Internet of Things
Data Challenges Facing the IoT
The tremendous amounts of structured and unstructured data avail- able at the edge are exposing a critical gap in the IoT: Businesses face staggering costs to store and process all this data.
In its 2015 “Smart Systems Forecast Model,” Harbor Research esti- mates that by 2020 smart systems will create over 194 petabytes (PB) of data. That’s 194,000 terabytes (TB). Other research suggests even more data is coming. A 2015 IDC report, “Internet of Things Mid-Year Review,” predicts that the number of IoT end points added with gate- ways or other solutions per minute will increase to more than 7,900 in 2020 from 4,500 in 2015. That adds up to 4 billion end points in a year, each potentially streaming data constantly to a data center or cloud.
The IoT Analytics Gateway To make collecting all this data tenable, we need solutions that filter data at the gateway so that only the fraction that needs more advanced pro- cessing goes to the cloud. A new generation of devices – analytics gate- ways – provides the necessary intelligence to perform edge filtering, analytics, and data compression in near-real time. These gateways are small devices offering wired and wireless connections to collect, secure, and process sensor data at the edge.
Serving as a digital bridge and translator between the physical world of operations technology (OT) and cloud infrastructure, analytics gate- ways enable organizations to achieve several key objectives:
• Better utilization of network bandwidth resources • Decreased data center (or cloud) processing and storage costs • Lower latency at the edge • Faster reaction times for automated edge functions
The distributed IoT architecture that results from using these analytics gateways enables the placement of more real-time, data-driven func- tions close to the data source. This improves operational efficiency.
Anatomy of an Analytics Gateway To help simplify the intricacies involved in collecting and processing edge data, Dell has developed the Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series for IoT. Designed for building and factory automation sectors, the Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series allows organizations to locally analyze and act on edge data from disparate devices and sensors – even in extreme envi- ronments (Figure 2). This local analysis ensures only meaningful data is sent to a data center or cloud, saving the cost and bandwidth of trans- mitting and centrally storing every unprocessed data set. With expanded I/O and support for diverse communications protocols through certified independent software vendor (ISV) middleware, the Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series helps connect, extract, and analyze data from both legacy and modern systems.
The rugged device employs a fanless, small form factor, solid-state design with no moving parts for 24/7 operation. Operating system choices include Wind River* Linux*, Ubuntu Snappy Core*, and Microsoft Windows* 10 IoT Enterprise. Mounted on a wall or DIN rail at the network edge, the gateway delivers a long life in the extended temperatures, high humidity, and dust typical of indus- trial environments.
26 | 2016 | 13th Edition | Embedded Innovator Figure 2.
The Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series is designed to perform local analytics and filtering in a wide range of environments.
To cover the entire product lifecycle, Dell offers a complete service package for the Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series – including Basic Hardware Support and ProSupport. Through Dell’s Configuration Service, customers can order application-ready gateways configured to their specifications, including custom BIOS settings and factory installation of the software image.
An expanded range of I/O and communications protocols enable connection to industry-standard systems, modern sensors, and new devices entering the market (Figure 3, page 28). Combined with mid- dleware solutions from Dell-certified ISV partners, virtually any data source can be aggregated and normalized. Sources can range from BACnet*, Modbus, and CAN bus to modern wireless mesh networks like ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, and Z-Wave.
Security is addressed through a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip that enables a hardware root of trust, secure boot, and BIOS-level lockdown of unused I/O ports. Additional security best practices are available from Dell that help minimize the attack surface and protect data in motion and at rest.
The Processing Power Inside Essential to the Dell Edge Gateway 5000 Series’ local analytics and fil- tering capabilities is its choice of Intel® a choice of the Intel® the Intel®
Atom™ Atom™ |
intel.com/embedded-innovator processor E3825 running at 1.46 GHz or processor E3827 running at 1.75 GHz. Each includes two powerful cores for processing data.
processors. The gateways offer
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