In the rapidly evolving world of discrete manufacturing, choosing the right Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software solution can make all the difference in optimizing production efficiency, quality, and overall operational performance. With so many options on the market, finding the best MES provider for your specific needs can be a daunting task. To help guide your decision-making, we’ve distilled the latest competitive ranking from ABI Research, reviewing the 18 MES software providers targeting discrete manufacturers. In this blog post, we will explore the standout capabilities and key differentiators of the top six MES vendors, providing valuable insights to help you make an informed choice.
Data centers are the backbone of modern business and consumer applications, hosting vast amounts of information in the cloud. Everything from Artificial Intelligence (AI) use cases to online gaming platforms rely on data centers for proper data storage and management. As the world becomes more digitally native, data centers will generate higher Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and deplete more of Earth’s natural resources. This makes the need for green data centers all the more dire as governments race to meet global sustainability goals.
Low-Carbon Fuels (LCFs) and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies are critical to achieving Net Zero Emissions (NZE). These decarbonization solutions are expected to see significantly wider adoption throughout the decade as government policies mandate sustainability goals and organizations aim to promote a positive brand image in customers' eyes.
Monetizing 5G further requires telcos to unlock novel applications that enterprises and consumers cannot get from legacy networks. For that, they need third-party developers, for both consumer and enterprise applications. However, developers must have seamless access to various network infrastructures to create these applications. This is why network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) play an essential role for telcos.
ABI Research forecasts that aerospace manufacturers will spend US$33.6 billion on digitalization in 2024, ballooning to US$53.8 billion by 2034. This increase in digital spending represents an enormous opportunity for technology suppliers to offer solutions that can increase production volume, reduce carbon emissions, provide operational visibility, and test new product designs. The Dassault Systèmes, PTCs, and Siemens of the world will be critical facilitators of digitalizing aerospace operations, enabling firms to optimize their entire value chain and meet surging demand.
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) solutions have historically struggled to gain traction in the industrial markets, with industrial organizations traditionally favoring tried and tested fixed cable over what they view as unreliable wireless. Yet recent technical advances in WLAN, including 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8), and Standard Power 6 Gigahertz (6 GHz), are enabling WLAN to handle more complex and more demanding industrial tasks for the first time. Alongside this, industrial organizations are increasingly in need of WLAN to service the new mission-critical applications (e.g., Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)) that depend upon wireless. These developments are helping to expand the addressable market for industrial WLAN, and ABI Research forecasts that annual ruggedized industrial WLAN Access Point (AP) shipments will increase from 3.2 million in 2024 to 4.9 million in 2030.
Laser satellite communication (also called lasercom) is a subset of free-space optical communication, presenting significant advantages over Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Laser satellite users can expect increased data rates (bandwidth), enabling them to send and receive far more information than traditional radio waves. With major satellite players like Starlink and Amazon Project Kuiper investing in the technology, there is broader attention being paid to Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs).
Cyberattacks on Internet of Things (IoT) devices are on the rise, with 8 in 10 organizations having experienced an IoT attack. Companies in the healthcare, utilities and industrial, retail and supply chain, wearables, smart home, and connected car markets are the most at risk of an IoT breach. Some of the biggest mistakes organizations make include:
Gaming and social media are most often associated with the term metaverse, but other applications—notably Extended Reality (XR) in the enterprise—have been leading in the XR market. Digital twins, simulation tools, edge and cloud computing, and professional services/platforms lay the groundwork for future metaverse use cases. This blog post will review these technological underpinnings and discuss the key applications already being used today across industries.
Signaling was a major security vulnerability for legacy cellular generations (2G, 3G, and 4G), opening the gate to signaling storms, SS7 and Diameter-based exploitation, spam, and fraud. While it’s easy to assume 5G networks would be immune to such cyberattacks, this isn’t the case. Many 5G deployments are hybrid (also using legacy connectivity) and are Non-Standalone (NSA), making it essential that signaling continues to be a core focus of telco security solutions. Even for 5G Standalone (SA) networks, threat actors will adapt and leverage more elaborate schemes.
