Stratus launches ztC Edge virtualised industrial platform

Stratus has been working with a selective group of beta users on proofs of concept, and has begun shipping production units, effective today.

As the adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) practices gathers pace in global industry, the importance of computing data for near real-time insights continues to grow. Leaders in delivering Always-On IIoT server technologies to industry, Stratus is extending the reach of its easily deployed systems with the launch of ztC, which complements the company's existing range of server technologies.

The ruggedised ztC is specifically designed to meet the demanding environments from the growing amount of data generated outside of a company's traditional corporate data centre, such as that generated from machines on the plant-floor - the so-called industrial "edge'. This influx of data is projected to rise significantly in the coming years. In fact, according to a recent Gartner report, "By 2022, more than 50 per cent of industrial IoT analytics will be performed at the edge, up from less than 10 per cent today."

According to research from IDC, revenue of edge computing infrastructure will reach $3.4bn in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 22 per cent, with IIoT and IT/OT convergence driving most of this opportunity. With this growth comes the need for easier ways to ensure the availability of applications that run critical operations at the edge and collect and process this data. In a recent market report by ARC Advisory Group, more than 90 per cent of those surveyed indicated that as edge computing grows, organisations will need a simplified edge infrastructure that can be remotely managed.

ztC Edge, with its built-in virtualisation, self-protecting capabilities, and managed services, provides a versatile industrial platform for running business-critical industrial applications quickly and reliably outside of the data centre to meet this demand.

Highlights and key features:

Increased operational efficiency - Through pre-installed virtualisation software and intuitive, user-friendly configuration and management tools, ztC Edge simplifies the process and shortens the time it takes to get critical applications up and running, saving users time and effort. It can manage up to three virtual machines, each running different industrial or IIoT applications.

Purpose-built for industrial edge deployments - ztC Edge's rugged form factor gives it the flexibility to be deployed "at the edg", or outside of traditional data rooms or data centres (it is DIN rail-mountable), such as on manufacturing plant floors. In addition, ztC Edge can be deployed in less than 30 minutes, offering users superior time to value.

Automated application and data protection - ztC Edge's self-monitoring and self-protecting capabilities make it suitable for unmanned stations or remote locations with limited IT resources. Because it takes care of itself, companies don't have to manage it, saving them time and effort.

Dave Laurello, CEO, Stratus says: Our customers and partners are telling us that industrial organisations desperately want to reduce complexity at the plant level - also known as the network's edge. Process engineers and operational technology (OT) experts we work with are laser focused on the productivity and efficiency of their operations. They don't have the bandwidth to install and manage cumbersome enterprise computing technology retooled for these environments. OT wants a zero-touch product that is built from the ground-up for their environments, one they can easily install and rely on without fail. With ztC Edge, we're now delivering exactly what these customers want - a self-contained system that protects important data, keeps applications up and running, offers predictive servicing and secure connectivity. And, we are delivering these results without the management and maintenance burden."

Ashish Nadkarni, Program Director of Computing Platforms, IDC says: "The exponential growth in the connected device landscape will have a profound impact on the infrastructure that powers it. Unlike the typical data silos created by previous IT evolutions, the intelligent edge will see a rise in more flexible, zero-touch systems that are fully automated to handle sophisticated workloads at the edge. With the introduction of the new ztC Edge, Stratus has firmly established itself among the ranks of top vendors architecting these converged edge systems. The advantage Stratus brings is its zero-touch, fully automated system that can run independent or in conjunction with a data centre rack - rugged enough for OT, but friendly enough for IT."

For more information about the new Stratus ztC Edge, please visit www.stratus.com.