Monitor Apapun dengan PRTG

Monitoring of Things:
Exploring a New World of Data

We love technology. It's what drives our developers. It's what drives our product. It's what drives our marketing. We try to avoid jumping on the bandwagon of every new IT buzzword that's out there—at least if it isn't directly related to a possible application for our customers. That's why we've carefully kept an eye on the Internet of Things (IoT) trend and tried to determine if it's a topic that might offer substantial benefits for our customers in the years to come. We don't know yet if IoT will live up to the hype, but we are convinced that it will have an impact on the way we experience IT—and the time to get prepared is now.

Internet of Things basically means everything is connected, with all its advantages and disadvantages. For the network administrator of the future, this rising complexity will come with a whole new set of challenges. Forget about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and start thinking about BYOT (Bring Your Own Thing)—and "thing" could be, if you follow recent IT media articles, everything from a coffee machine to a car that's parked in the underground parking lot of a company. Especially wearables (electronic devices you wear on your body) seem to be one of the first trends within this almost infinite area of applications.

Who Monitors the Monitor?

Wearables often are intended to be used for extended healthcare purposes, for example monitoring a patient's pulse or heart-rate. If there's a sudden drop in the heart-rate, an ambulance could automatically be informed, find the patient via GPS signal and hopefully save his life—but what happens if the software crashes, the device gets disconnected or is simply turned off? The recipient of the body monitoring data also has to be informed about the status of the wearable. You have to monitor the device in order to being able to guarantee a constant flow of reliable body monitoring data. For hospitals equipping their patients with these kinds of wearables, the integration into their IT environment is only a first step. They also have to think about updating their network monitoring strategy. Remember, everything will be connected.

One of the biggest challenges will be to integrate a very heterogeneous group of devices into an already existing network structure. This is even truer for companies in industries with a huge scope of possible "things" to integrate into their network.

The Intelligent Industrial Network: Industry 4.0

Also in the manufacturing industry wearables that, for example, measure the noise exposure of factory workers could be a realistic scenario—but that's just the beginning: imagine assembly lines that are never affected by unplanned downtimes, maintenance work that can be scheduled to an exact point in time, and spare parts that arrive even before a replacement is necessary. No more warning lights that only flash after an error has occurred or after a part has exceeded its life cycle.

This development is known under different terms like Smart Manufacturing or Industrial Internet—in Germany it is called Industry 4.0, which refers to the fourth industrial revolution and was initiated as a project in the high-tech strategy of the German government. The goal is to create intelligent networks along the entire value chain, which can control each other autonomously. Although we might yet stand at the beginning of this revolution, it's important to start planning for the future now. Especially the sensible integration with the existing IT infrastructure should not be taken lightly. What's happening to the data that gets picked up off the machines? It has to be added to the central IT system in order to enable further processing, useful display and a basis for maintenance workers to take action. Monitoring things, in this case complex industrial machines, isn't so different from monitoring network devices—what matters is getting relevant data that can be analyzed and put to a purpose.

The Evolution of Monitoring

As with the different stages of the industrial revolution, also IT is an area that never stops evolving—and network monitoring is a big part of this development. When the concept first was introduced, the technology mostly was used to monitor physical IT devices (Monitoring 1.0), like routers or switches. With the ongoing virtualization of networks, new concepts and functionalities had to be found (Monitoring 2.0) in order to gather and process new kinds of relevant data. The next logical step was to run applications in the cloud and even further extend the virtualization. To enable users of SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions and other cloud applications constant access to their productive environment, the connection to the cloud has to be closely monitored (Monitoring 3.0)—this includes the monitoring of services and resources from every perspective to guarantee the smooth operation of all systems and connections within the cloud.

Besides the necessity to continue monitoring all devices, virtual machines and cloud based applications, which have been monitored in the past, the Internet of Things also launches a new era in network monitoring (Monitoring 4.0) as with every new thing connected to the network, also the amount of data that can and should be monitored, is constantly growing. Due to the heterogeneous nature of "things" and applications, many of which we probably even can't think of today, it will be difficult to have an out-of-the-box solution that covers every possible scenario. Applying custom sensors is a feasible solution, already used by many of our customers. In the past we've seen users of PRTG Network Monitor being on the forefront of creativity, using custom sensors to monitor prawn farms, pellet stokers or even the blood fridge of a hospital—all not being network devices, but "things". We're learning about new applications almost every day and are excited about this development. Based on our customer's feedback, we're constantly improving PRTG and implementing new features, so that when the time has come, our customers will be able to monitor every "thing", they want.

If you can think of an exciting thing to monitor, or even have written a custom sensor yourself, let us know: mot@paessler.com

Manufaktur semakin canggih dengan adanya M2M

Smart manufacturing made smarter with M2M

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

The manufacturing process has always been prone to implement technological changes that improve production efficiency through cost and time to market reductions, which give manufacturing companies the competitive edge in their markets over competitors.

At the same time the irruption of M2M technologies is yet to massively penetrate the factory realm. Laura Stotler of M2M Evolution Magazine believes that “the traditional world of manufacturing, is a vertical market that hasn’t changed much in general over the years. M2M has the potential to revolutionize the way manufacturers do business”.

Companies like business process management (BPM) Pega, normally involved in helping transactional companies such as banks or credit card companies streamline their business processes, are now looking at the different challenges manufacturers face and how M2M can make them more competitive.

“The complexity of manufacturers, managing diverse production lines involving suppliers and physical elements is different to those of managing bank accounts or insurance policies”, stated Bruce Williams, vice-president of Pega at a recent ITEXPO Miami 2014 interview.

“M2M and the Internet of Things have been around for almost 30 years but the difference is that Moore’s Law is slashing the price, while boosting the technology making it widely available. This allows for a measurement device and a controlling circuit to be installed just about anywhere”, continues Williams.

In this manner, products and pieces in the manufacturing process become actors thanks to this new capacity to present themselves, announce their state, receive orders and so on, through the M2M communications. “This allows for people, complex systems, and now things, to combine as part of the business processes”, concludes Williams.

Another view that confirms this future of manufacturing comes from consulting firm McKinsey’s Markus Löffler. “The IoT has already set in motion a Third Industrial Revolution, technological changes that will decentralize production control and trigger a paradigm shift in manufacturing. How will this paradigm shift affect classic production processes and manufacturing value chain?”, asked Löffler.

“It is highly likely that the world of production will become more and more networked until everything is interlinked with everything else. And logistics could be at the forefront of this shift”, replied Siegfried Dais, deputy chairman of the board of management at German engineering company Robert Bosch GmbH.

“This paradigm shift will make logistics and the supplier networks grow enormously more complicated”, added Andreas Tschiesner from McKinsey. Löffler expects a complete consolidation of devices and process management. “Process and device will be inseparable; physical things become part of the process. What this means for the plant is that machines and workflows merge to become a single entity”, concludes Löffler.

The new reality in a competitive market will allow for manufacturers to “speak” to their products, and even product pieces during the production process allowing better products to reach the market. IoT is about the physical world, as the creator of the expression, Kevin Ashton, said.

Not only private companies see the strategic importance of M2M in manufacturing. The European Union believes that the factories of the future have a key interest for maintaining the competitive edge in a globalized and highly industrialized world.

To address member country counselling a report has been released detecting the main areas of improvement and providing an extensive roadmap up to 2020. “SMEs are the backbone of manufacturing industry in Europe. Micro, small and medium enterprises provide around 45 % of the value added by manufacturing while they provide around 59 % of manufacturing employment”, says the EU report.

Teknologi masa depan : M2M

Shaping the Future with Technology

10 Apr 2014

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Technology has completely changed the ways of man. It has set up comfortable platforms for most of its activities, with it, having to adapt to an array of unfolding new applications almost always in split seconds, writes Emma Okonji

The pace of technological advancement is fast becoming giddy, that sooner than expected a tiny remote control will carry out any human activity at the greatest convenience anytime and anywhere.
Imagine such possibilities as controlling your car remotely, getting the iron to press your clothing items, activating robots and using them as surveillance tools in your home.

A situation where with the remote control, you can open the door of a car, turn on the ignition and drive out of the garage with a voice command. How about a kitchen appliance like a refrigerator that can alert you when you have almost run out of milk or eggs or even juice? What do you think a house that welcomes you after a long, hard day at the office, and tells you when a visitor is at the door and who the visitor is?
A house that is voice-activated and can read your emails if you are too tired to get to your computer. A wrist gear that is networked with your house so delicately that at every point in time, you are in touch with your home and with what is going on there.
These are all signs of how technology would driving the world in no distant time and such is the power of new technologies that is driving today's world and shaping the future of people globally.

M2M Technology

Machine-to-machine or M2M as it is called, is a technology that allows both wired and wireless systems and devices to communicate with each other. Data usually flows from one device over a network through a gateway to another device, interpreting the data and ultimately performing functions useful for people.
Devices, especially mobile phones, have become so integrated with our lives that they have greatly affected the way we live, work and relax. It is commonplace to hear people say 'I cannot leave home without my mobile phone, or I would rather lose my wallet than lose my mobile phone'. In the past, visually impaired people for instance, moved around with the aid of guide canes.

As time progressed, these canes became self-illuminating in the dark, after which dogs were trained to lead the blind. Today, a visually impaired person can live a very normal life with the aid of his mobile device, which practically speaks to him and even alerts him when he is moving too close to danger. With the power of M2M technology, his device can also communicate with other devices and gadgets in his home, thereby enabling him to live a very normal and convenient life.

Display of Technology at Mobile World Congress

At the 2014 edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), in Barcelona, Spain, which is the largest exhibition forum for the latest in gadgets, technology and mobile devices, companies such as Ericsson, Vodafone, and even a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company like P&G, showcased how the application of the M2M technology is being adopted to help bolster the sophistication of the retail experience, engaging their customers to enjoy even more savvy customer experience.
Over 80,000 participants visited Barcelona to have a glimpse of the future today.

From connected products to digital marketing, digital signage and digital displays, FMCGs and retail organisations have cashed in on the M2M technology.
The organisations flaunted the seamless manner technology has helped them to cut costs of energy use considerably and improved supply chain effectiveness to get goods to retail outlets more efficiently. Customers have also been engaged through in-store connections via digital signage and wireless point of sale (PoS).

Vodafone Group, a UK-based telecommunications company with over 403 million customers around the world launched the Smart Retail concept, which makes use of innovative technology to drive customer experience and the company's business performance, was launched during the Mobile World Congress. For them, the M2M technology is the future for customer interaction.
The concept basically speaks about interactivity at the heart of the Vodafone store. The ease and convenience, clear and intuitive navigation and tools to aid customers with their business transactions, are mind-blowing.
In partnership with Volvo and based on Ericsson's multiservice delivery platform (MSDP), Ericsson's connected vehicle cloud, provides infortainment, Apps and communications services in Volvo's new cars.

With the service, drivers and passengers will be able to access an application that provides entertainment, information, and navigation from a screen in the car. With connected vehicle, the driver can equally get traffic alerts, software updates, music downloads, and charging support for electric cars. In addition, Volvo cars will yield part of its platform to other players in the automotive ecosystem.

The Smart Toothbrush

P&G, a FMCG company, made debut, the world's foremost interactive digital toothbrush tagged connected toothbrush from its smart series. With a 4.0 Bluetooth connectivity, one is able to monitor one's oral hygiene through the Oral-B App downloaded in one's mobile phone.

It provides real-time guidance while you brush and makes available your brushing and hygiene data that can be shared with your dentist on your next appointment. The beauty of the Oral-B App is that it not only reports your brushing data to you, it can also personalise a proper brushing routine and programme your smartphone as a remote control to customised brushing needs.
The user is also kept engaged while brushing with news feeds, weather reports and oral care tips . The Oral-B App can be downloaded free of charge on iOS and Android smartphones.

More Technology Advancement

Indeed, the progress of connected devices and Machine-2-Machine communications continues to grow at an incredible pace, shaping the world around us. The MWC was also digitally compliant with digital signage positioned at the entrances and around the exhibition halls to enable visitors, without human interface, easily find their way around the over 98,000 square kilometres of space, at the Fira Gran Via.

Tap-and-go digital signage for near field communications (NFC) gave visitors easy and convenient access to restaurants, badge/security passes and mobile banking among, other services.
Organisations are increasingly beginning to understand the critical need for interactivity with customers, and have cashed in on the M2M technology to reach them. An organisation like Amirror, which advertises on mirrors using the M2M technology, has recorded resounding success with its Smart Mirror series.

The Smart mirrors beam messages to people on mirrors in wash-rooms, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other frequented public places with mirrors. These messages are downloaded directly from Admirror's servers, enabled by Vodafone, straight to the customers. A sort of in-your face advertising without being unnecessarily offensive.

At the MWC, Vodafone showcased its partnership with Admirror on the use of M2M for more impactful adverts in real time.
According to Vodafone's M2M Business Development Manager, Peter Manolescue, the problem faced by advertisers is the difficulty of getting messages across to a very crowded market and very often, you only have a moment to get such messages across effectively.

He said Admirror found a way to distil messages to customers in areas where they least expect it. In other words, adverts can be done in real time. The advert messages are in line with marketing campaigns and adapt to the twists and turns in the campaign. Vodafone's M2M servers allow advertisers to update their messages in real time.
According to a recently released Hollywood movie, 'our devices are us'. The storyline of the blockbuster movie entitled 'Her', portrayed a man who fell in love with his computer operating system (OS).

Perhaps because of how completely wrapped in his world the OS was, it did everything for and with him: helped him to work more efficiently, sleep, relax well to the sound of soothing music and was generally the best PA anyone could ask for.
Again, what the movie and indeed Hollywood is saying is that man and machine have been so integrated that one day, people may actually fall in love with their machines and even go as far as marrying their devices, if the law permits it.

Evolving Technology

Technology is evolving and shaping the future with endless possibilities in various fields including, medicine, agriculture, commerce, aviation, arts, culture, tourism and indeed, everything that affects our daily lives.
Telecommunications companies, vendors, content developers, technology companies, have emerged in the forefront of this evolution, masterminding the birth of new innovations that shape even the way they do business and relate with their various customers. If the movie 'Her' is anything to go by, then indeed, the future is here.

In Nigeria, there is a revolution in the technology space and people are becoming increasingly aware of these evolutions and becoming better informed. Companies are striving to up their game in order to take the lead in the bold new digital world. An organisation like MTN for instance, understands this and has positioned itself to be part of the digital revolution.

It has evolved from being a telecommunications company to becoming a technology company, providing digital solutions to meet the diverse needs of their very diverse and futuristic customers.
With the proliferation of online shops, one can buy anything simply by going online, surfing for what you need and clicking the purchase button. Within 24 hours, your purchase will be delivered right to your doorsteps. It is also easy to sell off what you no longer need by again, going online and displaying a photograph of the item for sale.

Within days, a buyer will click on it and your old item is taken off you. Statistics have shown the explosion and astronomic rise of online shopping as people avidly seek new ways of digitally meeting their needs without minimum stress and at a lesser cost.
Today, technology is creating smart devices that will better the lives of all that understand the power of technology. It is therefore expedient that Nigerians take advantage of the evolving technology that is shaping the future.

26 miliar IoT saat ini

The Impending IT Headache of the 26 Billion-Thing Internet of Things

• By David Nagel
• 03/18/14

The rapid growth of interconnected devices making up the Internet of Things will wreak havoc on data security, storage, servers, networks and end user privacy, according to a new report.

There will be 26 billion "things" making up the Internet of Things within six years, according to a report released by Gartner. The implications for IT are profound — in particular for data center operations.

"IoT threatens to generate massive amounts of input data from sources that are globally distributed," said Joe Skorupa, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, in a statement released to coincide with the report. "Transferring the entirety of that data to a single location for processing will not be technically and economically viable. The recent trend to centralize applications to reduce costs and increase security is incompatible with the IoT. Organizations will be forced to aggregate data in multiple distributed mini data centers where initial processing can occur. Relevant data will then be forwarded to a central site for additional processing."

He added that the effects will impact ore than just centralized applications. "The enormous number of devices, coupled with the sheer volume, velocity and structure of IoT data, creates challenges, particularly in the areas of security, data, storage management, servers and the data center network, as real-time business processes are at stake," he said. "Data center managers will need to deploy more forward-looking capacity management in these areas to be able to proactively meet the business priorities associated with IoT."

Significant implications noted in the report included:

• Given the volume of data, comprehensive backups "will present potentially insoluble governance issues, such as network bandwidth and remote storage bandwidth, and capacity to back up all raw data is likely to be unaffordable";
• This, in turn, will lead to the need for automated selective backups;
• Availability requirements will continue to grow even as the IoT builds, "putting real-time business processes and, potentially, personal safety at risk";
• The potential for breaches of individual privacy will increase.

Fabrizio Biscotti, research director at Gartner, said the advent of the Internet of Things will push IT further into virtualization and the cloud.

Arti dari Internet of Everything..

Understanding the Value of the Internet of Everything

BY: JOSEPH BRADLEY 04 JANUARY 2014

We are living in an age of unprecedented technological transformation, one that stands to eclipse even the first Internet boom.

This next wave of change is being driven by a massive upsurge in connectivity, from 10 billion connected “things” today to 50 billion in 2020. The world may seem connected already. But, consider that only 1 percent of the objects around you are endowed with smart connectivity. For now, that is — the situation is changing fast. Your car, your refrigerator, your parking space, the bridge you drive over, the shelves at the local retailer and the supply chain that feeds them — all of these “dark assets” are being “lit up” with smart connectivity, altering our lives in profound ways.
Cisco calls this the Internet of Everything (IoE). We define IoE as the intelligent connection of people, process, data and things. And, of course, the “people” element is paramount, since the whole point of technology is to create a better life experience for everyone.
 
For enterprises, IoE represents a vast opportunity. Cisco estimates that the Value at Stake from IoE is a staggering $14.4 trillion for the private sector over the next 10 years.
 
Let’s take a closer look at the four elements of the IoE:
 

• People: The ways in which we connect to the Internet have changed in the last three decades — from terminals to desktop computers and a variety of mobile devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablets. But that’s nothing compared to the wave of transformation we are now entering. Google Glass and smart watches are just the beginning of an array of wearable technologies that will radically change the ways we consume and share information. In the next few years, these capabilities will grow profoundly.

• Process: Connecting processes is not something most people think about but already the Internet has revolutionized the ways businesses manage their supply chains and the ways consumers shop—to name just two. As we continue to “instrument” our world, we’ll have visibility into processes we could never see before, providing opportunities to make these processes faster, simpler and more efficient.

• Data: The world is awash in data. By the end of 2013, we will create more new information every 10 minutes that we did in all of human history up to 2008—most of it rich media. Not only is the volume of data increasing exponentially, the data itself is becoming richer and new types of devices that never existed before are starting to create even more data—for example, sensors on food to alert you before it spoils. Big Data analytics are helping us make sense of this avalanche of information—identifying and combining relevant data points in ways that reveal new insights and enable better decision making.

• Things: We predict that 9.4 percent of physical objects are still unconnected, highlighting the vast potential of connecting the unconnected. But real growth will not be in the things we expect to be connected, such as computers, phones and tablets; the exciting part of this growth is in the unexpected things that are just beginning to be connected. Possibilities are endless for connected cars, water-delivery systems, bridges and much, much more!

While it’s clear the Internet of Everything is built on the connections among people, process, data and things, it is not about each of these four dimensions in isolation. The power of the Internet of Everything is in the intersection of all of these elements.
 
At Cisco, we estimate that the Value at Stake from this transformation — the aforementioned $14.4 trillion for the private sector — represents an opportunity to increase global aggregate corporate profits by about 21 percent.

In other words, between 2013 and 2022, $14.4 trillion of value (net profit) will be "up for grabs" for enterprises globally — driven by IoE. IoE will both create new value and redistribute (migrate) value among winners and laggards, based on how well companies take advantage of the opportunities presented by IoE. Those that harness IoE best will reap this windfall by capturing new value created from technology innovation and/or by gaining competitive advantage and grabbing market share against other companies that are less able to transform and capitalize on the IoE market transition.

It's my hope that as we prepare for the upcoming 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, organizations and governments can better understand how the Internet of Everything is driving transformation. Challenges and opportunities presented by this change prove that the time to begin realizing IoE’s Value at Stake is now.

More information about Cisco’s vision of the Internet of Everything can be found here. We also invite you to drop by our booth at CES, hear some of our executives speak about IoE (including Chairman and CEO John Chambers) and join the conversation with #IoE, #CiscoCES, #CES2014. 

Joseph Bradley

Managing Director, Internet of Everything Practice

Cisco Consulting Services

As managing director of the Internet of Everything (IoE) Practice in the Cisco Consulting Services organization, Joseph Bradley is responsible for ensuring... More

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