Control Room Consolidation: Always Ready with OT-Suite by CTE
Our customer GETEC PARK.SWISS writes on its website: "To enable companies in the chemical and life sciences industry to focus more on their core business, they need service providers who can provide the full range of infrastructure services efficiently, economically and sustainably". As a specialist for industrial IT infrastructures, we at CTE were happy to comply with this requirement.
In order to survive as the industrial park of tomorrow, the multi-client site GETEC PARK.SWISS had to tackle a number of challenges within the IT infrastructure. The aim was to develop a modern control room based on the latest technologies.
The control room is responsible for visualizing and monitoring individual systems or entire production facilities. The visualizations of the production facilities are hosted on virtual machines. These virtual machines run on a high-availability virtualization environment that spans four locations across the entire site. Information critical to the operator can be accessed via the network using Thin ClientsWhat is a thin client?A thin client is a computer with minimal hardware. Data processing is handled centrally on a server, which reduces maintenance, costs, and energy consumption while optimizing space utilization and efficiency. can be displayed in various ways, offering maximum flexibility in terms of both location and presentation. CTE was tasked with connecting the entire research center and adjacent buildings through a building automation system. In addition, a highly available and scalable computing infrastructure is being provided for the technical facilities.
Virtual, with high availability
In an industrial setting, the issue of system reliability is an unavoidable risk that must be addressed. Our approach to meeting these requirements consisted of a 3-node HCI cluster and was designed to ensure high availability of applications across the entire site. A Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) SolutionWhat is a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI)?HCI combines computing power, storage, and networking capabilities in interconnected nodes. If one node fails, the others immediately take over its tasks—ensuring uninterrupted operation. combines the advantages of several systems that were once separate (servers, storage) into a single product. A management layer also enables smart resource allocation (processor, memory, etc.) across remote devices on the network HCI nodesWhat are HCI nodes?HCI nodes are the fundamental building blocks of a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). They combine computing power, storage, and networking into a single server. required.
Specifically, this means that in the event of an emergency, two HCI nodes take over the computing power of the third HCI node and ensure consistent load balancing. Switch stacks and multiple virtual networks, which function as VLANsWhat is a VLAN?A VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) divides a network into independent segments. End devices are isolated in a targeted manner without the need for new hardware or cabling, which improves security and organization. be referred to as.
A separate backup & disaster recovery system backs up all data as well as the virtual machines and their configuration and takes over emergency operation in the event of a serious failure of the entire cluster. Using the backup software, entire HCI nodes can also be set up on a replacement system with just a few clicks. All systems required for this infrastructure are integrated into a monitoring system. This enables us to identify resource bottlenecks, system errors or device failures at an early stage, giving us greater scope for action. Supplying system operators will receive centralised remote access in the future. This will make it easier for GETEC PARK.SWISS to secure access to and track its own network.
Conclusion
The implementation of the project was a complete success. We were even able to overcome the difficulties in communication and coordination due to the COVID-19 situation. The project participants made use of modern communication and collaboration platforms and used shared documents for joint processing.
The planned project duration of six months was slightly exceeded, as the project could only be accelerated to a limited extent due to the temporary shortage of resources and chips. It is therefore generally advisable to evaluate such a project at an early stage. We will be happy to support you!
