Stratus Technologies, a global leader in continuous availability solutions for mission-critical applications, has unveiled the new Stratus ztC EdgeTM, the first-of-a-kind edge computing technology for Stratus specifically catered to the industrial automation sector.
According to Stratus the ztC Edge is a zero-touch, fully virtualised and self-protecting computing platform, specifically designed for edge computing within the industrial automation industry. With built-in remote management and user-installable in less than an hour, ztC Edge significantly reduces the IT burden for virtualised computing at the edge. Its self-protecting and self-monitoring features help reduce unplanned downtime and ensure availability of business-critical industrial applications.
ztC Edge redefines what we know about edge computing.” says Mike Fyson, Stratus’ Regional Director for ANZ.
“Comprised of redundant nodes that act as a single system, it continually evaluates its health and performance. If ztC Edge detects a potential central processing unit (CPU) or memory failure in one node, it proactively moves the virtualised application from one node to the other ensuring application continuity.”
Michael Liberatore, Business Manager for Automation & Specialist Solutions at NHP, a successful distributor of Stratus products into the industrial automation segment, strongly believes that simplicity is key to ensuring wide spread adoption for plant operations.
“Deploying technology in the plant needs to be simple to manage and very reliable as many of our customers are remote or have limited IT technical expertise on site yet run critical operations. Stratus’ servers lead the industry for availability and they are simple to run which are the key reasons NHP has partnered with them over the last three years,” he said.
Michael added, “The new ztC Edge server is a game-changer in the edge computing space compared to other products in the market. It is a revolutionary way to handle the massive amount of data being generated at the edge as industries embrace the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). In-built with Stratus’ signature fault tolerance, ztC Edge provides users the best of virtualisation and edge computing at the same time.”
Des Horwood, the process control specialist at Cristal Mining, said, “the 24/7 nature of our business means that we must keep critical applications running at all times, as downtime can be costly both from a safety and loss of production perspective. As a current customer of Stratus and its ftServer platform, we have always been pleased with the reliability and peace of mind that comes with implementing Stratus solutions.”
“We’ve also previewed the new Stratus ztC Edge server and are confident that this will be an ideal platform for our Rockwell ThinManager deployments at the edge where a data centre is not feasible, to provide processing stability on our cross-plant radio mesh networks. This is particularly important since most of our sites are in remote areas of Australia where it’s difficult to provide timely service, and IT expertise is limited. Stratus, via its partnership with NHP and Rockwell, offers innovative and robust solutions for plant modernisation and edge computing that will meet our ongoing application availability needs.”
In a recent market report by ARC Advisory Group, more than 90 percent of those surveyed indicated that as edge computing grows, organisations will need a simplified edge infrastructure that can be remotely managed.
Stratus ztC Edge is the first product of Stratus’ recently announced edge vision and direction. Future products in the ztC Edge family will include additional services, such as security, and full-stack monitoring and protection.
