Lynx Software Technologies and the Codesys Group partnered Aug. 12 to provide a platform that can deploy industrial control automation technology on general-purpose compute platforms alongside artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), security and other application workloads.
While information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) domains are separated by a demilitarized zone (DMZ) in most existing deployments, Lynx and Codesys explain their platform can enable a software-based programmable logic controller (PLC), an ML/AI model, a human-machine interface (HMI) and an IoT gateway workload to all run on the same edge system without hampering real-time performance.
“Our partnership with Lynx provides a bridge between the IT and OT worlds, so industrial operators can now experience both functions coexisting on the same system while simultaneously meeting security and performance demands across every single edge workload in their mission-critical industrial environments,” says Dieter Hess, co-CEO and co-founder of Codesys.
Benefits for industrial operators of the combination of technologies include:
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Flexibility to deploy, manage and update workloads using the LynxSecure separation kernel hypervisor and its manageability features, following a consistent software lifecycle management, from the cloud to industrial endpoints
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Reduced system cost, power and footprint from the integration of multiple discrete systems into a single platform, while maintaining the real-time performance, reliability and safety demanded by OT networks
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Flexible management model of edge OT systems - devices can be managed from within the OT zone and host cloud managed and delivered workload alongside the Codesys-based workload.
“By welcoming Codesys into our growing industrial partner ecosystem, we're able to solve an important challenge in the industry—enabling the software-defined world on the operational floor,” adds Pavan Singh, vice president of product management at Lynx. “Now operators can leverage the best of new technologies developed in the information technology world while protecting and enhancing their current operations.”
