What Universal Data Connectors Do for Business IoT Systems
What is a universal data connector? Well, a data connector is essentially a transmitter of data. It allows the user to transfer data from one application or database to another, where it can be analyzed, acted upon, or processed in another way. A universal data connector allows that data to be translated from one format to another, making it readable by different applications.
Why is this important? Because the idea behind an Open Access Automation Software (OAS) platform is to make your data available across the board without locking you in to a single vendor or application. It essentially enables the transport and transformation of your data.
No More Proprietary Formats
The problem with other data connectors is that they often lock data into certain proprietary formats. This is fine if your vendors all use the same language or format, but if your SCADA system is made up of several types of IoT devices, this will not work well for you. At some point, you will need to transform data or interpret it for other devices.
Performance to Scale
The second advantage of an OAS universal data connector? Besides the ability to transfer data over your LAN, WAN, Intranet, or the Internet with 100 nanosecond resolution, the OAS system is made up of servers that can each process up to one million data points. With over 10,000 servers available to each client, the ability to scale data processing is nearly unlimited.
Reliability and Failover
Want a more reliable data connection? The OAS system captures and buffers data when it is connected to the network. This means even when connectivity is sporadic or unreliable, data is never lost. Instead, it simply transmits the buffered data as soon as the internet connection is restored.
The Live Cloud Data feature allows the servers to communicate with one another, allowing for data integration with remote devices, and even remote monitoring. Servers can also be configured for failover so that a standby system takes over automatically when the main system fails, preserving data and keeping things working properly.
The level of reliability is critical to your IoT systems remaining operational even under the most hostile situations.
Security
OAS allows the configuration of multiple security users and profiles, meaning businesses can add as many administrative accounts as they wish, and configure each differently according to their needs. In addition, service-to-service and service-to-client configurations use Windows Communication Foundation and encrypted and compressed files, allowing for both secure and rapid transmission of data with as little network use as possible.
Configuration and Flexibility
Want to configure multi-site deployments in unique ways? The use of a REST API and .NET developer tools for the setup of Security Users and Groups, Tags, and Driver Interfaces makes this process simple and fast and offers a flexible setup independent of the parent site.
What does this mean to your IoT? The use of different machines at different locations can be controlled remotely and by the same users and groups of users with ease.
Open Data Format
Perhaps the most important function that Universal Data Connectors serve is to offer data directly with no need for proprietary plugins. Similar to the lack of proprietary formatting, plugins will also work universally with OAS Universal Data Connectors.
This means you can use them with all common APIs and formats, such as:
- Oracle
- MS SQL Server
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- Access
- CSV Files
Business IoT systems are then no longer limited to one format, one set of plug-ins, nor do they require both transmission and translation. In these cases, data is data.
Conclusion
Universal data connectors do a lot for IoT business systems, making them run faster, smoother, and without the need for additional software. When setting up your business IoT, consider open data like open automation software for all of your remote and onsite SCADA and HMI needs.