8. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION RELATED TO iMOM In previous chapters, we provided numerous evolving topics that revolve around the theme of digital technology and transformation. Many of the technologies are proven, yet many new technologies are continuously emerging. A few of these new technologies are an expansion of older technologies into new business areas. For example, future forecast based on current and historical data has been a well-established concept in advanced process control since the ’70s, yet the application of this technology into asset failure analysis has recently emerged. Perhaps the most evident example of an emerging powerful technology is that of data analytics. The need to analyze big data arose with the explosion in the amount of process-related data gathered and the increasing data storage and processing capabilities. These data need not be numeric. The recent developments in artificial intelligence also made it possible to consider descriptive texts, such as reports, as computer-analyzable data. There are a few main differences between how we used to handle information and applications in the past and how we foresee their future role in digitalization. In the past, industries used to bring applications that only served particular purposes. These applications looked at a specific spectrum of data to infer analysis and make conclusions. Moreover, each application survived in its own control space. It did not connect to spaces of other applications to get more data if and when required. This scheme mandated the use of segregated databases built for each and every created application. The unavailability of inter-application communication to exchange data limited the usefulness of much of the available data. At the plant operational level, the lack of proper communication and coordination between planning operations and maintenance departments resulted in tremendous losses to plant operability, product quality and assets. At the decision-making level, the lack of availability of the right information at the right time resulted in making improper decisions. At best, the right decisions are not made at the right time. Why Now? Currently the cost of the platforms to run the technology has been reduced dramatically. As of this writing, the price of a public unlimited cloud storage ranges from a fixed monthly fee of 80 cents to 10 cents per GB, depending on the service provider. Some of these clouds not only provide storage, but also act as computing platforms that offer capabilities for faster computing power through distributive computing. With time, more clouds are expected to provide computing power together with their storage capabilities. However, storage and computing power are not the only contributing factors. The availability of mature technologies that allow storage, management, analysis and retrieval of large amounts of such data have largely contributed to the rise of iMOM. Another main unnoticed drive is the expanded availability of open source software that facilitated the use of open-source big storage platforms such as Hadoop. What people sometimes overlook is that the availability of open-source software has contributed vastly to the development and enhancement of proprietary software, including proprietary platforms used for data storage and distributive computing. Open source is steadily gaining acceptance as an implementation platform for IIoT standards. The Gartner Hype Cycle for IoT Standards and Protocols lists 30 standards with, at least, half of that number considered as potential to deliver “high business benefit”. Of the potential standards, the following six are anticipated to evolve as mainstream in the next five years [13]. 1. An IETF standard that delivers IPv6 connectivity over non-IP networking technologies like NFC and LoRa, possessing extremely low power. The application of this standard should allow devices to operate for years before their batteries dry out 2. Contiki is an open source operating system designed for low-cost, low-power IIoT microcontrollers 3. LiteOS is a Unix-like operating system that is specifically designed for wireless sensor networks 4. OneM2M is a machine-to-machine (M2M) service layer embedded within hardware and software to enable device-to-device connectivity 5. Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA) is a proprietary standard established to facilitate connectivity between IoT objects 6. Sigfox is a proprietary low-power, low-throughput technology designed for use in IoT and M2M communications