Softing Industrial presented its new edgeGate - a maintenance-free hardware solution for transferring production data from PLC and CNC controllers to edge- and cloud-based environments - at Hannover Messe 2024.
edgeGate simplifies access to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and automated
numeric 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 existing facilities. Communication via OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) ensures a robust and reliable connection.
In addition, edgeGate provides functionality for Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT). 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 significantly enhance data security.
edgeGate is virtually maintenance-free and enables connection to controllers without disrupting 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 quick application configuration, as well as an additional security layer and communication encryption.
The capabilities of edgeGate can be extended by integrating Softing Industrial's edgeConnector products. These offer similar functionalities in a Docker-based
software version. Another compatible product is the Docker-based edgeAggregator software from
Softing, which provides a powerful OPC UA data integration layer.
"We are pleased to offer a hardware solution that complements our Docker
based software offering," said 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 provides a
comprehensive data integration solution that can stand alone or be extended with Softing's Docker-based edgeConnector and edgeAggregator software."
