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MACHINE BUILDING, FRAMEWORKS & SAFETY FEATURE
BRIDGING THE IT/OT GAP
WITH REAL-TIME MONITORING
How can industrial companies bridge the IT/OT gap without ripping and replacing existing
infrastructure? Daniel Sukowski, global business development Industry & IIOT, Paessler, explains
I
n today’s industrial environments, the convergence of IT and OT is no longer theoretical. It’s a business necessity. As
factories become increasingly digitised, and automation takes centre stage, the line between IT and OT is blurring. But while integration offers exciting possibilities, from predictive maintenance to process optimisation, it also presents new challenges, especially when it comes to monitoring. Many industrial organisations still treat IT and
OT as separate domains, each with its own teams, tools and data silos. This disconnect can lead to blind spots in system performance, inefficiencies in troubleshooting, and even security vulnerabilities. In the worst cases, the lack of unified visibility can result in costly downtime. So how can industrial companies bridge the IT/OT gap without ripping and replacing existing infrastructure? The answer lies in deploying monitoring tools that offer real-time insight into both IT and OT environments, without disrupting operations.
WHY THE IT/OT DIVIDE PERSISTS OT systems, PLCs, SCADA, HMIs and sensors, were designed for longevity, reliability, and isolation. They’ve traditionally operated in closed environments, sometimes running for decades without significant change. IT, on the other hand, evolves rapidly and thrives on interconnectivity, scalability, and data flow. This fundamental difference means most IT monitoring solutions aren’t tailored to OT environments. They may lack support for industrial protocols like OPC UA or Modbus, or they may require invasive integrations that aren’t feasible in safety-critical systems. On top of this, OT teams are rightly cautious. Uptime is paramount in industrial settings. Introducing new tools into a live production
environment can feel risky. That’s why any successful IT/OT monitoring approach must respect the stability and continuity required in OT while delivering the flexibility and visibility valued in IT.
UNIFIED MONITORING Bridging the IT/OT gap doesn’t mean overhauling everything at once. It means taking a gradual, informed approach, starting with gaining visibility into the existing landscape. A modern, unified monitoring solution can
bring together data from across IT systems (servers, networks, databases) and OT devices (PLCs, sensors, industrial PCs), giving teams a single source of truth. This allows for: • Faster fault detection: If a production line slows down, is it a sensor failure, a network issue, or a server bottleneck? Unified monitoring helps pinpoint root causes quickly.
• Proactive maintenance: Real-time data enables teams to identify signs of wear or failure before breakdowns occur.
• Improved collaboration: Shared dashboards and alerts help IT and OT teams work together, reducing friction and improving response times.
• Greater resilience: With cyber threats increasingly targeting industrial environments, having visibility across the entire digital infrastructure strengthens security posture.
REAL-WORLD SUCCESS Don’t just take my word for it. Here are two companies which have used unified monitoring to streamline operations and uncover hidden issues. Process Automation Solutions, a global industrial
automation company with over 1,400 employees, deployed Paessler PRTG to monitor complex environments across industries. In one case involving a petrochemical plant, they were grappling with an elusive issue: redundant DCS servers were unpredictably swapping roles, with no obvious cause. Using PRTG, they uncovered a memory leak in the Honeywell Experion services that caused the primary server to crash, an insight that would have been nearly impossible to gain using siloed monitoring tools. Similarly, Centroflora Group, a Brazilian
manufacturer of botanical extracts and pharmaceutical ingredients, faced time- consuming diagnostics across its three key production processes: evaporation, drying, and supply extraction. Each segment, powered by Siemens PLCs, required on-site technician visits to troubleshoot problems, a process that could take up to 6–7 hours. After implementing PRTG, the team cut diagnosis time to just minutes. Even better, they achieved a 3–4% reduction in energy costs by identifying machinery that was running unnecessarily. These examples highlight what’s possible when monitoring bridges both IT and OT: faster troubleshooting, lower costs, and greater operational insight.
BUILDING THE BRIDGE – ONE SYSTEM AT A TIME Bridging the IT/OT gap doesn’t mean a full infrastructure overhaul. It means understanding what’s already in place, identifying key monitoring blind spots, and deploying a solution that connects the dots across departments. The benefits – reduced downtime,
faster fault resolution, improved collaboration and cost savings –make unified monitoring not just a technical upgrade, but a strategic investment. In a world where uptime is gold and
data is power, real-time monitoring offers the clarity, control, and confidence industrial organisations need to thrive.
Paessler
www.paessler.com
JULY/AUGUST 2025 DESIGN SOLUTIONS 17
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