IIoT technical report updated

The Industrial Internet Consortium's (IIC's) Industrial Internet Vocabulary Technical Report version 2.0 aligns interdependent terms, eliminates unnecessary terms, and adds new relevant terms.

By Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) July 28, 2017

The Industrial Internet Consortium’s (IIC’s) version 2.0 of the Industrial Internet Vocabulary Technical Report. The report provides Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) vocabulary terms and definitions that enable all stakeholders in the IIoT ecosystem, from system architects to information technology (IT) managers to plant managers to business decision makers, to communicate with each other effectively.

The IIC Vocabulary Technical Report v2.0 is the foundation for the collective body of work from the IIC, ensuring that consistent terminology is used throughout all IIC publications. This includes the Industrial Reference Architecture (IRA), Industrial Internet Security Framework (IISF), Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework (IICF) and the Business Strategy and Innovation Framework (BSIF) that collectively comprise the IIC IIoT suite.

"The industrial internet comprises a diverse set of industries and people with various skill sets and expertise. Often, concepts and terminology in one field will have different meanings in another, leading to confusion," said Anish Karmarkar, IIC vocabulary task group chair and director, standards strategy and architecture at Oracle. "Industrial Internet projects succeed when participants can communicate using common vocabulary terms and definitions. The IIC Industrial Internet Vocabulary Technical Report v2.0 ensures all IIoT stakeholders are speaking the same language, avoiding what would otherwise be an IIoT ‘Tower of Babel.’"

The technical report was developed by members of the IIC vocabulary task group, which is part of the IIC technology working group, comprised of software architects, business experts, and security experts. The group analyzed the previous version of the report and made the following updates:

  • Interdependent terms were aligned to create a cohesive whole.
  • Terms were eliminated if they did not have a specific meaning in IIoT, if the dictionary meaning was already sufficient or if there were other terms that were better replacements.
  • Terms were added following the publication of the IIC IISF and the IIC IRA V1.8.

"The IIoT is changing quickly and as such, the meaning of specific words and phrases has also changed," said Marcellus Buchheit, member of the IIC vocabulary task group, and co-founder of WIBU-SYSTEMS AG, President and CEO of WIBU-SYSTEMS USA. "The vocabulary team reviewed nearly every first edition term, removing 11 unnecessary terms, adding 16 terms, and redefining 11 terms. Our goal was simplicity, clarity, and relevancy to the IIoT."

"Vocabulary is where stakeholders come together from working and task groups to discuss and agree on the commonality across their interests," said Eric Harper, IIC steering committee member and senior principal scientist, ABB. "The IIC Vocabulary 2.0 release continues this process by generalizing architecture concepts to prepare the way for contributions focused on edge computing and interoperability."

Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC)

www.iiconsortium.org 

– Edited from an Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) press release by Carly Marchal, content specialist, CFE Media, cmarchal@cfemedia.com.