IT OT Integration

why does mantsu include the ot data layer? audience this section is written primarily for it architects, ot engineers, and network or security teams who design the connection between the shop floor and the mantsu platform non technical readers, such as project stakeholders, can read it to understand how shop floor data reaches mantsu in a safe and structured way the ot data layer may not be the direct responsibility of mantsu, but as connection to the ot shopfloor is required, it is important to include this part in the architecture in the final project specific architecture, a different approach can be selected the ot architecture is dependent on complexity how different are the data streams? different capabilities between production lines or equipment multiple l1 protocols (profinet, modbus, opc ua, ) contextualization requirements? volume how many streams are present? what are the availability requirements? low volume high volume low complexity open source solutions hivemq platform high complexity flowfuse platform hivemq platform the table is an indicative/default proposal to show differences between solutions the actual architecture is decided together with you as customer and can contain existing or different applications than shown in this table which mqtt broker technologies does mantsu use? open source solutions mosquitto mqtt broker mosquitto is an open source mqtt broker maintained by the eclipse foundation mqtt (message queuing telemetry transport) is the industry standard lightweight messaging protocol for iot and industrial edge devices in the mantsu uns topology, mosquitto serves as the ot tier broker all machine data and sensor readings from the plant floor are published here as mqtt topics following the isa 95 naming hierarchy, forming the operational technology layer of the unified namespace mosquitto has a minimal resource footprint, suitable for edge hardware supports standard mqtt v3 1 1 and v5 0 requires no licensing cost edge data connection node red node red is an open source, flow based programming tool built on node js it provides a visual interface for wiring together ot data sources (opc ua, modbus, serial, proprietary protocols) and publishing the results as mqtt messages node red acts as the edge connector , translating raw ot protocol data into structured mqtt topics that the rest of the architecture can consume enterprise level solutions flowfuse platform flowfuse is a commercial platform built on top of node red that adds enterprise grade management capabilities multi instance management centrally manage and monitor many node red instances across multiple edge devices version control and deployment pipelines manage flow versions and roll out changes in a controlled way team collaboration multiple engineers can develop and review flows with proper access controls integrated mqtt broker flowfuse includes an mqtt broker, removing the need to deploy and manage mosquitto separately this broker serves as the ot tier uns broker for mid/large deployments, fulfilling the same role as mosquitto does in small plant configurations flowfuse is appropriate when the number of ot sources, edge devices, or engineering team members makes the operational overhead of standalone node red instances impractical hivemq platform hivemq is a commercial, enterprise grade mqtt broker purpose built for industrial and iot environments where flowfuse centres on flow based edge integration, hivemq focuses on high performance, highly available mqtt brokering with advanced enterprise features enterprise mqtt broker supports mqtt v3 1 1, v5 0, and mqtt over websocket designed for high message throughput and large numbers of concurrent device connections hivemq extensions a plugin framework that allows custom authentication, authorization, message transformation, and integration logic to be added to the broker without modifying device firmware or edge software clustering hivemq is built for clustered deployments from the ground up, providing horizontal scalability and high availability for the mqtt tier data hub hivemq's data hub feature enables schema validation, data transformation, and policy enforcement directly on the broker this ensures that only well formed, authorized messages enter the uns hivemq is the preferred choice when the primary challenge is scale, reliability, and governance of the mqtt tier when the plant has a very large number of connected devices, strict uptime requirements for the ot broker, or a need for policy enforcement at the message level frequently asked questions does mantsu own the ot data layer? not necessarily the ot architecture is project specific, but mantsu includes it because a controlled connection to the ot shop floor is required which ot broker setup does mantsu use for a small plant? open source mosquitto with node red as the edge connector, covering low volume, low complexity plants when does mantsu choose hivemq? when volume, uptime requirements, or message level governance of the mqtt tier are the primary challenge when does mantsu choose flowfuse? when many heterogeneous data streams and edge instances make centralized management of node red flows necessary summary the ot data layer connects the shop floor to mantsu through an mqtt broker and edge connectors open source mosquitto and node red fit small plants; flowfuse covers high complexity and hivemq covers high volume and strict governance