Advantech (TWSE: 2395.TW), leading provider of industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and automation technology, has announced a new partnership with Hivecell, an industry innovator in “edge as a service” technology solutions, for continued Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) development. The combination of Advantech’s rugged hardware and Hivecell’s edge-as-a-service (EaaS) platform means easy access and deployment of end-to-end data solutions for customers. It has never been easier to connect legacy systems to IoT devices for scalable data collection and management.
AIoT and edge intelligence is a major growth engine in evolving industries looking to digitalize operations and implement data-driven decision-making. According to Gartner, the value of the edge computing market is expected to reach US$450 billion by 2025. These emerging technologies, however, also mean enormous amounts of generated data, which can be an obstacle to efficient operations if end users depend on cloud-only processing. While the cloud has value as a storage space, it cannot enable the day-to-day operational and safety improvements that EaaS makes possible for critical and real-time decision-making.
“Industry demands for AI and machine learning capabilities with real-time insight and localized action are making ever-increasing demands on edge intelligence,” said Jerry O’Gorman, VP of Industrial IoT Division at Advantech. “The continuous growth of connected smart devices and machines is driving a need for cloud-native architectures to be built on the edge, addressing increasing computing, throughput, and privacy needs closer to source. We think about this as the Hyper-Converged Edge (HCE). Our strategic partnership with Hivecell adds to Advantech’s global focus of building a partner ecosystem for accelerating the deployment, implementation, and overall time-to-market of AIoT applications at the edge.”
Edge intelligence and EaaS solutions offer users device control, edge monitoring, and software management in order to facilitate successful, scalable digitalization. With a simplified path to application deployment, visualization, machine-learning operations (MLOps), and remote management for data-driven decision-making, customers can rapidly implement new applications. The speed of deployment and implementation maximizes benefits in operation optimization and business transformation.
The ability to extract actionable intelligence from real-time data can deliver gains across the board and Hivecell’s EaaS solution combined with Advantech hardware makes it a reality. Hivecell’s end-to-end EaaS connects legacy systems to gateways, edge computers, 5G routers, and other IoT devices for scalable data management. Collecting and processing data at the edge, the entire data flow improves as useless data is efficiently discarded on site. Only relevant data is sent back to headquarters and/or the cloud. The result is deployment and management with on premise computing power for hundreds, or even thousands, of locations.
“Hivecell provides the industry’s first edge-as-a-service platform enabling cloud-like compute power deployed on premises,” said Jeffrey Ricker, CEO of Hivecell. “By combining forces, Advantech and Hivecell jointly provide customers with a complete edge solution at the data source—from sensors and cameras to gateways and routers, to edge servers to the data center and cloud. It’s a one-stop shop and holistic solution, all manageable from one pane of glass.”
Benefits of utilizing EaaS solutions include the following:
- No hardware to buy or maintain
- Technology agnostic
- Platform flexible
- Minimal installation
- Rapid deployment
- Powered by patented technology
- Future-proofed against obsolescence
- No specialized training needed
IoT gateways play a key role in Hivecell EaaS data management as they act as the bridge between devices and the network, converting physical information into digital data for transmission from the edge. Raw data flows through a gateway at the edge where it is processed by machine learning and other analytics. In the end, only business-relevant data is sent to the cloud.
Several Advantech industrial devices are ideal options to combine with Hivecell’s EaaS, including the following:
- UNO-238: Compact IoT Edge Computer with Intel® Core™ i Processor
- UNO-148: High-performance DIN-rail Control Computer with Intel® 11th Gen Tiger Lake Core i7/i5/i3 CPU
- SKY-640V2: 4U Rackmount Intel® Xeon® Scalable GPU Server
- MIC-770 V2: Compact Fanless System with 10th Gen Intel® Xeon®/Core™ i CPU Socket
The partnership of Advantech and Hivecell aims to help simplify common customer challenges in digital transformation by making IoT data more attainable, scalable, and manageable. Working together, the EaaS
and hardware solutions help to easily connect smart equipment, organize collected data so only relevant information is sent back to the cloud, and unleash machine learning. Additionally, customers regularly struggle with skilled workforce challenges. Hiring and retaining skilled personnel in key technologies, such as Kubernetes (K8s), Apache Kafka, and DevOps, continues to be difficult. By utilizing Hivecell, customers are implementing a force multiplier for existing employee talent.
The proliferation of edge AI will continue to accelerate the deployment of AIoT solutions in various sectors worldwide. Advantech will continue its mission of enabling an intelligent planet by creating more innovative and safe smart solutions that leverage seamlessly integrated software and hardware. With strategic partners like Hivecell, risks associated with enterprise implementations are reduced as customers can shift from a maker mindset to a consumer of outcomes—more focus is given to developing targeted applications rather than building infrastructure and hiring new workforce talent.
For more information on Advantech’s rugged IoT hardware solutions, contact your Advantech representative or visit https://www.advantech.com/. To learn more about Hivecell’s EaaS solution, contact your Hivecell representative, or visit https://hivecell.com/.
