Not so long ago, the use of cloud-based software for production operations was not considered viable by most manufacturers. But as more manufacturers move front-office technologies to the cloud and become more familiar with cloud-based software such as Salesforce, Dropbox, and data analytics, industry’s acceptance of cloud software has grown.
To learn more about this, Automation World connected with Chris Radebaugh, lifecycle program services manager at Emerson, to better understand how industrial companies are expanding their use of cloud-based software in the operations technology (OT) space.
Radebaugh noted that DeltaV Simulation Cloud can be used by companies in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, specialty chemical, pulp and paper, and mining industries. “All of the modules and function blocks available in on-premises DeltaV software are available on DeltaV Simulation cloud,” he said, “whether you are modifying a control module connected to a valve on your continuous process or an equipment module to organize and execute a segment of your batch process.”
Pharmaceutical and oil & gas applications
In the pharmaceutical industry, a key business factor is adherence to tight production schedules to ensure the timely release of products to the public. This means that verifying configurations and training operators can be an unseen aspect of successful product releases and can add time to the schedule. “DeltaV Simulation Cloud is the right choice for such needs because it’s a scalable, flexible, always-on environment to change and train when you are,” said Radebaugh.
For the oil and gas industries, DeltaV Simulation Cloud can be used to modify configurations and act as a standards library reference for individual production plants, he said. Also, Emerson’s soon-to-be released SIS (safety instrumented systems) support will allow oil and gas companies to manage their safety configuration in the same secure cloud environment.
Specific cloud-based benefits
A major driver behind industry’s growing acceptance of cloud-based software is the fact that on-premises systems require plant managers and training personnel to manage system access and maintain the hardware and software themselves, which may divert focus from the direct business objectives of the company.
“With DeltaV Simulation Cloud, users are freed from many of the costly access, security, and maintenance concerns of an on-premises system,” Radebaugh said. “Installation, setup, and access are standard. This means there are no physical infrastructure costs, no engineering design and build, no need to manage virtual machines or workstations, and no need to worry about power consumption or hardware end-of-life strategies. As your hosting provider, Emerson takes care of all of these for you. We’ve gone to great lengths to make DeltaV Simulation Cloud a turnkey solution, alleviating the complexities of traditional DeltaV on-premises ownership concerns. As a DeltaV Simulation Cloud user, simply order from a set of capabilities and our team will work with you to ensure we architect and maintain the solution to your expectations.”
Another benefit to cloud-based software is its scalability to adapt to business requirements. Explaining the scalability of DeltaV Simulation Cloud, Radebaugh said the software is structured around three offerings: “DeltaV Simulate, DeltaV Simulate with Mimic, and Standalone. All are offered as one-year subscriptions. The first two offerings are scalable systems that can accommodate up to 15,000 device signal tags (DSTs) and up to 16 concurrent users. DeltaV Simulation Cloud Standalone is designed for those customers seeking a smaller system with full DeltaV Simulate with Mimic capabilities in a small environment at our lowest cost. This system allows for one concurrent user and up to 1,000 DSTs.”
As for security—a concern with any connected technology—Radebaugh said the security of DeltaV Simulation Cloud is “ensured by our hosting facility’s ISO 27001 security certificate. ISO 27001 is a comprehensive cybersecurity certification, renewed annually, that ensures protection via a set of user access and defense-in depth policies and procedures, as well as monitoring and response requirements.”
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