Back to RS232 - Reflections on 20 years of OT and IT Convergence

Almost 20 years ago I started my career in buildings. Over that time a lot of things have changed, technology has moved forward in the IT and built environment space and importantly the world we live in has changed too.

My first job as a graduate was commissioning operational technology (OT) systems in a large new hospital in New Zealand including security, CCTV, nurse call, BMS, asset location. Many systems were still analogue, substantially using serial communications and a handful of touch-points were TCP/IP, these being limited to the management layer of servers and workstations. But unlike most of the industry at that time, all IP devices were connected to the Hospitals IT network. 

Over the last 20 years the operational technology (OT) in buildings, manufacturing, mining and other industries has developed out of sight. The low cost of ethernet boards has allowed manufacturers to replace the serial comms with industry standard IP controllers and devices, the head end software is now installed on industry standard server hardware and operating systems, and vendors are opening-up systems to integration to unlock new use cases and value streams through sharing data and interlinking controls. 

Slowly the old norm of separate and silo-ed systems has been eroded and IT compatible OT systems have crept into corporate IT environments. For some organisations the move to bring OT and IT systems closer has been an active decision, but for many it has been by osmosis. 

Initially the impact on the IT environment of these OT systems was minimal, a few active ports here, a few users there. There were a few bumps and shocks on the way with shifts like high definition or multicast video streams, but substantially the IT environment was able to absorb the demands.

This same span of time has brought the us, the ever-connected IT user: Facebook, the iPhone, gestures, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, the “app” and much more. There is now a level of public demand for technology unseen when I started as a graduate, unimaginable perhaps to my father programming mainframe computers 20 years before that. 

In today’s world alongside these user expectations we are faced with modern issues like “climate change” and “cyber security”, terms would not find in a hardback dictionary 20 years ago. 

So, in this new world context I take pause and consider where we find ourselves with converged OT and IT. All things considered, if our businesses started today, would you IT and OT environment look as it does? Do the decisions made five or ten years ago stack up with the world we have today, the risks and opportunities we are facing, what disruptive forces could rip up the rule book on established practices? Would we so readily accept provisioning a few ports for OT with the risks weak devices could pose to our corporate IT environments? Should we not expect better performance of buildings, through sharing of data and sensors now we are just an open interface away?

I propose that we as a building and construction industry are still leaving a lot on the table. There is a huge amount of opportunity to improve business productivity and user experience, harnessing the interconnectedness of things.

We have also built a rod for our own back. If we don’t get our house in order, there will be back doors to systems and networks exploited and data breaches experienced, extracting value and damaging some businesses irreparably.

Where will we be in 20 years? What will the world and this industry look like for my daughters? I’ll leave those musings for another time. 

But I will say that - the challenge is set, the bar is high, the blending of operational technology and information technology is the norm and we must openly embrace the opportunities and challenges, together.