PTC has announced the release of ThingWorx 9.0, the latest version of it Industrial IoT platform with new and expanded features to help users create, implement, customise, and scale their solutions.
PTC states that ThingWorx 9.0 will deliver advances in several core development areas and introduce many new features and capabilities, including enhanced scalability and availability due to a clustered configuration.
“This improvement will fortify the ability of ThingWorx to scale to vast populations of devices, manage demanding data processing requirements, and support a greater number of application users.,” explained a PTC spokesperson.
“Additionally, the clustered configuration will further strengthen ThingWorx deployments for critical operations, systems, services, and assets that need to remain highly available under the most important circumstances.”
ThingWorx 9.0 will formally introduce ‘solution building blocks’ – pre-defined, pre-built configurations of connectors, domain models, business logic, and UI elements, which will help simplify implementations of the highest-value Industrial IoT use cases, such as status monitoring, digital work instructions, and manufacturing job order management.
PTC and Microsoft have again partnered, this time to drive openness and interoperability in industrial IoT through support of the industrial interoperability standard OPC UA.
ThingWorx 9.0 will integrate with OPC UA components that Microsoft contributed to the OPC Foundation, including OPC UA Publisher, OPC UA Twin, and OPC UA Global Discovery Server.
OPC UA will help integrate the ThingWorx Kepware connectivity solution and Microsoft Azure with ThingWorx, where data models get automatically standardised for simplified solution enablement.
Enhanced predictive analytics scoring has been added at the edge to reduce data transmission costs and latency challenges, and improve the accuracy of asset performance predictions in ThingWorx.
These should prove important for deployments of ThingWorx at the enterprise level, letting companies rely on insights from the ThingWorx Analytics solution to improve decision making, optimise operational processes, and reduce unplanned downtime.
“The introduction of ThingWorx 9.0 will mark an important advancement for PTC’s Industrial IoT strategy,” said PTC Industrial IoT GM Joe Biron.
“Our added investments in scalability, solution development, OPC UA support, and stronger analytics are critical as our customers continue to scale their Industrial IoT deployments across the enterprise.
Biron added that the enhancements come at an important time, with companies looking for ways to address challenges from the impact of COVID-19, including the increased need for remote monitoring, control, and services.
