Mr. Rennerich, when and with what motivation did Janz Tec decide to place a stronger focus on IoT solutions?

Michael Rennerich: With the IoT and digitalization trend, the focus is no longer on users' core business - such as mechanical engineering - but on mobile communication, IT security and software engineering. This is why many users are looking for a partner with these skills. As a result, the focus of our portfolio is shifting away from individual products towards comprehensive solutions. Our 'IoT Ecosystem' has made this visible to the outside world since February 2018.

What exactly is behind the 'IoT Ecosystem'?

Michael Rennerich: It starts with our core business, the devices themselves: Janz Tec naturally continues to offer industrial hardware for various areas of application - from mini LTE gateways to high-performance 19-inch IPCs. The second building block, 'Communication', covers all industrially relevant communication technologies: Industrial bus systems, Ethernet, WLAN, mobile radio and also protocols such as MQTT or OPC-UA. 'Industrial security' as the third building block is an important point that must be taken into account right from the architecture of industrial solutions. Many users are aware of the importance of this topic, but are unable to specify what a security concept for their application should look like.

The fourth building block, 'IoT applications', refers to the software that is indispensable for an IoT solution. There is no single solution here. Depending on the area of application and purpose, an individual combination is required. That is why we work closely with various partners in this area.

We round off our concept with various services in the areas of architecture, system development and integration. On request, we also operate our systems for our customers, i.e. we take over the technical monitoring or provide the systems with regular software updates.

The 'IoT Ecosystem' from Janz Tec.

© Janz Tec

And what is the central point 'IoT Solutions' all about?

Michael Rennerich : From the modular 'IoT Ecosystem', we also offer tried-and-tested complete solutions for some common areas of application - such as coordinated hardware-software bundles for machine control, machine data evaluation, monitoring or for maintenance and service processes. Within IoT Solutions, we support the connection to SAP, Salesforce or Microsoft Azure cloud platforms as well as other software solutions.

What about the interaction with other hardware products?

Michael Rennerich: Our system is designed to be open. It does not define a proprietary standard that restricts applicability to certain products or manufacturers. If a project requires the use of technologies or partners that have not yet been included in the ecosystem, this is easily possible.

What has the feedback been so far and what is the roadmap for the future?

Michael Rennerich: Users intuitively understand what is behind the concept and why it represents a sensible further development of our portfolio. Ideally, of course, this should now also prove itself in practice in a number of specific projects.

We would also like to gain further partners for our ideas. There are so many special features and special cases in IoT projects that we cannot cover on our own or with our existing partners. We are already actively establishing new contacts in order to be able to offer innovative and tailor-made IoT solutions in the future.

What can be seen at embedded world in terms of the 'IoT ecosystem'?

Michael Rennerich: We will be demonstrating the use of all ecosystem modules with two specific IoT solutions: the 'Smart Vendor Machine', which presents the optimization of maintenance and service for vending machines distributed around the world, and the 'Salesforce Productivity Boost', which optimizes processes from sensor to payment.