Softing Industrial presented its new edgeGate at Hannover Messe 2024 – a maintenance-free hardware solution for transferring production data from PLC and CNC controllers to edge and cloud-based environments.
edgeGate simplifies access to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Computerized Numerical Controllers (CNC). It enables seamless and secure data integration into advanced management systems such as Enterprise-Resource-Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). This integration is available for both new and established facilities. Communication via OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) ensures a robust and reliable connection.
Additionally, edgeGate provides Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) functionality. This feature facilitates the direct integration of machine data into private or public IoT cloud applications. The MQTT implementation is generic and compatible with multiple cloud providers. Like the OPC UA standard, MQTT supports a range of security mechanisms including encrypted connections, certificates, and user authentication. These features collectively enhance data security significantly.
edgeGate is practically maintenance-free and allows connection to controllers without interfering with existing systems. Supported controllers include Siemens Simatic PLC, Siemens Sinumerik controller, Fanuc CNC controller, Modbus TCP, Allen-Bradley PLC, or OPC UA Client machine data. It provides a simple web interface for fast application configuration as well as an additional security layer and communication encryption.
The capabilities of edgeGate can be expanded by integrating the edgeConnector products from Softing Industrial which offer similar functionalities in a Docker-based software version. Another compatible product is Softing’s Docker-based edgeAggregator software which provides a powerful OPC UA data integration layer.
“We are pleased to offer a hardware solution that complements our Docker-based software offering,” says Abel Jimenez, Product Manager at Softing Industrial Automation. “edgeGate simplifies the connection of PLC and CNC controllers to management systems with robust communication functions such as OPC UA and MQTT and increases efficiency. edgeGate offers a comprehensive data integration solution that can stand alone or be extended by Softing’s Docker-based edgeConnector and edgeAggregator software.”