Stratus eBook: 5 Ways System Integrators Can Leverage Edge Computing to Maximize Revenue
5 Ways System Integrators can Leverage Edge Computing to Maximize Revenue
Rudy De Anda, Head of Strategic Alliances at Stratus®
Rudy's industrial automation experience began with the Rockwell automation platform, followed by work with Emerson process automation. He's worked on projects and cutovers for both process and discrete deployments to help companies improve their profitability.
DoShik Wood, Senior Director of Product and Solution Marketing at Stratus®
For more than 15 years, DoShik has focused on the integration of industrial software and software automation. His primary areas of interest are exploring practical use cases and getting a practical understanding of how organizations are successfully achieving digital transformation.
About the Authors
Introduction
Edge Computing is rapidly gaining traction in industrial systems, with edge-enabled platforms expected to grow at a 35.1% CAGR over the next eight years. By moving resource-heavy operations closer to the source, businesses can boost efficiency, gain actionable insights, and mitigate risks—key drivers for digital transformation and the shift to Industry 4.0.
For system integrators (SIs), Edge Computing unlocks opportunities to deliver value, enhance automation, and support software-defined innovation. This eBook covers the essentials of Edge Computing, explores five revenue-driving strategies for SIs, showcases real-world applications, and highlights what makes an edge platform truly effective.
Introduction
What is Edge Computing?
Table of Contents
Why Edge Computing?
5 Ways System Integrators Can Maximize Revenue with Edge Computing
Real-World Examples of Edge Computing in Action
What to Look for in an Edge Computing Platform
Success at the Edge with Stratus
What is Edge Computing?
Edge Computing refers broadly to computing that occurs outside the data center, close to critical equipment and processes where data is generated. This data can then be sent to a control room, operations center, data center, or cloud location for further analysis and management. Edge connectivity to a centralized cloud or data center is key for data-hungry enterprise applications but is often hindered by limited connectivity.
The availability of Edge Computing resources addresses data latency and limited bandwidth by providing local processing that maximizes the time value of data. Moreover, advanced compute platforms purpose-built for operations bring intelligence to legacy equipment, assets, and processes. These platforms transform the collection and processing of data from remote assets to form a data scaffold to anchor an organization’s data management strategy. Organizations can derive insights from analytics processed on Edge Computing platforms and then share data collected via this distributed computing model to the cloud or centralized networks, however intermittently, for enterprise visibility and deeper analysis.
Edge to Enterprise Architecture
Regional Data Center Edge Global Data Center
Compute & Local Data Center
Device Gateway, Compute Edge
In a manufacturing line, for example, equipment continuously generates data such as quality metrics, parts completed, and operational status. Teams need real-time access to this information, but sending it to a central server or cloud often isn't fast enough for immediate action. Edge platforms move storage and compute capabilities closer to equipment and processes that generate data, reducing the amount of time and effort required to provide actionable insight.
Stratus ztC Endurance ftServer
Stratus ztC Edurance Command Center Cloud
Why Edge Computing?
Computing at the edge offers several benefits for system integrators and industrial organizations, including:
1. Automating Core Business Processes
2. Enhancing Operational Efficiency
3. Ensuring Continuous Availability
4. Reducing Data Network Latency
Automating Core Business Processes
Manual processes are problematic for industrial, manufacturing, and life sciences companies, to name a few. If staff are tasked with continually monitoring and managing these processes, organizations lose both time and money. For example, in a complex production line process without an edge platform, workers are often required to manually provide inputs, check the process multiple times during its operation, and deal with any errors that arise. There's no opportunity to improve process efficiency, which can increase production yield and reduce waste.
Edge solutions allow companies to shift key processes into digital spaces that are physically near or adjacent to production equipment. These edge platforms can be configured to automatically ingest and process data, and notify staff if issues arise. Additionally, by offloading key data collection tasks to edge solutions, businesses can reduce the amount of time spent on data entry and retrieval.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
Moving to the edge also enhances operational efficiency. For example, the production of life sciences products is a multi-step process that requires ongoing evaluation of operations against safety, compliance, and regulatory standards. The sooner any potential issues are detected, the better. Any unplanned application downtime or data loss has the potential to significantly disrupt operations, often requiring time-consuming documentation and restart procedures, or business costs.
If problems are identified at the end of the production process rather than in the first few steps, revenue quickly suffers. For example, lost batches of product could cost millions of dollars, wasting both time and resources. Missing product also means missed production goals, which risks damage to reputation among customers and may result in revenue loss.
Implementing data processing and analytics at the edge provides on-demand feedback about operations to detect potential problems as early as possible. Consider a company leveraging public cloud services to handle operations. If problems are detected, data referencing these problems must travel to the cloud for analysis and back again, putting companies at risk of equipment or process failure. At the edge, this data has far less distance to travel, in turn making it easier for companies to act.
Ensuring Continuous Availability
Downtime and data loss is costly. A recent Observability Forecast report published by New Relic surveyed 1,700 technology professionals and found that the median annual outage cost is $7.75 million, with a third of respondents saying critical application outages cost $500K+ per hour of downtime. Even just a few minutes of downtime can be harmful to an organization, both to its bottom line and to its reputation.
Unexpected server failures can create issues accessing local stacks, while connectivity issues can impede access to the cloud, leading to key processes going down. Depending on the nature of the process, it could take hours or days for companies to bring operations back online and carry out any required pretesting before production can restart.
Modern Edge Computing platforms deliver a combination of built-in fault tolerance, supportability, and manageability to run mission-critical applications without unplanned downtime. Beyond application and system reliability, Edge Computing allows for the reliable collection, organization, and processing of data to support operations. Some advanced platforms, such as the Stratus ztC Endurance™ platform, offer up to 99.99999% uptime.
Reducing Network Latency
As data volumes and velocities grow, so do bandwidth requirements, and in turn the potential for network latency. If companies keep current connections, they may experience bottlenecks both to and from cloud servers, making it difficult to capture and leverage current data. While new network infrastructure can help address this problem, purchasing and installing new hardware can be costly and time-consuming.
Edge platforms, meanwhile, are part of local networks. This gives IT and operational technology (OT) teams complete control over how data is processed, handled, stored, and distributed across the organization.
5 Ways System Integrators can Maximize Revenue
with Edge Computing
End users turn to system integrators (SIs) for their solutions expertise in:
• Ensuring that services and software effectively work in tandem
• Improving operational efficiency to help companies maximize revenue
Meeting the first goal relies on expertise and experience. Systems integrators use their knowledge of business operations and industry best practices to select tools and technologies that streamline processes. The second goal requires pinpointing opportunities for Edge Computing to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, in turn maximizing revenue.
While every business has unique requirements for effective deployments, there are five common opportunities to enhance revenue at the edge.
Modernization Projects
While legacy tools and technologies may be working as intended, they may cost companies time and money that could be saved by leveraging Edge Computing.
Why Companies Need to Modernize
Many industrial organizations leverage purpose-built applications and services that are five, 10, or even 20 years old. These processes remain in practice because they're simple and familiar. The challenge is that legacy industrial control systems (ICS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and industrial PC (IPC) solutions were not originally designed to support the digital connectivity demands of Industry 4.0.
Modernization of processes and technology products makes it possible for companies to stay current without sacrificing productivity. By modernizing infrastructure, organizations can reduce downtime and data loss, boost performance, and connect disparate infrastructure deployments.
How Edge Computing Can Help
Edge Computing can help enable modernization with redundant, high-performance compute platforms on-site. These platforms make it possible for system integrators to help end users:
• Upgrade control architecture to deliver unified processes
• Consolidate disparate applications using virtualization to reduce resource sprawl
Benefits of Edge-Enabled Modernization
Modernizing processes with edge platforms offers several benefits. First is increased availability and reliability powered by open standard design — this helps companies avoid potential data or process lock-in. Edge Computing also provides a shared platform for OT and IT operations, making it easier for departments to communicate and collaborate.
Perhaps most importantly, however, is that edge-enabled modernization helps organizations future-proof operations by providing a solid foundation for agility, flexibility, and scalability.
Case Study Snapshot
Enginuity Global & QuarterNorth Energy QuarterNorth Energy, a leading oil and gas producer that operates deep water, shallow, and shelf assets in the Gulf of Mexico, needed to modernize infrastructure and process control technology on its Bullwinkle oil platform – a project critical to improve safety and responsiveness, eliminate costly downtime, and drive operational excellence.
QuarterNorth Energy turned to Enginuity Global, a system integrator with expertise in process automation, control, and field services. In only 45 days, Enginuity upgraded all PLC panels, and deployed a single fault-tolerant Stratus Edge Computing to centralize platform operations and enable separate Process Control and Safety Shutdown Systems.
The ftServer is a tank. It offers a simplistic approach to a complex system. Part of our motto at Enginuity is, ’We simplify a complex world.’ And so, Stratus servers definitely help reduce some of that complexity. And, we were able to save a substantial amount of money using them.
Eric Belgard Lead for Automation and Controls, Enginuity
Read full case study here: https://resource.stratus.com/case-study/enginuity-global/
Shifting from Technology Refresh to Value-Added Engineering
Regular technology upgrades and refreshes are common tasks for SIs. With Edge Computing, however, integrators can move to a value-added engineering model.
What Is Value-Added Engineering?
Value-added engineering is the process of identifying and evaluating current processes and potential opportunities for ROI before technologies reach end of life. Traditionally, the window for value-added engineering was quite small — often two years or less depending on the technology. By expanding this engineering "sweet spot," companies can reduce refresh costs and enhance revenue.
How Edge Computing Enables Value-Added Engineering
Edge Computing is naturally scalable and extensible. This allows companies to extend their refresh cycles while simultaneously exploring ways to make their next deployment more efficient. With edge platforms in place, organizations don't need to start planning for the next refresh immediately after installing new technology. Instead, they can focus on optimizing processes.
Advantages of Value-Added Engineering
In terms of revenue, value-added engineering helps reduce the amount companies spend on hardware and software over time. Rather than requiring frequent technology refreshes, value-added processes prioritize current performance coupled with analysis of existing operations to find optimization opportunities.
Deploying Emerging Applications in the OT/IT Stack
With operational application volumes increasing, edge platforms make it possible to leverage new solutions without sacrificing performance.
The State of Emerging Applications
Today, there are applications for virtually everything. Some are process-specific, others are more general. Some are purpose-built for organizations, while others are open source.
No matter the form and function of preferred applications, companies are now inundated with options. The result is a tendency to over-commit and over-deploy, in turn putting local systems, which were not designed for increased workload, under stress.
The Role of Edge Computing in Application Integration
Edge Computing enables companies to deploy applications wherever, whenever, without overwhelming local legacy servers or getting too far from data sources. By offloading applications to the edge, businesses can free up in-house resources and have room to spare.
How Running Critical Applications at the Edge Can Help Boost Revenue
Moving applications to the edge offers significant revenue advantages. Applications at the edge experience fewer process interruptions and typically have lower energy consumption. Edge-based applications can help proactively detect operational issues, providing organizations visibility and reducing risk.
Virtualization allows companies to consolidate IT and OT workloads—such as cybersecurity, HMI, SCADA, and MES—on a single platform. This streamlines operations, minimizes interruptions, and lowers costs by reducing the need for multiple platforms to run different applications.
Case Study Snapshot
A large U.S. Midstream oil & gas company operates interstate natural gas pipelines and gathering and processing sites nationwide. After updated TSA/DOT cybersecurity requirements for pipeline owners and operators, the company’s IT team explored new platform options.
They selected the Stratus ztC Edge platform as the foundation for both IT and OT teams, enabling seamless collaboration. By consolidating workloads and applications onto one platform, the company achieved significant cost savings.
IT teams could run virtualization, network functions, and cybersecurity tools at the edge, while OT teams deployed SCADA, historian, and data collection applications. Fewer devices and reduced points of failure also lowered deployment costs.
Edge Computing in Midstream Oil & Gas
Stratus computing platforms were foundational in helping this oil & gas company meet new cyber mandates, consolidate workloads, reduce TCO and organizational siloes, improve communications and data management, and scale deployments with ease across multiple locations and sites.
Read full case study here: https://resource.stratus.com/case-study/edge-computing-in-midstream-oil-gas/
Increasing Project Management Efficiency
Improved efficiency means increased revenue — moving processes to the edge makes this possible.
Simplifying and Derisking Projects
The edge simplifies and derisks project management by making processes fully visible and easier to optimize. Complex, limited-visibility operations that require constant IT and OT oversight become more efficient when edge systems provide real-time clarity. This visibility also reduces risk by helping SIs detect and resolve security issues quickly, ensuring applications are connected and secure.
Improving Efficiency
Edge Computing streamlines operations such as front-end engineering design (FEED), factory acceptance testing (FAT), and cutover processes. FEED benefits from accurate estimates and workload consolidation, FAT gains cost-effective hosting and simplified revisions, and cutover efforts require less hardware and fewer failover tests. Together, these efficiencies drive project success.
Revenue Benefits From Better Project Management
Enhanced project management at the edge reduces downtime, keeping costs on track and boosting revenue. Delivering projects on time or ahead of schedule minimizes production stalls and creates opportunities for consistent operational performance.
Enhanced IT and OT Security
Edge Computing strengthens IT and OT security by keeping workloads under local control, reducing the risks associated with cloud-based operations. With edge systems, integrators maintain visibility and oversight, making it easier to detect and address security concerns without relying on external resources.
Case Study Snapshot
A leading life sciences company that manufactures cell biology and DNA, RNA, and protein analysis products needed to eliminate downtime and data loss to avoid costly disruptions and ensure regulatory compliance.
In one week, RoviSys, a global system integrator specializing in automation, deployed Stratus® Edge Computing platforms running Rockwell Automation PlantPAx® for three manufacturing sites. The new production control architectures provided fault tolerance, simplified validation, converged OT and IT, and reduced TCO by 15-20% compared to a cluster solution. The life sciences company has experienced no downtime and is able to service the Stratus platforms without dedicated IT support.
With Stratus’ longevity and durability, and streamlined FAT/SAT verification, our customer has a top-performing, high-availability solution for the long haul.
Network Engineer
RoviSys
Read full case study here: https://resource.stratus.com/case-study/rovisys/
Enabling Profitability
Finally, Edge Computing can help reduce costs in three areas:
1. Hardware Platforms
2. Software and Updates
3. Outcome-Based Deliverables
Hardware Platforms
Integrators deliver built-in support models with remote diagnostics and hot-swappable replacements, enabling rapid issue resolution and enhanced system reliability. These features ensure improved hardware lifecycles and reduced downtime, keeping operations running smoothly.
Software and Updates
Virtualization on Edge Computing platforms consolidates critical workloads like monitoring and control. This reduces hardware needs and costs. Edge systems also support testing processes with digital twins, reducing dependency on physical systems while optimizing production workflows.
Outcome-Based Deliverables
Edge Computing platforms allow SIs to package deployments as software and service products. This makes it possible to sell outcomes rather than specific integrations. Proactive health monitoring and long-term serviceability make these solutions sustainable revenue drivers for SIs.
What to Look for in an Edge Computing Platform
Not all Edge Computing platforms are created equal.
In part, this is because there's no clear definition of what constitutes the digital "edge" of an organization. While the term is generally accepted to mean locations that exist just beyond the physical and digital borders of a business, different industries and different organizations within the same industry may define their edge differently.
In practice, three components are critical for an effective edge platform:
Continuous Availability
Continuous availability helps defend against downtime and protect against data loss.
Simplicity of Operations
Ease of operation and management means less time spent by OT teams to get workloads up and running and fewer resources required to manage these workloads at scale.
Automated Health Monitoring and Hot-Swappable Components
Automated health monitoring and healing help keep processes running smoothly, while hot-swappable components allow SIs to make critical changes on demand.
Companies need to select Edge Computing platforms that both meet current requirements and can scale to address emerging requirements. In practice, three components are critical:
Simple
Protected
Edge Computing platforms should be simple to deploy and operate. They should be naturally scalable, easily extensible, natively flexible, and already optimized for common use cases. From there, organizations can customize these simple solutions to meet current and emerging needs.
Protection at the edge is critical for reliable operations. As a result, companies should look for platforms that both actively prevent downtime and data loss.
In addition, businesses should prioritize edge providers that offer industrial-grade devices. While these devices are similar to their commercial counterparts when it comes to function, industrial options are designed to better withstand the rigors of production environments, such as higher temperatures or continual processing load
Autonomous
Finally, Edge Computing platforms should empower autonomous processes. Examples include real-time health monitoring and system status reports that provide actionable, at-a-glance information for production staff.
Global support and regular system upgrades also play a role in delivering autonomous operations. Businesses are best served by edge platform providers that deliver end-to-end support, from initial device selection to integration to post-deployment assistance.
Success at the Edge with Stratus
Edge Computing is essential for industrial organizations to improve productivity, reduce downtime, and maximize revenue.
Stratus provides Edge Computing solutions that help companies smoothly transition from existing deployments to next-generation solutions. Our future-proof platforms include:
Stratus ztC Endurance is a new family of fault tolerant computing platforms designed specifically for the needs of today’s Edge and Data Center workloads. The new platform evolved from Stratus’ proven combination of built-in fault tolerance, proactive health monitoring, and unmatched serviceability to now enable intelligent predictive failover and 99.99999% application and data availability.
Stratus ztC Edge is a secure and highly automated Edge Computing platform, featuring built-in virtualization and fault tolerance, that runs critical applications without downtime or data loss. Using ztC Edge, Operations and IT teams are able to rapidly modernize and scale edge infrastructure to turn data into actionable insight.
Stratus ftServer is a computing platform uniquely engineered to run mission-critical applications in the data center, control room, or an edge location without downtime or data loss. Using ftServer, organizations are able to rapidly modernize IT infrastructure to maximize reliability, simplify manageability, and future-proof computing infrastructure with minimal risk.
About Stratus
For more than four decades, Stratus has delivered reliable and redundant zero-touch computing solutions that deliver both predictable and peak performance with minimal risk. Our solutions enable Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized organizations, and small businesses to securely, remotely, and easily turn local data into actionable intelligence at the edge. For more information, visit www.stratus.com, follow us on X (Twitter) @StratusAlwaysOn or LinkedIn @StratusTechnologies.
