Software & IT - The winners - Computer&AUTOMATION

Products of the year 2024

Andrea Gillhuber, 08.04.2024, 07:00

Software & IT - The winners

For the first time, an IT company has been voted among the top 3 in the 'Software & IT' category. An indication that OT and IT are truly growing together.

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The winners of the 'Software & IT' category (from left): Anja Pfirrmann (Paessler), Alisa Koch and Heike Sippel (Balluff), Daniel Kirch and Klaus Albers (Turck).

3rd place - Paessler: 'PRTG OPC UA Server'

3rd place - Paessler

Thanks to its support for OPC UA, MQTT and Modbus, the Paessler 'PRTG' IT monitoring solution can integrate both IT and OT environments, as modern production processes include numerous IT systems and devices in addition to industrial components. The Paessler 'PRTG' IT monitoring solution notifies those responsible immediately in the event of a fault - via email, SMS, push notification or other channels. In many production plants, however, industrial systems such as SCADA, MES or DCS are the central element for controlling and monitoring production.

An IT company was honored for the first time. Anja Pfirrmann from Paessler with the trophy.

As a rule, these systems are not capable of IT monitoring and cannot integrate monitoring data from IT monitoring systems. This is where Paessler comes in with the 'PRTG OPC UA Server': The software uses OPC UA to send monitoring data and alerts from 'PRTG' to industrial control systems. This allows complete production processes, including all OT and IT components, to be mapped and monitored centrally in industrial control systems.

2nd place in the Software & IT category

2nd place - Balluff: Software-as-a-Service solution 'Asset Data Provider (ADP)'

2nd place - Balluff

The independent software-as-a-service solution 'Asset Data Provider (ADP)' from Balluff is used to collect, pre-process and provide data that originates from the operational technology (OT) level, for example from industrial assets such as machines, systems and sensors. The solution supports the creation of a holistic data pipeline for IIoT applications such as predictive maintenance. One component of the software is based on edge computing technology, prepares data decentrally and delivers it to the relevant IT systems such as the cloud, ERP or MES in a bundled, secure and resource-saving manner.

Heike Sippel and Alisa Koch accepted the award on behalf of Balluff.

Digitization projects can be accelerated with the integrative SaaS solution. Low-code development and the drag-and-drop function enable simple and agile development. Intelligent workflows break down data silos and implement horizontal and vertical integrations. The simple handling also enables people without programming knowledge to innovate. A central control center minimizes risk and increases efficiency during large roll-outs.

1st place in the Software & IT category

1st place - Turck: 'Turck Automation Suite', 'TAS' for short

1st place - Turck

The 'Turck Automation Suite', or 'TAS' for short, is the central location for the management of Turck devices in industrial Ethernet networks, from the sensor to the controller. The 'Argee' logic software and the 'Beep' IP address management solution are also integrated into the new multifunction tool, as are device-specific apps for applications with IO-Link or RFID. The software functions of Turck's IO-Link devices such as the Turck Radar Monitor can be executed directly via TAS if the device is accessible in the associated network.

1st place in the 'Software & IT' category: Daniel Kirch and Klaus Albers from Turck.

Classic IO-Link functions such as setting parameters can also be carried out directly from the suite. With the batch function, many actions can be carried out simultaneously for several network devices. With the latest release 1.9, Codesys control programs can also be managed via the network and loaded, saved, executed and stopped using batch processing. Another new feature is the 'Cable Monitor' app, which displays the voltage, current and temperature of the 'M12Plus' connectors and thus enables condition monitoring for cable connections. The smart connectors transmit their measured values via Bluetooth Low Energy.