IIC’s Vertical Standards Landscape reference paper: A guidance for IIoT standards

The Industry IoT Consortium (IIC) published its Vertical Standards Landscape reference paper to provide guidance on which standards are most relevant to industrial IoT adopters from certain vertical industries.

“This reference paper follows up on our previous paper proposing an IIoT standards strategy,” said Erin Bournival, distinguished engineer, office of the corporate CTO at Dell Technologies, co-chair of the IIC Standards Task Group and co-author of the paper. “Organizations can achieve enhanced integration, interoperability, compliance, and cost efficiency by adopting the appropriate IIoT-related standards that have been developed for their specific industries.”

The reference paper identifies 35 such standards, classified into three sections:

• Domain-Specific IoT Standards: Specific standards tailored to certain vertical industries (manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, energy) and their IoT systems
• Domain-Supporting Standards: Standards that, while not IoT-specific, offer support for domain-specific IoT developments
• Cross-Domain Standards: Standards with applications spanning multiple domains.

IIC explains in a press statement that these IIoT standards can unlock the following benefits for organizations:

• Simplified connectivity: Standards prevent the proliferation of one-to-one interfaces, facilitating the connection of systems.
• Operational and enterprise integration: IIoT requires integrating operational technology (OT) with IT standards, avoiding silos, and facilitating a system of systems approach.
• Avoidance of vendor lock-in: Standards increase the substitutability of components, reducing dependence on specific vendors and facilitating interoperability.
• Compliance and safety: Meeting regulatory requirements through standards enhances safety and security in IIoT systems.
• Cost-efficient training: Adopting standards reduces the training costs associated with proprietary technologies.