Cloud Monitoring: Remote Control System for Real-Time Asset Management

More and more companies are incorporating new monitoring technologies based on the “Cloud” model in order to reduce costs, increase their productivity and profitability and, of course, find effective solutions for monitoring their resources.

What is Cloud Monitoring?

Cloud Monitoring is the result of applying “Cloud Computing” technologies to “Condition Monitoring”.
It solves the need for remote real-time information, since without information it is not possible to manage a set of assets.
Currently, certain sectors are particularly promoting the centralisation of information. They have monitoring and control centres that use information integrated in “Cloud” environments, based on a more global concept such as SaaS.

Energy, industry and Smart Solutions are some of these sectors.

How does Cloud Monitoring work?

Making sure everything is working properly is critical to optimising performance.

The main functions of cloud monitoring are:

• Control of websites hosted in the cloud: supervision and monitoring of processes, traffic, availability and use of resources.
• Virtual machine monitoring: monitoring both the virtualisation infrastructure and the individual virtual machines.
• Cloud storage monitoring: storage resources and the processes they supply to virtual machines, services, applications and databases.
• Monitoring of the virtual network: resources, devices, connections and performance of the virtual network related with digital twins environment.
• Supervision of the databases in the cloud: monitoring processes, queries, availability and consumption of resources.
  Thanks to cloud monitoring, it is easier to identify patterns and discover possible security risks in the infrastructure.

The SaaS, or Software as a Service, model

SaaS stands for Software as a Service, and refers to the payment of a subscription for all the requirements of a technological project (installation, setting up, licenses, infrastructure and communications).

SaaS systems are hosted in the cloud, so the managed data is centralised and hosted on a single server external to the organisation; that is, it is not found on the company’s local computers. A provider deals with the hosting of the software in the cloud, support and maintenance.

In addition, the company does not have to worry about installing any type of update.

It can access data in the cloud with a web browser via the Internet, allowing knowledge to be shared and exchanged at all levels of the organisation and from anywhere.

The SaaS system is the best known within the three levels of Cloud Computing, which also includes IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service).

The SaaS concept is in line with the following technology concepts that are currently so popular:

IoT: the integration of data from multiple delocalised devices sending information.
Big Data: the information generated is collected, processed, structured, organised and prepared for its efficient consultation.
Cloud Computing: having IT and communications infrastructure in accordance with growth requirements.

Differences between SaaS, Cloud Computing and Cloud Monitoring

SaaS is a distribution and monetisation system, while “Cloud Computing” is the concept of where and how to locate software.
Therefore, Cloud Computing includes SaaS.

Cloud Monitoring is part of the global strategy of managing data in the cloud, since it allows IT administrators to verify the operational status of resources remotely.

Nexus Integra allows you to create reports and dashboards, and to configure widgets to display the most relevant information, such as cell performance, OEE and alerts.

In addition, it offers a global perspective of all the data collected from the company’s various plants, in order to make better decisions and improve knowledge about the organisation.

Cloud monitoring techniques guarantee performance, evaluate resource levels and time frames, and predict potential vulnerability issues before they occur.

Advantages of Cloud Monitoring

Below we list the benefits of applying new cloud technologies to monitoring:

• Ease of access to information: you simply need a browser, a url to the server, a username and a password, which means that Cloud systems are compatible with any operating system.
  Nexus Integra is the cloud monitoring solution that provides a single framework for managing all the facilities that the company may have, anywhere in the world. The client has complete ownership of their data and total management capabilities with regard to the platform, fully guaranteeing the absolute privacy of the information from start to end.
• Access from several stations simultaneously and from anywhere with an Internet connection.
• The information is structured in such a way as to be easily exploitable. Graphs for dashboards, alarms on existing data, data statistics, and historical data analysis can all be performed.Nexus Integra unifies and standardises data from different sensors, systems and databases.

• All relevant data from all applied predictive techniques and technologies are brought together in a single platform.
• They cost less than a local application. If you select the SaaS (cost per use) model, you avoid initial license purchase costs and pay only for the use; enabling you to adapt and scale depending on need.On the other hand, if the idea is to host applications in the cloud, you avoid costs associated with ownership and maintenance of the hardware necessary for hosting the application server and the database, meaning lower start-up and infrastructure costs.As it is a web platform, Nexus Integra offers data centralisation and a variety of installation possibilities: on company servers, in the cloud or by using the SaaS model. It allows, in any case, access to the information from any device and any location.
• It offers greater security. It has a lower probability of failure, since the servers for the software applications are better quality and better maintained.The restoration of the data in case of failure is automatic and the possibility of being attacked by a virus is practically nil.
• Performance optimisation. The new Cloud Monitoring technologies facilitate the work of predictive diagnostics and improve the functioning of preventive maintenance, thus contributing to improved performance.

The digital transformation of industries involves the provision of innovative services, the reconfiguration and monitoring of their processes, the emergence of new players and the disappearance of others.

In this process, cloud monitoring plays a crucial role, enabling the provision of a shared set of technological services to companies, allowing access from anywhere in the world and on demand to a shared set of computing resources.