Kepware+: A SaaS Solution for Standardized Industrial Connectivity

For decades, Kepware has provided its customers with industry-leading solutions for industrial connectivity. Collecting operational data is important for many reasons, especially for improving and optimizing production efficiency. We provide data access for industrial client applications, such as MES and SCADA, and big data analytics software via OPC, proprietary protocols, and IT protocols. We also offer the most diverse set of drivers, making it easy for our customers to connect and collect information from disparate systems. However, until now, the process has required that each instance of Kepware be configured and managed individually.

As customers engage strategically with operations, IT departments are becoming more sophisticated in how they collect, aggregate, and utilize data to optimize production. They need to reduce any production delays that might be associated with configuration changes, and they need a centralized view for managing access and control. With this rapidly increasing demand for data, the lack of a standardized method for managing this process, and increasing security threats, we needed to create a solution that addresses these issues and will adapt and grow with the complexity of their objectives over time.

We’re getting a lot of feedback from our customers that administering remote desktop protocols (RDP) to make simple configuration changes, or to bring new devices online, creates additional risk and takes time. Kepware+ allows our customers to perform remote configuration activities securely for installations of Kepware from a single pane of glass from anywhere in the world. This mitigates the barriers between on-premise data silos, which also saves time, reduces cost and drives efficiency.

According to Chantal Polsonetti, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group, “We see an important trend in cloud-native and edge-native data management, driven by the desire to leverage incremental advantages in areas such as centralized management, visibility, scalability, and security. ARC Advisory Group’s research shows that data collection at the edge is increasingly complex and important, with the edge being important for tasks such as reducing response latency when sending data to the cloud, as well as generating, accessing, and processing data that is too difficult, too expensive, or slow to access. Now, with the availability of Kepware+, manufacturing companies can take advantage of scalable, centralized management coupled with the on-prem data collection for which Kepware is known and respected. Leveraging industry standard cloud-based secure communications, Kepware+ supports a defense-in-depth security strategy. This represents the best of both worlds for connected production assets.”

Kepware+ is built on PTC’s Atlas SaaS platform to work securely and seamlessly in the cloud in conjunction with a customer’s existing on-premise instances of Kepware servers, and is facilitated by encrypted edge agent technology. Regardless of where connected assets and applications are located, Kepware+ offers a single, simple, modern configuration and management capability for accessing industrial data and accelerating enterprise digital transformation.

Kepware+ is available now for customers who are currently using compatible versions of Kepware; particularly those looking to standardize connectivity across their enterprise. We are excited to deliver this highly anticipated new generation of SaaS products for industrial connectivity as part of PTC’s digital thread portfolio.