Industrial Automation Magazine India

Real time communications over enterprise boundaries is the need of industry

Published on : Saturday 20-08-2022

Dharmender Singhal, Director – Project Management EU/Americas at Haldor Topsoe A/S.

Seamless connectivity seems to be a topic arousing much interest. Why would production entities need to have autonomous communication?
The Internet has changed the way we perform our activities – personal or official. Functioning of IoT devices depends upon the Internet; in case of natural calamity the Internet can be affected. The main purpose of autonomous communication is development of a communication system which is capable of operating independently of the Internet. Without autonomous systems production can witness potential hazardous scenarios. 
 
Seamless connectivity ensures that products from one vendor not only seamlessly work together but also seamlessly work with the world’s most popular networks and architecture.
 
Is the need for real time communication also experienced over the enterprise boundaries? For example, with the vendor subsystems, with delivery subsystems? How about across multiple plants?
To leverage the true potential of complete value chain and to gain new optimisation real time communications over enterprise boundaries is the need of industry. Ultimately, the whole system from raw materials till consumption of goods has to function efficiently or in a coordinated manner. This is only possible by real time communication over enterprise boundaries.

Historically major vendors have developed their own communication interfaces and protocols. Each such protocol was embraced by their partners. Equally, since ages there has been a call out for open protocols from the side of major buyers. What actually defines an open protocol? When can a system be said to support an open protocol?
In my opinion, if a system supports seamless connectivity with the world's most popular networks and is designed for autonomous communication then it can be said to be an open protocol.
 
(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)
 
Dharmender Singhal is Director – Project Management EU/ Americas at Haldor Topsoe A/S. An accredited Project Management Professional, Dharmender is leading the Global team of Project Managers & Project directors located in Europe and America. He is accountable for all Technology Projects in the Region, ensuring availability of competencies and capabilities of Project Managers according to business forecasts. Dharmender also ensures commercial projects are executed according to segment strategy; internal and external stakeholders management; and promotes mission-critical behavior and implements projects according to Roadmap and strategic initiatives.