The Industrial IoT Blog
IIoT Insights by Henry Costa
Tag: Edge Computing
Processing industrial data close to machines and sensors instead of sending everything to the cloud. It reduces latency, improves reliability, and supports real-time control and analytics.
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Real-Time Decisions: Lessons From Mining Operations
Read more: Real-Time Decisions: Lessons From Mining OperationsI never planned to work in mining. It just happened. Early in my career, a project came up at a metals and mining operation in Brazil, and I said yes. That decision gave me some of the most intense, real…
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The Trust Gap in Industrial AI
Read more: The Trust Gap in Industrial AIImagine this situation. A team spends months building an AI use case. The model looks strong in workshops and dashboards. The recommendation goes live on the plant floor. Then operators ignore it. Not because they are against technology. Not because…
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AIoT-Driven Autonomous Systems in Manufacturing. What Actually Works
Read more: AIoT-Driven Autonomous Systems in Manufacturing. What Actually WorksAIoT. Artificial Intelligence combined with the Internet of Things. It is no longer just a buzzword. It is quietly changing how plants, labs, and production lines operate. I have spent more than two decades connecting machines, systems, and people across…
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Litmus at ProveIt! Conference 2026. Where Industrial AI Starts
Read more: Litmus at ProveIt! Conference 2026. Where Industrial AI StartsI sat through a Litmus session at the ProveIt! Conference in Dallas and I left with one thought in my head. Most AI in manufacturing conversations are backwards. People argue about models, copilots, vision, GenAI, and all that. Meanwhile, the…
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What I Took Away from ProveIt! 2026. A Reset in Expectations
Read more: What I Took Away from ProveIt! 2026. A Reset in ExpectationsI have been to a lot of manufacturing events over the years. Some are useful. Some are basically a sales funnel with better coffee. This one felt different. What I liked most is that the conference actually tried to prove…
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My Expectations for the ProveIt! Conference 2026
Read more: My Expectations for the ProveIt! Conference 2026I’m heading to ProveIt! Conference in two weeks. February 16–20 in Dallas. It’s practically in my backyard. No flights. No hotels. Just me, my car, and five days of IIoT demos, vendor sessions, and hopefully some useful conversations with people…
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From Shop Floor to Cloud: How Manufacturing Data Moves
Read more: From Shop Floor to Cloud: How Manufacturing Data MovesI’ve spent years watching data travel from shop floors to dashboards. And honestly, most people skip over the messy middle parts. On paper, the sensor-to-dashboard chain looks clean and simple. In real manufacturing environments, it rarely is. If you’ve ever…
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IIoT Gateway vs Edge Computer vs Industrial Router: What’s the Difference?
Read more: IIoT Gateway vs Edge Computer vs Industrial Router: What’s the Difference?People ask me all the time: what’s the difference between an IIoT Gateway, an Edge Computer, and an Industrial Router? And honestly, I get why it’s confusing. Vendors love to mix these terms, and sometimes the same box gets called…
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Top 10 IIoT Gateway Devices to Watch in 2026
Read more: Top 10 IIoT Gateway Devices to Watch in 2026Most factories are not fully “smart factories.” They are a combination of legacy assets that remain critical, newer equipment with restricted networks, vendor skids with limited documentation, quality systems requiring trusted data, IT teams enforcing security controls, and business stakeholders…
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Understanding 5G for IIoT. Use Cases, Limits, and Reality
Read more: Understanding 5G for IIoT. Use Cases, Limits, and RealityIf you follow industrial digitalization, you have probably seen 5G mentioned everywhere. Vendor slides, conferences, strategy decks. Sometimes it sounds like the missing link for Industry 4.0. Other times, it sounds like expensive hype. The truth sits somewhere in the…
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The Future of IIoT Applications: Where Industry Meets Innovation
Read more: The Future of IIoT Applications: Where Industry Meets InnovationBack in 2005, when I first worked with SAP xMII, the idea of “smart factories” lived mostly in PowerPoint decks and a few brave pilot lines. Today, machines, data, and people are more connected than ever. But the future of…
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Why Edge Data Contextualization Is Key for AI in Manufacturing
Read more: Why Edge Data Contextualization Is Key for AI in ManufacturingIf you’ve ever tried to get meaningful insights from a plant’s data, you know the struggle. You wire up a sensor, push the data to the cloud, and… good luck figuring out if “Tag_123” is a temperature, a pressure, or…