IoT Management Platform Secures Factory Automation Edge Integrity

Project Introduction

A leading global provider of semiconductor manufacturing assembly and testing services needed a solution capable of protecting disparate operating equipment. The production line equipment in this case needed protection from malware attacks and the ability to recover from mistakes caused by human error quickly.

Project Requirements

The customer in this case frequently encountered mistakes caused by human error on the production line or malfunctions caused by viruses inserted via an unguarded USB port. Such incidents caused the system to crash and the production lines to stop. Accordingly, they required a solution capable of monitoring a large number of production process management devices simultaneously (including related software and hardware health). This solution also needed to provide notifications — regarding equipment failure and remote device & firmware OTA updates — to administrators via Email or SMS. It also required support for remote troubleshooting and the ability to reduce equipment failure repair times in order to improve production utilization. It also had to provide whitelisting protection to defend the system against malware intrusion and user error. Finally, providing support for backup scheduling via a central repository and fast system recovery from backup was an imperative.

Project Description

Advantech introduced the customer in this case to DeviceOn. DeviceOn helps them monitor numerous production process management devices simultaneously and collects software and hardware monitoring information for transmission to WISE-DeviceOn for on-premises, centralized background management. Advantech’s WISE-DeviceOn delivers notifications to administrators via email and SMS. It also provides remote device self-testing, connection-less management, and remote device software/firmware OTA updates. These features replace the need for USB ports and prevent virus infection. Buttressing its device management capabilities, WISE-Device provides whitelisting protection that ensures that machines only run authorized production line application software. It also ensures that the backup scheduling of system images and data is handled by a central repository on the network. If systems on the production line are damaged they can be recovered to restore the operations quickly.Advantech introduced DeviceOn to the customer in this case. DeviceOn This solution helps them monitor numerous production process management devices simultaneously. In addition, it collects software and hardware monitoring information for transmission to WISE-DeviceOn for on-premises, background centralized management. Advantech’s WISE-DeviceOn delivers notifications to administrators via email and SMS. It also provides remote device self-testing, connectionless management, and remote device software/firmware OTA updates. These features replace the need for USB and prevent virus infection. Besides Buttressing its device management capabilities, WISE-Device provides whitelisting protection to that ensures that machines only run authorized production line application software. It also ensures that e, backup sand scheduling backup allof system images and data to ais handled by a central repository via network. If systems on the production line are damagedonce systems in a production line are damaged they can be, all systems can be recovered to restore the operations quickly.

System Diagram

Conclusion

This company is now able to shorten the time it takes to maintain and backup/recovery operating equipment scattered across the edge from one week to less than an hour. In addition, USB infection issues derived from manual operation can be eradicated. Buttressing this, the  ability to monitor equipment operating status remotely and activate backup/recovery can save up to 90% of management and maintenance time when compared to the previous operation methods. In addition, the recovery operation processing time has diminished from one week to one hour.

Why Choose WISE-DeviceOn

DeviceOn is one of several Advantech's IoT software solutions. It is focused on IoT device remote monitoring and management, and bridges several lays of the Advantech IoT Platform Architecture — including IoT device, system and cloud layers. Advantech strives to integrate partner solutions — such as those provided by Intel®, Microsoft, Windriver, McAfee, and Acronis — by providing pre-integrated, pre-validated hardware and software building blocks that deliver seamless and secure data flow from sensor to cloud.

Key Capabilities

• Remotely monitor hardware and software health
• OTA batch update software and configuration to devices Dispatches instant alerts to administrators during failure events
• Whitelisting protection defends against malware intrusion and user misoperatio
• Scheduling backup to central repository for fast system recovery