The Industrial IoT Blog
IIoT Insights by Henry Costa
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MQTT Quality of Service (QoS) Explained
Read more: MQTT Quality of Service (QoS) ExplainedIf you work in manufacturing or IIoT, you’ve probably heard the term “MQTT Quality of Service” (or just MQTT QoS) thrown around. It sounds technical, but it’s actually a pretty simple idea — it’s about how sure you want to…
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How AI Is Driving IIoT Market Growth
Read more: How AI Is Driving IIoT Market GrowthAI and automation are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, and they’re changing how we all work — from the plant floor to the boardroom. I’ve seen this play out over the past years, and I want to share what’s…
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TPG to Acquire Kepware and ThingWorx from PTC
Read more: TPG to Acquire Kepware and ThingWorx from PTCSo, here’s a real story from the shop floor to the boardroom: PTC is selling its industrial connectivity and IoT businesses—Kepware and ThingWorx—to TPG, a global private equity firm. This isn’t just another deal in the headlines. For those of…
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Lessons From 50+ SAP Digital Manufacturing Projects
Read more: Lessons From 50+ SAP Digital Manufacturing ProjectsIf you spend enough time in manufacturing, you realize the shop floor is the real test for any digital solution. Since 2005, I’ve worked on more than 50 SAP Digital Manufacturing (MII/OEE/PCo) implementations across more than 10 industries, from the…
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Model Context Protocol (MCP) Explained: Making IIoT Smarter
Read more: Model Context Protocol (MCP) Explained: Making IIoT SmarterIf you work in industrial automation or manufacturing, you know the pain of getting data from machines, sensors, and systems into the hands of people and AI tools that can actually use it. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a…
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The Five Questions Every IIoT Architect Must Answer
Read more: The Five Questions Every IIoT Architect Must AnswerEvery IIoT project I’ve worked on — from small pilot sites to global rollouts spanning 30+ manufacturing facilities — eventually comes down to the same five questions. I used to think architecture was about picking the right protocols or drawing…
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Industry 5.0: When Operators Matter More Than Dashboards
Read more: Industry 5.0: When Operators Matter More Than DashboardsI’ve spent the last years connecting machines to the cloud. Millions of tags. Real-time dashboards. Predictive analytics. The whole Industry 4.0 playbook. But here’s what nobody talks about: we forgot about the people. The Moment We Knew Something Was Wrong…
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Why Your OT Team Hates Your IT Architecture (And How to Fix It)
Read more: Why Your OT Team Hates Your IT Architecture (And How to Fix It)If you work in manufacturing, you’ve probably felt the tension between IT and OT (Operational Technology) teams. I’ve seen it at every level—from shop floor engineers rolling their eyes during architecture reviews, to IT folks wondering why “those OT guys”…
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Large Language Model (LLM) Integration with IIoT for Real-Time Industrial Intelligence: What I’ve Really Seen
Read more: Large Language Model (LLM) Integration with IIoT for Real-Time Industrial Intelligence: What I’ve Really SeenLarge language models (LLMs) like GPT-5 are starting to show up in industrial settings, and—if you ask me—they’re about to change how we think about real-time intelligence on the shop floor. I’ll break down what I’ve actually seen, what works,…
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What’s the Value of Combining IIoT with Blockchain?
Read more: What’s the Value of Combining IIoT with Blockchain?I’ve been around manufacturing tech for a while — long enough to see a lot of “next big things” come and go. Lately, I keep hearing more people ask: “What if we combine IIoT with Blockchain?” Is it just hype,…
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IIoT in Logistics: What I’ve Really Seen (and Learned)
Read more: IIoT in Logistics: What I’ve Really Seen (and Learned)If you ask me what’s changed most in logistics over the last 20 years, I’ll tell you straight: it’s the way we connect the physical world—boxes, pallets, forklifts, people—to the digital world of data, automation, and real-time decisions. Industrial IoT…
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How Big Data, IIoT, and a Unified Namespace Work Together to Unlock Smart Manufacturing
Read more: How Big Data, IIoT, and a Unified Namespace Work Together to Unlock Smart ManufacturingGetting value from smart manufacturing isn’t about chasing the latest tech or buying shiny new machines. It’s about making data flow — from every sensor and PLC to the cloud, and then back to the people who need it. Over…