HP is one of the world’s most recognizable IT companies. Its global product line spans everything from the online photo service Snapfish to consumer laptops and desktop computers to containerized data center solutions for corporate customers — and hundreds of consumer and business-facing offerings in between. To support these operations, the company operates e-commerce websites, corporate websites and dozens of mission-critical internal software tools. All of these systems depend on HP’s six global data centers and 10 managed compute spaces. After a data center consolidation effort in 2006, HP turned to the PI System to help improve its data center monitoring and maintenance operations.
Year: 2014

Any company that values sustainability should consider developing a corporate energy management strategy. Not only is energy a major component of most businesses production costs; the last 30 years have taught us that energy price volatility is here to stay. What leaders of nations are seeking policy solutions for, business leaders should be seeking in their corporations — securing reliable supplies of energy at a reasonable price and the efficient use of energy. What was once the sole domain of energy traders and analysts must now be taken up by senior management. Senior management need to be actively involved in framing a corporate energy management policy and strategy. For most industries, the cost of energy is outpacing all other variable costs. For example, the cost of natural gas increased over 250 percent from 1993 to 2006. The cost of fuels and power increased over 110 percent during this same period; the bulk of the increase, 81 percent, occurring in the last 4 years. Managers are asking, “What can we do to better manage these costs?” “How can we better utilize our valuable renewable and nonrenewable resources?” Companies must be part of the national and global energy sustainability solution. This paper looks at the role of a Streaming Data and Event Infrastructure as an enabler in facilitating an Energy Management Strategy.
Year: 2012

Energy and information are a significant and growing fraction of manufacturing costs and require lifecycle cost management. New facilities will have to be built and operated in order to conserve resources, and existing facilities will have to be upgraded cost effectively. This is not new – economics, regulation, and innovation drive business economics but today the external environment is even more dynamic and requires an appropriate response. There is little a user can do about regulation, epoch technology breakthroughs, or market changes except monitor their effect and be prepared to change their business strategy; improved management of energy and information, however is under their control.
Year: 2015

“We have too much data” is the refrain we continually hear from water utilities. It’s no surprise that managing data from multiple sources and turning it into business insights presents a daunting challenge; however, data influx does not have to be a burden. When managed well, there’s no such thing as too much data, especially if your business is implementing a big data strategy – a topic that has implications and reach beyond the scope of this paper.
Year: 2015

Not so long ago—in the dim and distant days before the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) — an Ethernet port hung off an industrial machine’s programmable logic controller (PLC) was about all the out-of-the-box connectivity that an industrial asset owner/operator could expect of its OEM suppliers. Today a new class of embedded software application —part historian, part analytical engine, part operator interface and part fault-tolerant integration platform — is allowing industrial OEMs to build “IIoT-ready” machines that can much more easily and flexibly be integrated into a plant’s existing automation and information infrastructure.
Year: 2018