User:Clear and simple/Operational Technology

Operational Technology

Overview

Operational Technology is a new term for the application of communication and computing systems to real-time or near-real time domains. It includes disciplines such as:

• Real-time industrial control systems
• Distributed Control Systems
• Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA)

A close relative of Information Technology, Operational Technology makes use of many of the same tools, protocols and equipment types as IT, but from an electronic systems engineering rather than computer science perspective. OT is generally focused on the electronic & (typically embedded) computer system instrumentation of a system and usually operates on real-time control, data acquisition systems.

Continuum between IT & OT

OT typically grows out of engineering approach, driven by the need to instrument a live operational system, whereas IT grown out of computer science & software approach where the demands and consequential focus are different. OT has historically be characterised by a focus on aspects such as: deterministic behaviour to ensure correct behaviour of key system elements under worst case, availability of control and visibility of the process under control, highly distributed processing to reduce dependence on communications systems being continually available etc. OT installations often involve equipment installed in locations that are not easily accessible and lack of physical accommodation space is often a constraint. IT conversely is often characterised by a focus on the maintainability of the system and the need to be able to adapt and extend where the hardware platform being employed is often treated of low importance compared with the software. IT installations are typically easy to access and often centrally hosted in a few locations meaning the frequent (3-5year) periodic upgrade of processing power, storage, memory etc is very simple by comparison.

There is increasing awareness within the SCADA community and slowly gaining acceptance that there is a distinct difference between classical Information Technology and what has been called Operational Technology. The way in which OT and IT need to be developed, deployed, operated and managed are different.

As noted by Grant Woolston, in Operational Technology, "Environment is Real Time. Support cannot be provided the Corporate IT way."

Gartner is conducting research around this IT/OT split and how they need to be dealt with separately in order for the business needs to be fully met:

• “Summary of Planned Research — We will continue coverage of technologies and business processes that are aimed at improving asset and resource … In addition, in 2010, we will delve into megavendors' capabilities in the energy utility sector, explore the evolution of the energy management system (EMS)/supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) market, and take a deeper dive into various aspects of IT and OT convergence and interaction.”

And

• “.. The convergence between IT and operational technology (OT) has become a governance and management issue for many asset-intensive businesses, complicated by separate ownership and management of these two disciplines. …”

Why bother to distinguish it from Information Technology?

Based on the common definitions of Information Technology (e.g. the Wikipedia definition Information Technology, it may beg the question as to why do we need a special term for Operational Technology. The key to the need is the difference in the requirements of the domain result in a number of important differences that mean if you try to manage OT as just another part of IT, the result will be poor. Likewise, treating IT work in the same manner as OT is unlikely to fare much better.

As an example, consider the ITIL framework. This infrastructure library has been adopted by many as a best practice toolkit for the management, delivery and support of IT systems. The support model it promotes leads to the use of a Helpdesk to filter out simpler requests and to the prioritisation of work requests against a business impact assessment. While it may result in some frustration for users who want their problem fixed immediately, it allows IT managers to get their support function organised in a manageable and generally effective structure. However the application of this same framework (where expertise in various areas is segregated and incidents are dealt with by bouncing back and forth between the various specialists) to the support of most OT systems would be inadequate. The real-time demands of the domain mean that the time consumed with multiple people having to get their mind up to speed on the issue or incident at hand and the delays resulting from the person-person communication involved with the ITIL approach are unacceptably slow. They can work fine when the problem is a bug with an email system where resolution in a half day is considered a good result, but not when incidents need to be resolved in the space of minutes rather than hours.

See also

• SCADA
• Distributed Control System
• Building Automation
• Direct Digital Control
• PLC

External links

IBM Pulse Affirms Gartner's IT/Operational Technology Vision Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011