Local Cloud Internet of Things Automation: Technology and Business Model Features of Distributed Internet of Things Automation Solutions

The hype concerning digitalization is increasing the demand for new generations of automation systems. Concepts like Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) give us models but do not tell us how to facilitate actual implementations. This article discusses the transition from legacy automation technology as defined by ISA-95 to highly distributed Internet of Things (IoT)- and system of systems (SoS)- based automation systems that fully utilize Internet technologies, thus enabling the implementation of Industry 4.0 and RAMI 4.0 models. Distributed IoT automation systems have a number of general requirements concerning real-time performance, security, engineering cost, scalability, and interoperability. Meeting these requirements is necessary to enable possibilities for a realworld implementation of IoT automation. A key concept is local automation clouds. The discussion is based on a particular example of such an automation integration platform, the Arrowhead Framework