First report reveals two-thirds of North American industrial operators are planning to implement edge computing solutions within the next 12 months
MAYNARD, Mass. — Sept. 10, 2019 — Stratus Technologies, a global leader in simplified, protected, autonomous edge computing solutions, today unveiled its Edge Computing Trend Report, the first in a global research series published in conjunction with CFE Media on the state of edge computing. Surveying approximately 300 process, plant and production engineers, system integrators (SIs) and operational technology (OT) professionals across various industries, the research revealed end users are optimistic about the edge and believe in its ability to transform process and production environments with only 34% of those surveyed not having a plan to implement edge computing solutions today.
Respondents cited different barriers to deployment ranging from lack of education on when and how to use the technology (46%) to security concerns (37%) and lack of internal skilled resources (30%). Furthermore, nearly one quarter of respondents believe they need to look to outside services for the design, development, execution or management of edge and connectivity projects.
Given these concerns, the most important requirements to these end users when selecting an edge computing supplier are self-monitoring capabilities (50%), built-in security features (41%), high availability (39%), easy installation (38%) and support for a wide range of applications (34%).
“These findings provide additional validation of end users’ needs when it comes to converting plans to pilots, rollouts and implementations,” according to Craig Resnick, vice president, Consulting at ARC Advisory Group. “Not surprisingly, there is a significant opportunity at the edge for vendors, such as Stratus, who are bringing OT-specific solutions to market that offer integrated security, can eliminate unplanned downtime and can be installed easily without burdening IT resources who are in short supply in plant environments.”
Additional survey findings note:
- The applications planned for most at the edge include those that require autonomy (39%), low latency (24%) and significant bandwidth (also 24%).
- Device failure detection (63%) is considered the most valuable use case for edge computing, followed by advanced process controls (58%), asset performance (48%) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)/human-machine interface (HMI) (40%).
- 51% of respondents position themselves as either early adopters or early actors. Conversely, only 38% position themselves as conservative, taking a “wait-and-see” approach to edge.
To help organizations plan simple, protected and autonomous edge computing deployments, Stratus is offering the Stratus Edge Computing Maturity Model. The Maturity Model helps organizations chart progress by measuring the maturity of their operations against five key stages of adoption. To learn more about the Maturity Model, visit here. Additionally, companies who did not participate in the study, but would like to understand how their edge computing plans and deployments compare can take a short Edge Computing Self-Assessment here.
“The results of our Edge Computing Trend Report indicate the U.S. edge market is at a tipping point,” said Dave Laurello, president and chief executive officer at Stratus. “The use cases are clear, the ROI has been defined and the opportunity to gain major transformational benefits is underway. We’re eager to continue working with our partners, including AVEVA and Rockwell Automation, to modernize customers’ edge environments so they can safely and effectively automate, protect and ensure the availability of their data without fail. Our ztC™ Edge and ftServer® solutions are helping edge computing pioneers immediately realize value from their deployments.”
The Edge Computing Trend Report featuring Americas adoption data, the Stratus Edge Computing Maturity Model, the Edge Computing Self-Assessment, and how-to articles are now available online at Stratus.com. In the coming months, the company also will publish reports highlighting edge adoption trends in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Learn more about Stratus’ edge computing platforms.
Learn more about Stratus’ partner programs.
About Stratus Technologies
Stratus takes the complexity out of unplanned downtime no matter the environment or industry. We enable global Fortune 500 companies and small-to-medium sized businesses in a wide range of industries, along with our growing partner and distributor network, to securely deliver information to applications at the Edge, cloud and data center so they can turn this data into actionable information – all while minimizing their financial and reputational risk. We bring operations and IT together to unlock the potential of digital transformation and enable our customers to improve the quality of life for people and communities – and we’ve been protecting these business-critical environments for nearly 40 years. For more information, please visit www.stratus.com or follow on Twitter @StratusAlwaysOn and LinkedIn @StratusTechnologies.
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