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C-Labs

Industrial Automation Firms AXOOM, Nebbiolo Select C-Labs for IoT

HANNOVER, Germany—C-Labs, a developer of industrial Internet of Things (IoT) software, recently announced that its Factory-Relay software was selected by AXOOM for use in industrial automation products. C-Labs also announced that its Factory-Relay software was selected by Nebbiolo Technologies for use in its Fog Computing System for process automation.

“We’re thrilled that AXOOM and Nebbiolo selected C-Labs to advance their industrial IoT solutions,” said Chris Muench, C-Labs CEO, in a press release. “These customer and partnership wins underscore industry demand for secure, simple, and integrated IoT solutions that work right out of the box.”

C-Labs reported that industrial IoT is estimated to become a $151 billion market by 2020, but security and complexity are slowing adoption. The company said that a Cisco survey of more than 7,000 global executives shows that the leading obstacles to adopting industrial IoT are threats to data or physical security, followed closely by the inability of IT systems to keep up with change. C-Labs strives to deliver what it calls “the most secure and simplest to deploy factory automation software.”

“We selected C-Labs software for its multilayered security and simplified deployment and operations,” said Florian Weigmann, managing director, AXOOM, in the release. “IoT is one of the greatest opportunities for our customers, and C-Labs helps us deliver it securely and easily.”

Security and IT policy integration were key factors in Nebbiolo’s selection of C-Labs Factory-Relay software. Factory-Relay automatically provisions a user interface that can replicate the factory equipment HMI (human machine interface) on a smartphone, tablet, or PC, removing an onerous integration step and making factory IoT automation simpler to deploy.

“C-Labs extends our reach to a broader range of industrial equipment and protocols, such as OPC UA, and simplifies the creation of industrial IoT solutions,” said Flavio Bonomi, CEO and co-Founder of Nebbiolo Technologies, in the release.

Security, IT policy, and ease of deployment are the issues that are holding back industrial IoT, according to industry analyst firm ARC Advisory Group. “Industrial IoT has proven its value for factories and industrial infrastructure, but companies need solutions that are secure and easy to deploy; that bridge OT, IT, and mobile environments; and provide rapid application development,” said Greg Gorbach, vice president, ARC Advisory Group, in the release. “C-Labs solutions focus on all of these.”

“Customers told us they needed to adapt and extend IoT deployments without sacrificing security or requiring significant training for either operations technology or information technology (IT) teams,” added Muench. “Our patent-pending approach provides a secure and IT compliant connection point among previously incompatible protocols.”

C-Labs was recently recognized as one of The 50 Most Promising IoT Solution Providers by CIO Review and, most recently, was named a 2016 Red Herring Top 100 winner.