Test Equipment as a Cloud Edge Device

Modern test and measurement equipment leverages connectivity in new ways.

Mike Brendel, Sr. Project Manager at PCS, will speak on the topic of industrial internet of things (IIoT) as applied to the test and measurement equipment industry at the upcoming IndustrialFuse event. Industry 4.0 is a hot topic but the value of IIoT is not always easy to grasp for the uninitiated. So we asked Mike a few questions on the subject.

 PCS: What interests you about the internet of things?

Mike B:  This is the future!  In all seriousness, the internet of things represents networked embedded devices, which have been around for several decades.  That said, there are new technologies that make it very cost effective and enable new value propositions for test equipment suppliers/manufacturers that are exciting.

PCS: For the uninitiated, what is a cloud edge device and why should they care?

Mike B:  A cloud edge device sits at the edge of a cloud network and is typically an embedded device that processes data and provides that processed information to the cloud instead of just raw data. Networked embedded devices have been around for decades; it is the proliferation of low-cost cloud technology and the advent of SaaS (software as a service) applications that enable new value propositions. For test equipment suppliers and customers these value propositions are focused around data, where it is processed and how it is made available.

PCS: Haven’t we been getting data out of test equipment for decades? What’s new here?

Mike B:  What is new is taking advantage of fast moving technologies that have not typically been incorporated into test equipment. It is those fast moving technologies that enable new value propositions for test equipment suppliers.