Almost everything is automated today, with computer systems performing a lot of heavy lifting required to keep industries across the globe running.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence are especially attractive to companies globally, showcasing the ability of data automation and large language models. Even with its perks and popularity, delivering automation across industries can be a constant challenge for companies, such as ABB Group, recently in the news for acquiring AI-powered robot navigation company Sevensense, who continue to innovate automation every day.

“We have automation systems that serves the critical infrastructure of our customers and their reliability, safety and efficiency have been the key to it,” said Vikas Maurya (pictured, right), global product line manager at ABB. “We have always been ensuring that there is a 24/7, reliable operation which continues to be there. We cannot stop the plant; it needs to run 24/7 and reliably.”

Maurya and Anders Trosten (left), software architect at ABB, spoke with theCUBE’s principal analyst Rob Strechay and host Savannah Peterson at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how ABB delivers cloud-powered automation to the edge, the challenges automation brings and the role of open-source software in innovative industrial operational technology. (* Disclosure below.).

Converging OT and IT at the edge

As more and more devices are connected to the edge each day, innovation needs to happen there, simplifying and automating edge services and applications for both user and developer ease. At ABB, they’ve created Edgenius Operations Data Manager, a platform dedicated to the power of the cloud to edge automation.

“Edgenius is somewhat sitting in the middle and trying to be a platform for enabling innovation at speed. That’s what we are kind of trying to achieve,” Maurya said. “We are using edge technology, cloud technology, trying to build a whole app ecosystem where we can get this app coming seamlessly faster. And that’s where the IT infrastructure is going to be the key for us to kind of build on.”

AI is one of the most popular forms of automation and technology today, making the big question at most of these conferences: How is AI going to help? As a forerunner of innovation, ABB is utilizing the technology in a multitude of ways, including running AI models on the edge, according to Trosten.

“It looks very promising, bringing it into the environment where we can use that without having to bother with everything else around,” he said. “That also makes these use cases easier to implement, faster to realize.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe:

(* Disclosure: Red Hat Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Red Hat nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE​