Complexity Loves Company in IIoT: AspenTech and Advantech Combine Forces to Lower Costs

Physical assets can be expensive to build or buy, and sometimes more expensive to connect and manage. Two companies, including one with well over thirty years of experience connecting smart machines (back when IoT was called M2M), have joined forces to reduce the cost and complexity which has been holding back some industrials from moving forward on IIoT projects, despite the obvious benefits of doing so, including optimized asset management. Aspen Technology announced this week a software license and distribution agreement with Advantech B+B SmartWorx, which designs and manufactures intelligent M2M (machine-to-machine) and IoT connectivity solutions for wireless and wired networks. Founded in 1981, B+B SmartWorx (formerly B&B Electronics) designs and manufactures intelligent M2M and IoT connectivity solutions with expertise at the “edge” of networks in remote and demanding environments, agnostic to network protocols, including Ethernet, serial, wireless, cellular and USB. (In 2016 B+B SmartWorx became part of Advantech, an industrial automation and embedded computing company).