Advantech Joins Hands with Other Enterprises to Achieve Mutually Beneficial IoT WISE-PaaS 3.0 Relationships
As Industry 4.0 matures, industrial cloud computingplatforms are attracting greater interest as more companies compete for market share. In recent years, Advantech has focused on the industrial cloud and created the WISE-PaaS IIoT cloud platform—a special software and hardware Solution Ready Package (SRP) with partners using WISE-PaaS.
At the first IoT Co-Creation Summit held on November 2nd, the “WISE-PaaS IIoT Platform Technology and Business Support” forum launched an exciting new SRP model between Advantech and its partners.
Intersection of Smart Manufacturing
With the continuous advancement of the “Made in China2025” strategy, traditional manufacturers in China face the challenge oftransforming and upgrading to smart manufacturing.
According to the “2017-2018 China Smart ManufacturingReport,” the market size of China’s smart manufacturing system solutionsreached 106 billion yuan in 2016, representing a year-on-year increase of18.4%. The report points out that China has built more than 200 digitalworkshops or smart factories. It is estimated that the scale of China’s smart manufacturing market will soon exceed 220 billion yuan in 2020.
Within the blue ocean of smart manufacturing, thetransformation of traditional manufacturing into smart manufacturing is already well underway. However, in the process of transforming, traditionalmanufacturing processes are still subject to various constraints. “We are faced with many problems in the application of industrial software,” said Beijing Ewin Information Technology’s CTO James Yuan. “Factors such as insufficient reserves of smart manufacturing equipment, difficulty in optimizing business processes, short supply in key resources for ITdevelopment/operation/maintenance, and challenges in coordinating projectintegration have all constrained the development of smart manufacturing.”
Yuan believes that the core of manufacturingcompetitiveness lies in expertise, process specifications, smart manufacturing applications, and cloud platforms. “The Advantech WISE-PaaS brings a lot of value to smart manufacturing SRP suppliers. For example, IIoT hardware has reached device interconnection, the platform visualization software has achieved dynamic display, and the AFS platform (AI Framework Service) has overcome the obstacles of new technological application.”
In response to the development of the IoT industry, Advantech proposed three major stages of strategy. In the first stage, addressing embedded hardware platforms, involves the basic task of data acquisition - such as edge computing and terminal products where Advantech possesses abundant experience. The improvement of the WISE-PaaS IIoT Cloud Platform with industrial PaaS is at the core of Advantech’s efforts for the second stage of IoT development.
In 2015, Advantech launched the WISE-PaaS IIoT CloudPlatform as a flexible, innovative, and cross-cloud mobile platform. WISE-PaaS includes public cloud and private cloud services, providing customers with a complete development environment and assistance for customers in the management and operation of IoT cloud services for various industrial applications. For each vertical industry, Advantech creates an SRP application solution for the IoT industry that integrates software and hardware and can be quickly reproduced. Based on WISE-PaaS development industry-specific solutions, co-creative partners can achieve cross-platform data utilization, visualization, and cloud service applications all at the same time.
The ultimate goal of Advantech’s co-creation model withthe Internet of Things is to realize and assist in the development of cloudplatform solutions that integrate IoT applications, not only for verticalindustry solutions but also the third phase of Advantech’s IoT development.Through cooperation with vertical industry partners, IoT solutions can berapidly spread to other applications in industries like energy, theenvironment, and smart cities.
WISE-PaaS 3.0 is Gaining Momentum
At the Advantech IoT Co-Creation Summit, Advantech ChiefTechnology Officer Allan Yang explained, “The IIoT data platform is stillfacing the challenge of high fragmentation resulting from the industrial edge at this stage, requiring expertise in vertical areas and integration with workflow. Advantech has clearly defined its position and is committed to accelerating the application of SRP in various industries, providing adevelopment environment for partners with the expectation to build a complete IoT industrial supply chain.”
Advantech’s WISE-PaaS 3.0 platform technology was unveiled at the forum with many co-creation partners, and the IRP industrial solution SRP based on WISE-PaaS was jointly announced and revealed.
Device Remote Operation Service
This connects a wide variety of field device controls and communication protocols, and supports the latest edge computing EdgeX Foundry open source standards with built-in device management and workflow integration combined with an AI Framework Service (AFS) to accelerate the deployment of AIOT devices.
WISE-PaaS/Dashboard
Since current industrial equipment cannot fully depict a“digital virtual” model, the presentation of industrial materials is oftencomplicated and disorderly. In this regard, WISE-PaaS/Dashboard is committed to providing a more intuitive, orderly, and easy-to-use form of data presentation, giving value to the data and making it a driving force for productivity and efficiency. WISE-PaaS/Dashboard supports a wide range of data sources and databases to handle complex industrial scenarios in a visual way. In addition to supporting a variety of official mainstream plug-ins, there is also a wealth of business scenarios with customized plugins to meet the highly fragmented needs of IIoT. This enables partners in all fields to quickly build their own information intelligence rooms.
Process Visualization & Cloud Config Tool
Supports customized graphics components and can import 3Dmodeling, draw interactive images, and display key management data on amillisecond-level screen. WISE-PaaS/Dashboard assists users in obtaining data values and improving operational efficiency. WISE-PaaS/SaaS Composer 3D supports standard generic .OBJ and .MTL 3D geometry file formats. It can import SaaS Composer 2D files for detailed presentations with millisecond-level screen redraws to present real-time enhanced data values. Combined with 3D object and 2D animation, it offers optimized performance.
AI Model Training and Deployment Service
Provides a simple operating interface that allowsdevelopers to quickly import industrial data, combine AI algorithms, build an effective inference engine, and automatically deploy to the edge computing platform. At the same time, AFS provides automated model accuracy management, model retraining, and redeployment. AFS also manages multiple AI models in the application scenario, providing automated model accuracy enhancement and model life-cycle management services.
“The integration and connection of the IoT industrialsupply chain is not something that can be achieved alone, it requires teamwork. IoT involves all walks of life, and the connection from the upper stream to the lower stream is never an easy thing to do,” said Advantech CEO KC Liu. He also said that it is necessary to work closely with partners to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes when creating IoT solutions. “At present, Advantech has initiated co-creation cooperation with various partners and has developed domain focused system integration,” said KC.
Advantech expects to develop 60 co-creation projectswithin the next three years. Advantech has already communicated with nearly 100 companies across an array of industries for co-creation projects, and several projects are already in progress. For example, Advantech worked together with the China’s GSD Industrial Co., Ltd sewage treatment company to create a smart cloud platform for water treatment and purification. Advantech joined forces with KINGLEKE to create UShop+, a smart convenience retail store. Advantech also teamed up with TBL to create featherweight logistics automation technology based on IAOT (IoT+BI+AI).
As CEO Liu put it, “Co-creation requires all partners towork together to build the Internet of Things through cross-industry alliances. Advantech is working hard with its co-creation partners to win the future of IoT.”