Today’s production halls are bursting with innovation driven by artificial intelligence, automation and hyper-automation. The industrial landscape is undergoing a radical transformation, from autonomous vehicles gracefully traversing warehouses to vertical farms growing crops with unprecedented precision. But behind every smart robot and every AI-powered system lies a crucial, often unseen hero: the network.
Traditional Wi-Fi, while great for your laptop, often struggles to keep up with the extreme demands of an industrial environment. Imagine the challenging conditions: numerous obstacles and significant RF interference seriously affecting the wireless connection, all while demanding an absolute and unwavering connection for moving machines. This is where the rubber meets the road – or rather, where wireless meets a robot.
Meet the Innovators: E80 Group and Planet Farms
To understand the key role of the network, let’s look at two incredible companies mentioned in a recent interview with Industria Italiana:
- Group E80: A major player in automation, E80 specializes in automated warehouses and their flagship product, Laser-Guided Vehicles (LGV). These autonomous vehicles need to receive commands and data seamlessly, operating in races with tens or even hundreds of vehicles, all meeting tight deadlines. Any slowdown or network outage can stop the entire operation.
- Planetary farms: Revolutionizing vertical farming, Planet Farms manages plant growth in fully climate-controlled environments. Their devices are a symphony of artificial intelligence systems performing tasks once handled by agronomists and automated robots doing the work of farmers. Cameras monitor each plant and continuously transmit and process 3D images, requiring a network far more sophisticated than typical agricultural needs.
Challenge: Wired reliability, wirelessly
In industrial IoT and robotic mobility, both wired and wireless networks must provide resiliency, responsiveness and ultra-low latency. They are not just buzzwords; they are non-negotiable requirements for safety and efficiency. For moving assets like AGVs, losing connectivity isn’t just an inconvenience – it can mean safety shutdowns and production shutdowns.
This is exactly why Cisco Ultra-reliable wireless backbone (URWB) technology is changing the game. It’s the closest wireless to a wired network and offers unmatched reliability in the most demanding environments. As the interviewees pointed out, URWB was chosen because it provides the resiliency, responsiveness and ultra-low latency necessary for industrial automation with artificial intelligence. For Planet Farms dealing with challenging conditions such as high humidity, water and cold temperatures, the URWB provides the physical reliability critical to their operations and ensures that their autonomous systems remain connected and responsive.
Why URWB over 5G? Simplicity, control and convergence
Every industrial environment is unique and choosing the right wireless solution is key. With 5G on the rise, many wonder why industry leaders like E80 and Planet Farms would choose URWB. Both companies have studied 5G extensively, even pilot projects. Their conclusion? Cisco’s URWB solution offered the reliability they needed for their applications and clear benefits for their specific scenarios.
During the interview, E80 Group and Planet Farms representatives explained their decision to choose URWB over 5G for their industrial networks. They noted that 4G and 5G solutions were often more complex and expensive to manage compared to URWBs. A key differentiator was Cisco’s integration of URWB and Wi-Fi, which allows a single infrastructure to be used to support industrial machines as well as typical client devices such as laptops and tablets – a capability that 5G cannot easily replicate. For Planet Farms, as a company born in the era of digital transformation, the convergence of IT and OT technologies has been paramount, making the Cisco solution highly preferred for its cost, reliability and consistency in production. In addition, they found that URWB offers simpler network management, allowing them to maintain full control over their network, similar to traditional Wi-Fi.
Here’s a summary of why URWB stood out:
- Complexity and cost: 4G and 5G networks are often more complex and expensive to manage than URWB, making them less ideal for specialized industrial applications where efficiency and cost-effectiveness are paramount.
- Unified infrastructure: Cisco has integrated URWB and Wi-Fi, allowing companies to use the same infrastructure for industrial machines (such as AGVs) as well as typical client devices (laptops, tablets). This convergence simplifies management and reduces operational overhead – something not easily achieved with 5G.
- IT/OT convergence: For young, digitally native companies like Planet Farms, there is no distinction between information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT). Highly preferred are convergent technologies that enable a holistic view and control of their entire operation.
- Control and management: URWB offers easier network management and allows companies to maintain full control over their industrial network, similar to traditional Wi-Fi. This level of autonomy is essential for sensitive industrial processes.
- Reliability and consistency: Both E80 and Planet Farms found the Cisco solution preferable for its cost-effectiveness, reliability and consistency in the production environment.
The power of integration: Simplifying operations, increasing security
Integrating URWB with existing Cisco Wi-Fi access points is a game changer. This means you can enable this cutting-edge technology in your current Cisco Wireless infrastructure, which can be managed from a single pane of glass. This dramatically saves costs, reduces complexity, simplifies management and strengthens cybersecurity.
Imagine AGVs moving across a large facility without ever losing a connection thanks to URWB’s seamless roaming capabilities. This continuous mobility is essential for security and continuous automation. And at the same time, the same access points running URWB can provide access to Wi-Fi devices.
In addition, Cisco industrial switches, coupled with solutions such as Cyber Vision for network visibility and security and ISE for device authentication, bring security directly to the machines. This “security near the edge” is fundamentally different and more effective than traditional IT security models when working with industrial protocols and environments.
The network is the nervous system of industrial artificial intelligence and automation. By providing a secure, high-performance, and flexible network infrastructure, Cisco enables innovators like E80 Group and Planet Farms to push the boundaries of what’s possible, driving efficiency, security, and unprecedented growth.
Want to learn more about how Cisco industrial networking solutions can transform your operations? Explore our range of Cisco Industrial Networking Solutions.