SCADA Systems: How Radix IoT Helps You Get Better Performance

Learn about the evolving industry demands and technology pushing the limits with SCADA systems and the top 6 ways the Radix IoT platform helps teams get better performance.

In today’s interconnected industrial landscape, the efficiency and reliability of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are paramount. These systems serve as the backbone for monitoring and supporting processes across numerous industries, from data centers to manufacturing plants, utility grids, and beyond. SCADA's real-time insights and immediate response capabilities are indispensable for maintaining reliability, optimizing resource utilization, and ensuring the smooth operation of mission-critical services.  

However, in recent years, the industries SCADA serves have become significantly more complex and dispersed, making it harder for operations teams to monitor and manage their SCADA systems in a cohesive way. The good news is, Radix IoT’s powerful IoT platform helps mitigate this problem, and as a result, is improving the results operations teams are getting from their SCADA systems. 

Industry Demands + Evolving Technology Pushing Limits of SCADA Systems 

Over the past few years, the complexities of managing SCADA systems have grown significantly due to advancements in technology and evolving industrial demands. First, the mass adoption of internet of things (IoT) devices has exponentially increased the volume and variety of data that SCADA systems must manage and analyze. While this has been a net positive change for the industry, this influx of data requires sophisticated data integration to derive actionable insights effectively.  

Second, advancements in data-driven technology (thanks to IoT), combined with the expansion of interconnected industrial networks and the convergence of IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) have blurred traditional boundaries. This has required operators to navigate complex interactions between legacy systems and modern technologies while ensuring operational continuity, security, and regulatory compliance.  

Most significantly, the globalization of industries and infrastructure is leading to the growth of operations across more expansive geographic areas. Companies are establishing facilities and operations in diverse locations to optimize resources and tap into new markets. This has put increased expectations on operations teams to remotely monitor and manage different SCADA systems across multiple sites—a feat which is much easier said than done. 

Remote Monitoring and Management: A Struggle Across Multiple Locations 

The remote monitoring and management of diverse SCADA systems across several sites presents both an opportunity and a struggle. On one hand, it offers the opportunity for centralized control, real-time data analysis, and the data insights needed to support more proactive processes focused on preventative maintenance – all from a single location. On the other hand, it creates significant manual intervention and integration headaches to bring all these different sets of data together in a cohesive way. Here are some of the main challenges:

• Complexity of Data Integration. Each SCADA system may be configured differently, using various communication protocols and data formats, some of which are proprietary. Integrating these systems into a cohesive dataset for centralized monitoring requires not only the protocols to connect but the ability to normalize this data across very different datasets. 

• Location Aggregation. Collecting data from multiple SCADA systems across different locations involves an array of different communication technologies that are not always considered reliable. This often includes cellular, microwave, and sometimes satellite when reliable landline solutions are not feasible. It can be highly complex to handle resilience with these technologies as well as mitigate a wide array of potential security concerns. 

• Workflow Integration. Monitoring multiple SCADA systems in real-time for anomalies and critical events often does not happen on its own. Even with the ability to acquire all the data and organize it, typically operators then need to integrate this data with existing IT and OT systems to allow for any action to be taken within the existing workflow. This workflow integration can be complex, and not easily adaptable to evolving needs.  

Radix IoT Brings Scalability and Adaptability to Multi-Site SCADA Architectures.

Top 6 Ways Radix IoT Helps Teams Get Better Results from their SCADA Systems  

Radix IoT, a leader in commercial IoT solutions, is enabling organizations to address the challenges of remotely monitoring diverse, multi-location SCADA systems through Mango, its powerful IoT platform. Mango empowers organizations to build robust SCADA architectures, regardless of SCADA manufacturer, that adapt to the unique operational needs of critical infrastructure, ensuring operations teams can oversee processes from anywhere. 

1. It Dramatically Simplifies Remote Monitoring Across Multiple Locations.
   Radix IoT’s solution seamlessly unifies data across diverse SCADA systems and locations—whether there are 10 or 10,000 of them. As a hardware- and vendor-agnostic open platform, Radix IoT can gather and normalize data from any SCADA device in your ecosystem and turn it into actionable intelligence. If the device speaks a known industry language, Radix IoT will interoperate with it—which means you gain freedom of choice in what technologies work best for your applications. 

2. It Empowers Greater Proactivity and Responsiveness.
   Radix IoT’s real-time monitoring capabilities enable operators to remotely monitor performance metrics, detect anomalies, and promptly respond to issues. This allows potential issues to be identified from a central command location, triaged according to severity, and addressed accordingly before issues become larger problems.   

3. It Reduces the Need for Costly Truck Rolls.
   For portfolios that are geographically dispersed, Radix IoT empowers SCADA operators to make maintenance visits more efficient and cost effective by being able to diagnose the problem remotely. This allows a technician to bring the proper supplies to fix the issue on the first trip, significantly reducing second truck rolls. 

4. It’s a Vastly More Affordable and Scalable Solution.
   Radix IoT can integrate seamlessly with new and legacy systems already in place without the need to rip and replace. This allows organizations to scale their SCADA systems affordably, at their own pace, and allows for the upgrade to be a low-risk changeover. 

5. It Builds the Critical Data Repository Needed for Analytics and AI.
   As more organizations look to use advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize their operations, they will need a lot of structured data. Radix IoT’s ability to collect and normalize vast amounts of data from across the entire SCADA landscape is essential to creating this data lake to drive reliable insights that lead to better operational outcomes. 

6. It Adapts to Changing Business Needs.
   Most importantly, Mango’s intuitive user design allows operators and integrators alike to make changes quickly without programming to adapt to changing business needs. This simplicity allows users to start getting operational savings from their system immediately. 

SCADA + Radix IoT – A Powerful Combination 

For operations teams seeking to elevate their SCADA capabilities and achieve better results, Radix IoT offers not just a technology partner, but a trusted ally in navigating the complexities of modern and increasingly dispersed mission-critical operations. Our aim is to not just transform the efficiencies of utilizing SCADA systems at scale, but to empower teams to run a more effective operation.