"Getting started with the Industrial Internet of Things is now easy," says Thilo Döring, Managing Director of HMS Industrial Networks. The reason is: "On the one hand, our new gateway families - Anybus Communicator IIoT and Anybus X-gateway IIoT - support MQTT and OPC UA. This allows easy access to communication high up in the Industrial Internet of Things". On the other hand, the devices cover all common industrial communication standards towards the production level." For system integrators, machine builders and device manufacturers, this means: "You can easily and securely transfer data from almost all devices that communicate via Industrial Ethernet, fieldbuses, CAN or serial protocols to IT systems and IoT software." According to Thilo Döring, it doesn't matter whether the data is generated in a single device, several machines or an entire automation system.

The Anybus Communicator IIoT can provide the IT side with data from field devices that work with serial protocols or CAN. The Anybus X-gateway IIoT integrates data from fieldbus and industrial Ethernet networks. Typical use cases of the gateways include, for example, data integration of Modbus RTU and TCP, CAN-based protocols, Profibus -DP, Ethernet/IP, Profinet, Ethercat, Powerlink and CC-Link. As with the classic communicators and X-gateways from HMS, no programming is required for the new devices. The Anybus Configuration Manager is also used for configuration. During configuration, users specify which data from the production level should be made available to IT systems or IIoT applications. In the IT direction, the gateways can be MQTT clients or OPC UA servers.

Secure connection to IT and the IIoT

Both the Anybus Communicator IIoT and the Anybus X-gateway IIoT are links between the production level and IT. As both gateways are stand-alone devices, this already ensures a high level of security. The gateways also only allow data transmission in one direction, from the production level to IT. This means that devices and systems connected to an Anybus gateway are protected against potential attacks from the IT side. For example, there is no direct connection between the PLC of the industrial network and the IT. Instead, the data from the production level is sent to IT via Anybus gateways, which ensures secure data exchange.