The IoT platforms are intended to pave the way for plant and machine manufacturers and operators into the IoT and Industry 4.0 era and enable comprehensive data analysis. The aim is to create completely new business models, for example. The solutions for this are becoming increasingly sophisticated, as Klaus Helmrich claimed at last year's SPS IPC Drives with regard to his own Mindsphere solution: "With the Digital Enterprise portfolio, the technical prerequisites for Industry 4.0 have been created."

But what functions does the Mindsphere platform actually fulfill? "As a platform as a service, it enables the creation of a large ecosystem by allowing users to offer powerful industrial applications and digital services as the basis for new business models - for example in the areas of predictive maintenance, energy data management or resource optimization," explains Florian Beil, Head of Sales Mindsphere. "To this end, it collects and stores data generated by assets such as machines or systems. Mindsphere also provides an interface that anyone can use to develop and deploy apps themselves. The added value lies in the fact that the respective app accesses the operating system and enables the specific processing of data. This allows both production and the product to be optimized in their development phase.

The data belongs to the customers

It is important to Siemens: "The data on this platform belongs entirely to our customers," as Beil emphasizes. The company sees advantages over other platform providers in its widely installed base of devices - which already includes 30 million Simatic controllers alone. However, other systems can also be integrated: "We already offer various gateways and connectivity elements such as Mindconnect Nano and the IoT2040 and IoT2020 gateways for the manufacturer-independent connection of machines and systems. This also makes it possible to connect non-Siemens products, as communication takes place via the open OPC UA standard." Siemens also offers integrated connectivity - for example in the Simatic S7-1500 via the TIA Portal and in the Sinumerik 840 dsl.

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An important question for potential users: How much will the whole thing cost me? Beil does not give any concrete figures on this, but reassures: "There are no high project costs that could represent a barrier to entry. In the simplest case, you start with the connection of one machine, with comparatively low costs. Growth potential arises with the number of connected machines and the complexity of the application. In general, the costs are based on the consumption of storage capacity and computing power as well as connected devices."

In order to drive Mindsphere forward, Siemens launched the user organization 'Mindsphere World' together with 18 partner companies in January. The foundation can be seen as a challenge to other platform concepts, as Klaus Helmrich emphasized at the launch: "The race for industrial cloud solutions is only just beginning - and by working together in 'Mindsphere World', we will now be at the forefront." The association aims to support its members in developing and optimizing IoT solutions as well as opening up new markets. The members also include companies that are involved in other platforms. For example, the provider of assembly solutions ASM Assembly Systems, whose parent company ASM PT is a founding member of the Adamos initiative.

Focus on mechanical engineering

Adamos is a joint venture for which DMG Mori, Dürr, Zeiss and ASM PT have brought the IIoT and software expertise of Software AG on board. The motto: 'From mechanical engineering, for mechanical engineering'. In March, the Adamos initiative announced two additional partners: Engel Austria and the Karl Mayer Group. "By bringing these two mechanical engineering companies on board, we are taking further steps to establish Adamos as the industry standard. Together, we have an installed base of several 100,000 machines and systems," explains Ralf W. Dieter, CEO of Dürr AG.

The Adamos structure: machine manufacturers can offer their customers apps via digital marketplaces. New partners will also ensure that the platform continues to grow.

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With its IIoT platform of the same name, which has been available since October 1, 2017, Adamos offers users the opportunity to develop their own marketplaces: "Each Adamos partner has its own marketplace with its own apps, which are developed and marketed independently of the other partners. The applications of the partners' individual software companies - such as Istos from DMG MORI or Itac from Dürr - are domain-specific and therefore belong to the individual machine manufacturers," explains Adamos Managing Director Dr. Marco Link.

The partner companies should also benefit from each other's expertise: "With our App Factory Alliance, we offer our partners a common platform for the exchange of individual technologies and codes so that each partner does not have to keep reinventing the wheel." This includes applications in the areas of planning, predictive maintenance, machine cockpit/dashboarding and maintaining assistance. Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO of Software AG, comments: "The digital platform has 80% of the functions that every app needs - such as the integration of process management or real-time analyses." The rest, such as the individual user interface, the logic or the components needed for a special analytics application, is implemented during app development. "This makes the apps so fast and agile that they can be produced within days or a few weeks," says Streibich.

It is also important to give small and medium-sized companies access to digitalization, which is to be achieved with attractive pricing: Access costs a basic fee of 300,000 euros and then a monthly usage fee of between 10 and 100 euros per connected machine, depending on the amount of data. The platform is available as an edge, cloud or on-premise implementation.

For GE, for everyone

General Electric (GE) also offers an IoT platform with Predix. According to Stefan Arendt, Managing Director of Videc, a distributor and system integrator of the Predix platform, it stands out from its market competitors right from the start: "A platform for automation engineers was developed from our own requirements within the GE Group, which has now been used in GE's own production facilities worldwide for years."

At the same time, however, the Group has pursued open access for everyone "by making tutorials, documentation, sample applications and the communications used available to all interested parties", as Arendt emphasizes. This results in an advantage: "Predix clearly has the greatest practical relevance at the present time. The experience of thousands of developers in the community has been built up with enormous knowledge from the automation environment compared to the purely software-based market competitors."

In principle, Predix sees itself as a toolbox consisting of a large number of individual tools (services) and functions - from process and machine data acquisition to asset management (digital twin) and in-depth analytics - which can be put together individually. During implementation, the "steps should be small, continuous and build on each other," recommends Arendt. In this way, the phase up to the first useful app is very short and the costs can also be continuously evaluated.

For the connection to Predix, the interfaces to the various services are documented and can also be viewed in the tutorials with examples. "If we now talk about a device that supplies data, Predix provides a ready-made application framework called 'Predix Machine'. Based on Docker technology and implemented in JAVA, this can be implemented on a standard PC, for example on a Linux-based system or the Raspbery Pi, according to documented instructions. The template includes communication via OPC-UA and Modbus TCP," says Arendt, describing the implementation options. The RabbitMQ service provides the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) in the Predix platform to enable communication between apps, components and devices. RabbitMQ also provides the client for the MQTT protocol, which is widely used in the IoT world, via plug-in technology. However, every user is free to implement their own communication technologies, which underlines the openness of Predix, emphasizes Arendt. According to him, several hundred companies worldwide are currently actively working on the Predix cloud - for example on the development of new apps, new analytics services and the use of solutions.

Affinity for CAD data

At SPS IPC Drives 2018, PTC presented a showcase in which the user could control the motor and view real-time machine and sensor data on a tablet.

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"PTC's Thingworx cloud is particularly characterized by its affinity to CAD data," explains Rayed Hawa, IoT Technical Sales Director at PTC for the EMEA region. "Our platform includes a range of visualization functions that can be used accordingly for the applications. For example, it is possible to create augmented reality applications in just a few minutes. The desired parameters from Thingworx, such as device performance, battery charge status or device temperature, can be integrated into these AR applications - also with simple clicks." To this end, the platform offers "IoT connectivity to connect the platform with things as data sources. A digital twin can then be created for each of these things - be it machines, devices or entire systems - which is fed with the current parameters such as performance or status data in real time. Functions for machine learning and data analysis are also available."

The simple and fast development of applications that companies can create themselves using the drag & drop function is particularly important. All the parameters required for the respective application are simply stored in the application via the device sensors or external sources. Device control can also be managed via our central platform.

Hawa sees the open platform strategy as an advantage over other platforms. Specifically, this means: "We offer connectivity and integration with platforms such as GE Predix, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, SAP Hana and many more. Using Kepware and the industrial connectivity functions it contains, it is also possible to connect existing machines, devices or systems to the IoT," says Hawa.

The platforms combine

At SPS IPC Drives 2018, Deutsche Telekom launched the 'Predictive Maintenance' product together with Eaton, with Eaton providing the process controllers and Deutsche Telekom providing the IoT platform and connectivity.

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Deutsche Telekom is also pursuing a similar approach: users have the option of combining various IoT platforms from well-known providers, such as Microsoft Azure or platforms from Cisco or Huawei, via the multi-IoT platform 'Cloud of Things' in order to use IoT solutions across the board and independently of end devices. The platform assumes the role of a translator and distributor by collecting data from any hardware, such as sensors or machines, and transferring and processing it to the preferred platform via gateways.

The platform also serves the field of device management - i.e. viewing, configuring or deleting devices. In addition, there is monitoring via the cockpit with dashboards and widgets, via alarms and events and with reports. With administration functionalities, the platform enables real-time and alarm rules as well as user and role management. Devices can be configured quickly and without programming via Cloud Fieldbus with Modbus TCP.
The pricing model is based on the 'pay as you grow' principle - i.e. depending on the number of connected devices. For example, if fewer than 100 machines are connected to the Cloud of Things, the price is EUR 3.12 per month and the one-off set-up fee is around EUR 3,400. A 'Cloud of Things test access' can be provided free of charge.

The 'Cloud Fieldbus' function reduces the effort involved in connecting machines and systems. Whereas previously complex programming work was required here, companies can now access their machines and systems as well as the recorded data via the platform in just a few minutes, according to Telekom. IoT devices and machines can also be configured remotely via keyboard and mouse using remote VNC access. The user interface of the device is displayed on the user's screen as if they were sitting directly in front of the device. The function can be accessed directly from the Cloud of Things portal; no additional client software needs to be installed.

How is the market developing?

An exciting question for the future will be how the market for IoT platforms will continue to develop. Jan Mrosik, CEO of the Siemens Digital Factory Division, gave an assessment of this in January: "In the end, not just one platform will prevail. One or two handfuls will ultimately establish themselves in this market."