, the “Y” time can be up to a few minutes as in GPRS or bad 3G signal areas cases.

2) The data logger sends the log to the cloud with a log-associated timestamp.

The cloud system will consider the time the log was sent by the data logger, that is, the value measured along with the exact instant when the magnitude was recorded by the data logger.

As previously mentioned, the NOVUS data loggers that send data to NOVUS Cloud always send them already linked with a time or a timestamp. In this way, the existing data in the NOVUS Cloud database is identical to the data that is in the device memory.

How much does it cost to have a supervisory system in the Cloud?

In the Cloud, instead of the hiring traditional methods used for local systems, the payment for the resources access is made on demand. Such models are known as SaaS (“software as a service”) IaaS (“infrastructure as a service”) and PaaS (“platform as a service”).

Currently, there are several types of Cloud supervisory systems in the market: some for more dedicated applications and others with widest terms of functionality. Most of the time, they require specific implementations to leave the system as the client wants and that can generate additional costs. As the number of users or functions is changed, the value of the subscription paid to the service provider is automatically changed, adapting the supply to the demand for processing, connection and storage. Unlike local systems, where this equilibrium is due to a prediction that managers must make for the future; in the Cloud, the company never spends more or less than the ideal.

NOVUS offers NOVUS Cloud as a Cloud monitoring tool. This service permits Cloud monitoring of up to 100 devices in a single account, as well as providing access to dashboards with preconfigured widgets to view data on registered devices and the possibility to creating custom dashboards when using on-screen widgets and showing the information that most interests users.

Using NXperience software, it is possible to download existing data in NOVUS Cloud to create reports and export data to several formats, among other features. This package has no cost to the client. It is possible for the client to purchase packages with more customizable dashboards, SMS packages and scripts to send notifications, for example.

Why would I change my local supervisory system by a Cloud system?

Most of the time, maintaining a Cloud supervisory system is safer and cheaper, and has infinite scalability. Yet, it is a solution that needs constantly Wi-Fi connection and, most of time, industrial converters protocols drivers to send the data to the Cloud. Local solutions will have faster responses to critical processes, which can be crucial for companies that work with sensitive data or with short answers times.

With this overview, we can say that it is always important to evaluate the situation. The important thing to know is that, today, a Cloud system cannot be simply rejected by concepts that we had in the past, such as security problems and high implementation costs. 

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