To the cloud!

Cloud computing has changed the future of information technology (IT) as businesses all over the world are leveraging the power of the Internet to store and distribute data online. The benefits of the cloud are numerous and OEMs can take advantage of this trend as a key value-add in the off-road transportation market.

Gartner Inc. defines cloud computing as “a style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service’ using Internet technologies to multiple external customers.” A February 2011 report by International Data Corp. (read more at www.oemoffhighway.com/10612655) states that the services and distribution sector—which includes transportation—contributes the largest share of U.S. public IT cloud services revenue. Currently a $3 billion market, IDC estimates the services and distribution sector’s public IT cloud market will more than double to $8.5 billion by 2014.

Early adopters in the transportation industry are using cloud computing today, and the data shows the market is poised for fast growth due to the cloud’s many benefits.

Simplifying the dashboard

The key value of cloud computing in the transportation industry lies in the ability to develop a mobile asset that can be used as a services gateway. By choosing the right software framework and leveraging current cloud technology, OEMs can use the cloud to connect all of the mobile asset’s service offerings, simplifying the system architecture.

Transportation agencies collect data; then, OEMs and customers manage data for the different business units that include everything from operations to accounting. In the past, this has been a cumbersome process that takes time to pull the multiple databases together.

When all of the data points are stored in the cloud, the various measurements come together into one useful framework to provide dashboards that are available to any authorized user at any time and in any place. Decoupling the data into the cloud presents the information easily and cost-effectively using standard IT tooling to the customer’s back-end office applications – accounting, operations, management and others. Plus, the cloud allows the OEM to develop dashboards for alarms and alerts or the ability to send the data to smartphones or other devices.

This concept goes beyond simple data gathering. A device cloud solution breaks the deployment of multiple solutions designed separately from one another into a service architecture that makes all data available for the business enterprise regardless of the data source. The OEM and the customer can customize their own unique dashboard and access the data they need.

For the OEM, monitoring engine diagnostics and system performance on the back-end allows them to better serve customers by efficiently evaluating duty cycles and system maintenance.

The Device Cloud

It can take months or even years for OEMs to plan, procure and deploy IT infrastructure to connect embedded transportation devices to a network and make use of valuable the data. Machine-to-machine communication solutions can be divided into four fundamental building blocks, as shown in Figure 2 (pg. 35).

First, OEMs must select and integrate sensors and edge device hardware while considering factors such as computing platform, interface, power supply and housing options.

Next, developing the device firmware includes the operating system, drivers, networking, application and a user interface. The integrator must then figure out how to connect the system to the business application via a dedicated communication infrastructure, which includes a connectivity broker, infrastructure, application, database and user interface.

Device-to-cloud solutions, on the other hand, simplify the process to reduce the time to market. By connecting transportation devices through the cloud, OEMs deliver valuable data between distributed devices and business applications using standard practices and commonly used methodologies.