Dr. Sebastian Ritz is CEO Edge & Cloud at German Edge Cloud. As a founding member of Gaia-X, he is driving the expansion of a sovereign European data infrastructure and is one of the 'brains' behind Oncite, the first turnkey edge cloud data center for near real-time and data-sovereign Industry 4.0 application scenarios.

The Industrial Internet of Things is generating more and more data that needs to be managed. This data complexity needs to be mastered. What role does edge computing play in this?

Dr. Ritz: The key questions for many companies are: What strategy can I use to harness the flood of data as quickly as possible and benefit from a growing level of digitalization? How do I retain sovereign control over my data and protect my know-how with the necessary networking via clouds? Edge computing is the key. Our recommendation: Think about the solution in terms of use cases. Edge solutions with a data-sovereign cloud connection are a sensible addition. Edge cloud applications are an effective means of efficiently achieving digitalization benefits, especially for the manufacturing industry - ideally starting with manageable use cases to quickly gain experience. This will lead to the next steps.

For the manufacturing industry, the path from the IIoT connection as the basis to the smart factory as the goal can be most effectively approached in three digitalization strategies:

1) End-to-end networking of all levels from the store floor to MES to ERP forms the basis, e.g. to make mass data usable to increase overall plant effectiveness.

2) Networking across company boundaries enables applications such as Track&Trace and can pave the way for future digital supply chains in the context of platforms such as Catena-X.

3) As the digitalization of production progresses, the rigid line concepts that are widely used today will gradually be replaced by flexible manufacturing systems that configure and reconfigure themselves. The basic principle here is to choose an architecture that enables the establishment of short control loops to optimize production based on mass data (IIoT). Edge computing is predestined for this.

Sensor data is pre-selected at the edge, software applications are processed or even AI calculations are carried out. What should users bear in mind with regard to the edge software landscape? Which technologies should/must be taken into account?

Dr. Ritz: The most efficient way to implement the architecture is with a modular, industrial edge cloud appliance, i.e. hardware plus software directly on site with a secure cloud connection. Existing applications (SaaS) can be operated on the most open platform possible and combined with new applications. Thanks to standardized modules and managed services, the operator can concentrate on its core business and achieve rapid benefits through an increasing degree of digitalization.

With the edge approach, applications benefit from low latency times and scalable computing power directly on site as well as reduced bandwidth/network load and cloud costs.

One example: Oncite Industrial is a cloud-native, highly scalable technology and infrastructure platform. It can be used both on the edge and in the cloud and allows the flexible integration of other cloud platforms (distributed cloud management) for hybrid and multi-cloud scenarios. The substructure is a platform-independent Kubernetes-based architecture (IaaS), plus platform services (PaaS) and an operation center. In conjunction with scalable industrial applications such as MES/MOM/analytics (SaaS), Oncite Industrial delivers scalable edge computing.

In addition to their digitization task, the solutions should ensure an essential requirement: Data sovereignty to protect know-how. Companies want to decide for themselves who has access to which data for what purpose and for how long, and which platforms and public clouds they use to network with their partners. This is a decisive factor for the industry in establishing a sovereign data infrastructure in Europe, which we are also driving forward with GEC as a co-founder of Gaia-X and member of Catena-X. The goal is a European ecosystem for data-driven business models that promotes the competitiveness of the European economy.

As the tasks grow, so do the demands on the hardware. What should users look out for when choosing the right edge computing hardware?

Dr Ritz: IT and OT managers should focus on standardization. There are good reasons why highly efficient OT infrastructures are increasingly being implemented using platform-based solutions with predefined elements. The advantages are:

• Less complexity thanks to the predefined selection of scalable configurations of rack, power, cooling and monitoring structure.
• Higher energy efficiency and CO2 reduction through optimized performance thanks to cross-component coordination, for example in cooling and monitoring
• Proven, resilient industrial technologies with clearly defined performance and availability
• Fast and reliable implementation

With a standardized approach, the Edge DCs applications can also be deployed quickly and flexibly by OT, from the smallest solutions such as Micro DCs to our Oncite as a complete solution to large data centers for edge applications with particularly high computing power. Maximum reliability is essential, especially through redundancy of all active systems such as power supply and air conditioning. Edge DCs are also often located in harsh industrial environments. They must be particularly well protected against physical access and stresses such as dust, smoke, fire, water or temperature fluctuations. With our sister company Rittal, we have a partner with a wealth of industrial and OT experience for this type of modular infrastructure in all required scales.