Together, they will help drive Industry 4.0 transformation
Private networks are providing enterprises with more reliable and pervasive connectivity than was previously available. What’s more, private networks can provide a simplified infrastructure and streamlined operational environment for edge computing operations, an increasingly ubiquitous fixture in the Industry 4.0 landscape. At the recent Private Networks European Forum event, Stephane Daeuble, head of enterprise solution marketing at Nokia, explained how these phenomena are converging.
While reliability is a key factor for the deployment of private networks, the data generated and used on the network can often be of equal or even greater importance to the enterprise, Daeuble noted. More data than ever is being generated, and much of it must be processed and acted on close to the source, he said.
Factors driving the need for enterprise edge computing vary widely depending on industry and use case. Information security and regulatory compliance are typically factors. The desire to enhance efficiency with process automation is another. Edge computing helps to drive actionable intelligence required for industrial automation.
“This is about extracting value from the data and understanding insights to make the right decisions,” he explained. Additionally, edge computing is a core requirement to enable low-latency communications, which enables real-time collaboration between digital and physical systems.
Daeuble said that most industrial installations Nokia’s worked on are brownfield campuses with multiple layers of connectivity to manage and support. While these heterogeneous environments can be very complex, the addition of a private wireless network can help to simplify operations, he said.
“So with private wireless, we know it can help simplify this complex environment by providing a single layer that will be able to handle all the different use cases,” he said.
This simplification extends beyond the network layer, he added. “And it’s the same when it comes to compute … Edge computing can bring you a level of simplicity and unification when it comes to versatility processes,” he said.
Daeuble outlined a four-step process that broadly applies to Industry 4.0 transformation, which he labeled “See, Understand, Predict and Autonomous Actions.”
“See” means “effectively transforming the physical to digital,” Daeuble said, getting a real-time digital representation of the physical, or digitalization.
The second step involves transforming raw data into knowledge, he said. “So after a while, you understand what happens and you’re able to get that knowledge of what the data means,” said Daeuble.
The next step is to derive meaningful predictions based on that data. Daeuble highlighted the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools at this step as a way of deriving meaningful insights. “You’re able to recognize a certain pattern and take action even before it happens,” he said.
Autonomous actions, the fourth step, enable enterprises to have systems “do the right things at the right time,” he explained. “This is where you need the edge. This is where you need the on-premise edge compute solution to be able to transform data into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.”
Daeuble noted that several factors have driven the development of private network edge solutions from Nokia: the increased need for “as-a-service” deployment which allows enterprises a minimum upfront investment; a high performance, resilient and secure architecture, total customer control over their data and ecosystem neutrality that enables onboarding of third-party apps in a marketplace business model.
Those guiding principles have helped Nokia develop MX Industrial Edge, an on-premise edge solution the company first unveiled in 2021. The solution enables businesses to deploy industrial applications through a Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) catalog, automating provisioning and app lifecycle management, Daeuble said.
For more insights on private networks, please visit the Private Networks European Forum.
