Increasing plant-level awareness of the industrial network: Extra answers from the webcast

IntraVue network monitoring software by Panduit provides visibility into all levels of devices and connectivity and enables operational field technicians to efficiently communicate with IT resources, said Michael Vermeer, Panduit Corp. senior business development manager, as he answered additional questions after the Oct. 13, 2015, webcast, “Increasing Plant-level Awareness of the Industrial Network,” now archived for viewing.

By Michael Vermeer October 16, 2015

Ethernet networks provide a critical link between manufacturing and automation systems and business systems and connect an increasing number of industrial devices. The Internet of Things (IoT) will connect an estimated 50 billion devices by 2020, bringing a greater possibility of disruptions. Managing, detection, diagnosis, and problem resolution will be a greater challenge, and more tools are needed. Software, such as IntraVue by Panduit, can provide visibility into all levels of devices and connectivity and enable operational field technicians to efficiently communicate with IT resources. The software also can speed documentation and deployment and provide advanced analytics to optimize ongoing performance.

Michael Vermeer, Panduit Corp. senior business development manager, speaker in this webcast, answered additional questions after the Oct. 13, 2015, live presentation of "Increasing Plant-level Awareness of the Industrial Network." The webcast is now archived for viewing. Vermeer answered the following additional questions beyond those covered in the live question-and-answer session following the webcast presentation.

Question: How does it look with the development of IntraVue; is there any roadmap? What features do you want to add to this software?

Michael Vermeer: IntraVue will continue to be improved to provide the best experience for real-time documentation of automation networks, as well as providing a vendor-agnostic platform for diagnostic assessment of the automation system infrastructure foundation.

Question: What protocol are you using to determine communication linkage?

Vermeer: A number of different methods are being used to capture information on the network. Tools such as SNMP, ICMP, [simple network management protocol, Internet control message protocol] and others are used, analyzed, and visualized in a way consistent with automation system needs.

Question: What data is available to save off and archive when not connected to the network?

Vermeer: IntraVue continues to collect data even when users do not have access to the manufacturing network. Once user access is restored, data can be viewed or archived as required.

Question: Does IntraVue require any settings on the switches?

Vermeer: To access certain data on the architecture, IntraVue will need access to the SNMP read-only community on the switches.

Question: Is it compatible with Profinet RT?

Vermeer: As long as the switches respond to standard ICMP and SNMP requests, IntraVue will be able to detect and map these switches in the network.

Question: I think you mentioned some additional functionality being added in a later release. If so, do you have a timeline for this?

Vermeer: Functionality additions will be ongoing. Key performance indicator (KPI) functionality is available in the beta release, with full release coming later in 2015.

Question: Is there a way I can see a demo of the software?

Vermeer: Contact IAI@panduit.com for a demonstration and deeper discussions about how IntraVue can improve operational awareness of and uptime of the network.

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, CFE Media, Control Engineering, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

ONLINE extra

For more on this topic, see the archived webcast, "Increasing Plant-level Awareness of the Industrial Network."