Container Apps

Yes, many industrial plants and machines can be retrofitted for Industry 4.0 use cases. With the netFIELD product portfolio, Hilscher offers retrofit solutions for Industrial IoT data acquisition.

If your machines do not already have Industrial IoT connectivity, they can often be retrofitted using edge gateways and made Industry 4.0–ready. With the netFIELD portfolio, Hilscher also offers retrofit solutions for existing plants and machines.

Newer machines are sometimes already equipped with IoT connectivity. Older machines and plants can be retrofitted with an edge gateway to read Industrial IoT data. Hilscher’s netFIELD edge gateways are specifically designed for such industrial use cases.

No, in many cases changes to the controller can be avoided. Hilscher offers a wide range of data acquisition apps, enabling the use of various protocols and interfaces.

Hilscher’s edge gateways are designed to provide a secure interface between OT and IT networks. They are equipped with an industrial-grade operating system and include state-of-the-art IT security features.

Hilscher’s data acquisition solutions are easy to install and require minimal effort. Hilscher follows a “no-code” approach to data acquisition, so in many cases browser-based device configuration is sufficient for commissioning.

No programming skills are required for IIoT retrofitting with Hilscher edge gateways. Hilscher follows a “no-code” approach to data acquisition. Ready-to-use data acquisition applications are provided and can be commissioned through configuration alone.

You can commission an edge gateway with data acquisition software within one business day and start capturing and visualizing initial data. Data interpretation depends on the specific machine type—sometimes data must be recorded over several days or weeks to gain meaningful insights.

With Hilscher’s netFIELD edge gateways, you have full flexibility regarding where and how data is stored and processed. For example, you can initially store data in a local database directly on the edge gateway and later transfer it to a cloud application or your own database server.

Hilscher’s data acquisition applications are provided as containerized applications, allowing them to be easily installed and updated. All Hilscher edge gateways include a container runtime environment, enabling reliable installation of third-party applications such as databases, dashboards, cloud connectors, or low-code tools.

With the netFIELD Device Management platform, you can centrally manage all your devices and install software updates. Usage of the platform is even free for the first two devices with a “Free Account.”

With netFIELD edge gateways, IT security requirements can be met with minimal effort. The devices are delivered with an industrial-hardened operating system and can optionally be centrally managed via the netFIELD platform. This makes it easy to implement processes required by regulations such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act or the NIS2 Directive.

Machine builders who want to offer their customers additional functions flexibly; plant operators who want to future-proof their machines through digitalization; system integrators who need to combine different protocols or functions; IIoT developers who want to deploy their own apps on industrial hardware.