The Industrial IoT Blog
IIoT Insights by Henry Costa
Tag: Sparkplug B
An MQTT-based specification that standardizes how industrial data is modeled and published. It reduces payload size, ensures data context, and simplifies scalable IIoT architectures.
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AI-Ready Data. How UNS and Sparkplug B Set You Up for Manufacturing AI
Read more: AI-Ready Data. How UNS and Sparkplug B Set You Up for Manufacturing AII’ve noticed something funny about “manufacturing AI.” The AI part gets all the attention. The real success or failure usually happens much earlier, in the boring part. How you name data. Where you publish it. Whether anyone can trust it.…
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Ignition at ProveIt! Conference 2026. What Actually Scales
Read more: Ignition at ProveIt! Conference 2026. What Actually ScalesI watched an Ignition 8.3 presentation at the ProveIt! Conference in Dallas, and it was one of the cleaner “this is how you scale IIoT” demos I have seen in a while. Not because it had flashy dashboards. Not because…
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Unified Namespace (UNS) as the Architectural Foundation for IIoT
Read more: Unified Namespace (UNS) as the Architectural Foundation for IIoTIf you want to talk about making factories smarter and more connected, you have to talk about Unified Namespace. I’ve been working with industrial data for more than 20 years, and I’ve seen many architectural patterns come and go in…
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Top 10 MQTT Brokers to Watch in 2026
Read more: Top 10 MQTT Brokers to Watch in 2026If you spend any time around Industrial IoT, MQTT shows up very quickly. It has become one of the foundational building blocks for IIoT architectures, especially when the goal is to move time-series data from machines to higher-level systems in…
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Why Industry 4.0 Needs Event-Driven Architecture
Read more: Why Industry 4.0 Needs Event-Driven ArchitectureIf you have spent any time in manufacturing IT or OT, you already know the Purdue Model. For decades, it has been the reference for how plants should be designed and secured. I started my own journey back in 2005,…
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Sparkplug B vs Plain MQTT: Performance Lessons
Read more: Sparkplug B vs Plain MQTT: Performance LessonsIf you work in industrial manufacturing and you’re looking at MQTT, you’ve probably heard about Sparkplug B. You might be wondering: Is it really faster? Does it use less bandwidth? Is it worth the extra complexity? I’ll walk you through…
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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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What Is IIoT? The Basics You Should Know
Read more: What Is IIoT? The Basics You Should KnowIf you work in manufacturing, you’ve probably heard people throw around “IIoT” (Industrial Internet of Things) like it’s the answer to every plant problem. Sometimes it sounds like magic. It’s not. But it is changing how we run factories, and…
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Birth Certificates for Machines: How Sparkplug NBIRTH Messages Work
Read more: Birth Certificates for Machines: How Sparkplug NBIRTH Messages WorkLet’s talk about something I see a lot in real-world industrial IoT projects, but that’s rarely explained in plain English: Sparkplug NBIRTH messages. If you’ve heard the phrase “birth certificate for machines,” that’s what we’re talking about. These NBIRTH messages…
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IIoT Journey: Edge-First, Cloud-Second
Read more: IIoT Journey: Edge-First, Cloud-SecondI want to talk about why, after two decades in Industrial Smart Manufacturing, I’ve become a strong believer in an “Edge-First, Cloud-Second” approach for connecting plants, machines, and people. This isn’t some theory — it’s the result of real projects,…
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When Kepware isn’t Enough: Rethinking the Edge Connectivity Stack
Read more: When Kepware isn’t Enough: Rethinking the Edge Connectivity StackFor a long time, Kepware has been the go-to tool for connecting machines and pulling data from PLCs, DCS, and all sorts of shop-floor equipment. I’ve used it at dozens of sites — from auto parts to steel mills, pharma,…
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Is Sparkplug B Essential for IIoT Data Streaming?
Read more: Is Sparkplug B Essential for IIoT Data Streaming?Let me start with the short answer: No, Sparkplug B is not a “must” in every IIoT data streaming project. But it’s also not a technology you can ignore if you care about scalable, plug-and-play data flow in modern industrial…