Edge computing strategy

Ideal for users in industrial automation (IA) or in distributed enterprises deploying IIoT applications, these products ensure continuous availability and remote management of mission-critical edge applications, whether in the data center, on the plant floor or at the network edge.

By delivering a series of highly available edge compute solutions, Stratus addresses the growing need for more intelligent devices at the edge, as demonstrated by a new worldwide market report by ARC Advisory Group. In that study, 91 percent of IA users surveyed stated having better systems and connectivity at the edge will enable improved real-time decision making. Yet, more than 90 percent also indicated that, as edge computing grows, organizations will need a simplified edge infrastructure that can be remotely managed. To address this, Stratus has released version nine of ftServer, its intelligent, self-monitoring and self-diagnosing edge server.  It will also introduce in 2018, a new family of multi-function, converged OT edge systems.

The combination of ftServer and the forthcoming OT systems provides a comprehensive selection of edge solutions ideal for customers deploying IA, IIoT or IoT applications. This set of edge solutions and Stratus’s overall vision for edge computing align with the outcomes of the ARC study in which OT end users confirmed that their IIoT deployments will be comprised of a mix of edge and cloud-based technologies. In fact, approximately 60 percent of survey respondents said they plan to take a hybrid approach by balancing future investments in the edge with smaller investments in the cloud.

Stratus’s edge solutions begin with ftServer, the ideal system for digital transformation initiatives at the edge. An intelligent, self-monitoring, self-diagnosing, self-healing computer system, ftServer is best suited for hybrid deployments or customers within process manufacturing, where fault tolerance is business-critical. The latest version of ftServer brings VMware support along with better performance, enhanced availability, and improved manageability. These improvements help customers and partners accelerate time to value, maximize revenues, and increase efficiency. Stratus’s new converged edge solution, which can be deployed alone or in concert with ftServer, is currently being tested with key customers and partners, and is available for demonstration. Stratus will also be previewing a prototype of its forthcoming edge computing solution in booth #270 at IOT Tech Expo.  Specific use cases that will be demonstrated include real-time analytics; and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) monitoring.

According to Dave Laurello, CEO at Stratus: “The more automated and connected applications become, the more critical it is for customers to have a highly reliable, continuously available and operationally simple edge infrastructure to drive true IIoT business value. Plant operators, in particular, don’t want to adopt, implement and manage complicated edge technology that requires specific expertise or talent. The more self-managed the infrastructure, the more desirable it is, reducing the need for dedicated resources at each plant. We listened to the needs of our IA and IIoT customers and partners across both discrete as well as continuous process manufacturing, and that’s exactly what we are delivering.”