Cisco Live U.S. Industrial IoT Summit Wrap Up: AI, Innovation, and Cybersecurity

It’s been a few weeks, but I’m still thinking about the excitement coming out of Cisco Live U.S. in June. We hosted our second annual Cisco Live U.S. Industrial IoT Summit and had our largest attendance to date. Leaders from across the manufacturing, utilities and transportation industries came together to share knowledge, discuss technology trends and challenges, and connect with each other in industry breakout sessions.

Discussions were eye opening, and we heard directly from customers across the Industrial IoT space about their top-of-mind priorities. Many told me how valuable it was to engage in high-level dialogue with their peers: simply knowing they are not alone and face similar challenges was a comfort.

Insights from the Industrial IoT Summit

Cybersecurity remains a top priority. In a pre-event survey, leaders across all verticals told us that, like last year, cybersecurity remains their top priority. As systems become more integrated and connected and attack surfaces increase, organizations are seeking ways to gain OT network visibility, ensure secure remote access, and segment their operational networks. I talked to several customers who also hope to automate security enforcement or add zero-trust capabilities across their industrial networks, which underscores the importance of designing a secure network architecture from the ground up.

The workforce skills gap is a major concern. Across the Industrial IoT landscape, customers are finding it difficult to hire and retain the right talent who understands both OT and IT environments and can drive collaboration between the two. Many asked about how we can leverage technology and automation to help. Upskilling and investing in workforce development is critical, and we heard directly from a university partner about how they’re bridging IT/OT through a partnership with Cisco Networking Academy to train students in new IT/OT skills and help agencies hire and nurture talent.

Networks must be modernized to prepare for the future. Of course, there was a lot of energy and discussion around how AI is driving innovation and optimization across Industrial IoT. Digitization is increasing across all industry verticals, and virtualization of key technology components is now a reality. Mobility was also top-of-mind as more industries look to deploy wireless technologies as part of modernizing their networks. The discussion also focused on how increasing secure and resilient access to data in industrial edge devices, assets and applications is critical.

Each of our breakout summit discussions offered meaningful takeaways as well. Read on for more insights from the different Industries!

Manufacturing Breakout: Key Takeaways

Reliable wireless connectivity is critical for productivity. Major manufacturers need dependable, always “on,” lossless wireless technologies, and demand is only rising. Reliable connectivity with Wi-Fi remains a challenge, but our Industrial Wireless Solutions with Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul are enabling customers to support use cases around mobile devices and autonomous vehicles like AGVs that require reliable low-latency and zero-packet loss connectivity, despite obstacles and RF interference.

Smart manufacturing innovations require an equally smart network. As factories modernize, maintaining a secure, resilient network can mean the difference between a normal day or a catastrophic shutdown costing a manufacturer millions of dollars. A scalable, flexible, secure, and deterministic network is essential for innovations like hardware resource virtualization, zero-trust security, and AI-enabled manufacturing applications.

We heard from one major manufacturer about how Cisco’s architecture is enabling safe, reliable data collection to help them develop AI and ML models that make recommendations to optimize production, drive process control, support preventative maintenance, and enable data-driven manufacturing. We also heard from an EV battery manufacturing customer who uses AI and ML to produce one of the greenest, most sustainable EV batteries on the planet at a 70% reduction in carbon per battery made compared to its competitors.

Utilities Breakout: Key Takeaways

There is a major shift happening toward grid modernization. Energy demand is growing, and utilities organizations need to integrate sustainability practices at scale while also enhancing security, efficiency and reliability. To meet these needs, modernizing the power grid and the distributed architecture they rely upon is key.

Grid resiliency and security is critical. Customers told us they feel an urgency to accelerate cybersecurity measures to keep critical power infrastructures safe, provide access for technologies like 5G and eSIMs, and find scalable network management and automation tools to minimize downtime and drive efficiency. Utilities companies face challenges in the management of backhaul communications and need help streamlining these operations. We also discussed how the war in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of critical infrastructure grid resiliency in the most adverse of conditions.

We talked about the potential for SD-WAN with Cisco Catalyst Industrial Routers to secure and scale grid infrastructure with comprehensive firewalls, especially given the rapidly evolving threat landscape and increasing sophistication of attacks. SD-WAN offers a solution for zero-touch provisioning and the ability to standardize security policies across all routers in the field, which minimizes the potential for human error and configuration issues.

Transportation Breakout: Key Takeaways

Transportation network modernization is essential. As billions of citizens and tons of cargo are moved daily to support the modern economy, technology drives the critical infrastructure that supports it; yet the transportation vertical has one of largest technology debts across Industrial IoT. Many of these systems are funded by the public, however; and budgets are tight. Agencies feel an urgency to simplify, modernize and achieve a better digital footprint at scale, but they must make practical investment decisions and choose the right networking infrastructure that is secure, scalable, and simplified.

Cybersecurity is at a critical point and is rising to the C-Suite. OT visibility and access remain major challenges across the transportation sector as DOTs, cities and countries modernize their networks with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). I heard from customers that they’re looking to make the right investments amid increased cyberattack surfaces, external regulatory pressures, and cybersecurity mandates like CISA and Europe’s NIS2.

AI will transform how cities, railroads, airports, and DOTs interact with the population. We heard from a public transportation customer who shared some of the ways that AI will enable them to enhance citizen safety by predicting traffic patterns, reducing travel times, increasing automation, and engaging in predictive maintenance to prevent major accidents like train derailments. But to reap these benefits, organizations need to invest in secure, well-managed networks that can eventually handle a massive amount of data across the edge, core, and cloud to drive AI and ML.

Adopting SD-WAN dramatically increases efficiency and security. Traditional IT environments have embraced SD-WAN for years to reduce access charges, increase reliability, reduce issue resolution time, and gain richer visibility into WAN operations. Now, some of our OT customers are adopting Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. We heard from a rail customer who relies on Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN as a solution for their operational areas to power evolving connectivity needs, improve visibility, save money, and improve automation. They shared how embracing SD-WAN has made it easier to manage mission-critical traffic and segment their networks while also driving better IT and OT collaboration across its operations.

Our customers are our partners. Bringing together industry leaders to collaborate and dive into the challenges and innovations shaping the future of Industrial IoT was such a fantastic experience, and the summit’s discussions underscored the urgency of adopting advanced technologies to protect and connect our customers across all Industrial IoT sectors. As industries strive to modernize their networks and prepare for a more connected and data-driven future, we know we would not be able to provide solutions without the trust of our customers. Together, we will make progress and securely make the future a reality!

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