Can you imagine a day when control and automation systems will be based on a controller and other control system components residing in the cloud? And if you can imagine it, do you believe it will ever be possible?
In his article, “Cloud Control: Trends in cloud computing and their impact on the world of industrial control,” Shai Gershon, VP of Engineering at Contel Automation & Control Ltd examines the viability and the likelihood that control system implementation will one day become a reality. From examining the growing trend of businesses to relocate their computing resources to large providers outside their own organizations, to looking at the concerns and the implications of doing so, Mr. Gershon wonders aloud whether control systems can benefit from the advantages that cloud computing services have to offer.
The idea is not without its challenges. Control systems have inherent reliability concerns from which embedded computer systems don’t suffer. With significant financial implications stemming from a loss of production, will the industry ever have enough confidence in the cloud’s ability to support the necessary uptime requirements? Is it possible that cloud computing providers, who are assessed by the uptime of their systems, and who invest extensively in the security of the computing infrastructure, can ever meet the need for stability and security?
Today, enterprises that take advantage of cloud computing services generally enjoy higher levels of uptime, redundancy, information security, and quality than they did in the past. Will a phased approach to control system migration to the cloud ever become a reality?