Stratus Technologies, Inc. is extending its commitment to Industrial Automation worldwide with the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT. Providing a proven always-on foundation for IIoT deployments, the Stratus solution features Stratus ftServer^® technology with VMware vSphere^® 6, as well as application monitoring and OPC integration. Stratus is reducing the complexity and risk that can be associated with software defined Industrial Automation technologies, bringing the best of both worlds to OT and IT. For OT organisations, the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT delivers an operationally simple platform, an intuitive dashboard with visibility into system and application health, and continuous availability. And for IT, the solution provides a standard platform that can be integrated into existing management and security processes.

“The business potential IIoT can bring to Industrial Automation is a game changer for our customers,” said Jason Andersen, vice president of business line management, Stratus Technologies. “As more software is being deployed to support IIoT, successful IIoT implementation is reliant on absolute integrity of data right from the source. As SCADA and sensor systems increase in complexity and their data collection rates move to milli-second intervals, the need for reliability and availability increases even more. In addition, with continued virtualisation adoption in IT, we are further reducing complexity for our OT customers by delivering our solution  with VMware vSphere 6.”

Stratus is streamlining and simplifying the continuous availability and management of industrial applications in three ways:

Operational Simplicity – By consolidating traditionally disparate systems, ftServer Gen8 for VMware streamlines the management of different devices, such as servers, 
management consoles and external storage, into a single high-performance solution for industrial automation teams in remote locations with limited IT resources.

Full Visibility – By integrating Sightline Assure^TM, Stratus delivers full visibility across the entire infrastructure (from bare metal to the applications), enabling continuous monitoring in order to predict performance issues in advance, and prevent unplanned downtime and data loss.

Open Platform Communications – By adopting the OPC standard the Stratus solution becomes an integral part of the entire industrial automation infrastructure and interoperability with other business critical applications is further extended.

All of these technologies are available today from Stratus Industrial Automation partners worldwide.

Supporting Quotes

Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Systems and IDC Fellow for The Internet of Things

“Stratus’ ability to maintain their leadership position when it comes to providing the highest levels of availability and serviceability in the industry throughout the various technological evolutions is second to none”, said Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Systems and IDC Fellow for The Internet of Things. “This latest offering – the Stratus Always-On infrastructure for IIoT with OPC integration – demonstrates Stratus’ commitment to providing practical solutions to address the needs of segment specific customers. Stratus’ solutions are especially relevant for Industrial Automation that leads in the adoption of IIoT and demands that their system investments today are future-ready for years to come.”

Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group

“Industrial automation and ‘always on and available’ are synonymous”, said Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group. “Manufacturers and processers live in an environment where eliminating unscheduled downtime is a top business priority, and now in a world that embraces the benefits of IIoT and IT/OT convergence, ‘always on and available’ extending from the plant floor to the enterprise is more important than ever.  The Stratus Always-On infrastructure for IIoT, combined with its OPC UA integration for Industrial Automation connectivity, provides the industry with a proven solution that is modern, future-ready and can address the continuous availability issues of IT /OT convergence head-on.”

Howard Hall, senior director, Global Technology Partnering Organisation, VMware

“With Stratus ftServer technology for VMware vSphere 6, organisations can cost effectively transform Industrial Automation by enabling the reduction of technical footprint, without risk or complexity”, said Howard Hall, senior director, Global Technology Partnering Organisation, VMware. 

Paula Bognar, Manager Encompass Product Referencing Program, Rockwell Automation

“The Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork is critical to helping customers on their journey to achieve The Connected Enterprise and Stratus has been an active member of the Encompass Product Referencing Program since 2006”, said Paula Bognar, Manager Encompass Product Referencing Program, Rockwell Automation. “Innovation targeted around IIoT is a great step forward in addressing the changing needs that manufacturers face today. Virtualisation solutions – like the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT – can provide scalability through flexible connectivity and reliable information sharing from the plant floor to the enterprise.”

Tom Schiller, President, AutomaTech

“Stratus is our “go to” partner when we want to deliver the highest level of availability to our customers across water, wastewater, gas, life sciences and food and beverage industries”, said Tom Schiller, President, AutomaTech. “These customers need to be running 24/7 and can’t afford to have even a minute of downtime. The Stratus systems are so reliable that many of our customers have been running the same system for 5 to 10 years. This, combined with the reduced complexity they deliver for virtualised environments, will continue to become even more important as Industrial Automation evolves towards IIoT.”