Today’s factory floors are buzzing with innovation, driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and hyper-automation. From autonomous vehicles gracefully navigating warehouses to vertical farms growing crops with unprecedented precision, the industrial landscape is undergoing a radical transformation. But behind every smart robot and every AI-powered system lies a crucial, often invisible, hero: the network.
Traditional Wi-Fi, while great for your laptop, often struggles to keep up with the extreme demands of industrial environments. Imagine challenging conditions: numerous obstacles and significant RF interference severely impacting wireless connectivity, all while requiring absolute, unwavering connection for moving machinery. This is where the rubber meets the road – or rather, where the wireless meets the robotic.
Meet the Innovators: E80 Group and Planet Farms
To understand the network’s pivotal role, let’s look at two incredible companies featured in a recent interview with Industria Italiana:
- E80 Group: A major player in automation, E80 specializes in automatic warehouses and their flagship product, Laser-Guided Vehicles (LGVs). These autonomous vehicles need to receive commands and data seamlessly, operating in plants with dozens or even hundreds of vehicles, all meeting tight deadlines. Any network slowdown or outage can bring an entire operation to a halt.
- Planet Farms: Revolutionizing agriculture with vertical farming, Planet Farms manages plant growth in fully climate-controlled environments. Their facilities are a symphony of AI systems performing tasks once handled by agronomists, and automated robots doing the work of farmers. Cameras monitor every plant, and 3D images are transmitted and processed constantly, demanding a network far more sophisticated than typical agricultural needs.
The Challenge: Wired Reliability, Wirelessly Delivered
In industrial IoT and robotic mobility, both wired and wireless networks must deliver resilience, responsiveness, and ultra-low latency. These are not just buzzwords; they are non-negotiable requirements for safety and efficiency. For moving assets like AGVs, losing connection isn’t just an inconvenience – it can mean a safety stop, halting production.
This is precisely why Cisco’s Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul (URWB) technology is a game-changer. It’s the closest thing in wireless to a wired network, offering unparalleled reliability in the toughest environments. As highlighted by the interview participants, URWB was chosen because it provides the resilience, responsiveness, and ultra-low latency essential for AI-powered industrial automation. For Planet Farms, dealing with challenging conditions like high humidity, water, and low temperatures, URWB delivers the physical reliability critical for their operations, ensuring their autonomous systems stay 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 the rise of 5G, many wonder why industrial leaders like E80 and Planet Farms would opt for URWB. Both companies extensively studied 5G, even running pilots. Their conclusion? Cisco’s URWB solution offered the reliability they needed for their applications and clear advantages for their specific scenarios.
During the interview, representatives from E80 Group and Planet Farms 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 URWB. A key differentiator was Cisco’s integration of URWB and Wi-Fi, which allows for the use of a single infrastructure to support both industrial machines and typical client devices like laptops and tablets – a capability not easily matched by 5G. For Planet Farms, as a company born in the digital transformation era, the convergence of IT and OT technologies was paramount, making Cisco’s solution highly preferable for its cost, reliability, and consistency in production. Additionally, they found that URWB offered easier network governance, allowing them to retain 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 dedicated 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 both industrial machines (like AGVs) and typical client devices (laptops, tablets). This convergence simplifies management and reduces operational overhead – something not easily achievable with 5G.
- IT/OT Convergence: For young, digitally native companies like Planet Farms, there’s no distinction between Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). Convergent technologies are highly preferable, enabling a holistic view and management of their entire operation.
- Control and Governance: URWB offers easier network governance, allowing companies to retain full control over their industrial network, much like traditional Wi-Fi. This level of autonomy is crucial for sensitive industrial processes.
- Reliability and Consistency: Both E80 and Planet Farms found Cisco’s solution preferable for its cost-effectiveness, reliability, and consistency in production environments.
The Power of Integration: Simplifying Operations, Boosting Security
The integration of URWB with existing Cisco Wi-Fi access points is a game-changer. It means you can activate this cutting-edge technology on your current Cisco Wireless infrastructure that can be managed from a single pane of glass. This dramatically saves cost, lowers complexity, streamlines governance, and fortifies cybersecurity.
Imagine AGVs moving across a vast facility without ever dropping a connection, thanks to URWB’s seamless roaming capabilities. This uninterrupted mobility is vital for safety and continuous automation. And at the same time, the same access points running URWB can deliver access to Wi-Fi devices.
Furthermore, Cisco’s industrial switches, coupled with solutions like Cyber Vision for network visibility and security, and ISE for device authentication, bring security right to the machines. This “security close to the edge” is fundamentally different and more effective than traditional IT security models when dealing with industrial protocols and environments.
The network is the nervous system of industrial AI and automation. By providing secure, high-performing, and flexible network infrastructure, Cisco empowers innovators like E80 Group and Planet Farms to push the boundaries of what’s possible, driving efficiency, safety, and unprecedented growth.
Want to learn more about how Cisco’s industrial networking solutions can transform your operations? Explore our offerings at Cisco Industrial Networking Solutions.