Sharing the tools, sharing the knowledge. Practical insights, tutorials, and deeper dives to help your team get more from your systems.
As Cogent DataHub continues to evolve, version 11.04 delivers a focused set of enhancements that build on the powerful foundation introduced with the V11 major release. This update prioritizes ...
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If you've been following along with our latest blog posts, you've probably heard Kepware Edge mentioned alongside the newly released version 7 of TOP Server. The question you may have now is: where ...
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As we leave 2025 behind us and welcome 2026, it’s clear that industrial connectivity and digital transformation continue to be front and center. All year long, Software Toolbox’s technical blog ...
In today’s industrial world, data is king - but only if it’s accessible, accurate, and connected. Unfortunately, many organizations face a sneaky intruder: the Data Grinch. Unlike its Christmas ...
By now, you’ve probably heard that TOP Server V7 has officially landed. Maybe you’ve seen the announcements or caught a quick overview along the way. But if you find yourself wondering, “Okay, but ...
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In the ever-growing digital landscape of manufacturing operations, single use solutions & applications may solve issues, but also create their own data silos. These silos present multiple ...
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Your organization has a custom developed application that performs important tasks, and you need to provide access to that software from an HMI, SCADA, Historian, MES, or other system acting as an ...
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While Halloween and this time of year offers a few good scares, our customers in manufacturing face year-round nightmares that are far less fun: connectivity issues that stop production and ...
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OmniServer is a universal data acquisition application designed to bi-directionally exchange data with a wide range of Ethernet, serial, or USB devices that use “non-standard protocols” such as weigh ...
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Since 2016, LGH File Inspector has been the trusted tool for AVEVA™ InTouch HMI users who need quick, reliable access to their historical data. Whether it’s pulling files from network drives, ...
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Downtime is expensive — sometimes costing thousands of dollars every minute, a line sits idle. Traditional maintenance approaches often fall into one of two traps: reacting after something breaks or ...
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As technical consultants at Software Toolbox, we are often approached by users who need to expose data from a software application they have written, or are writing, to communicate from systems they ...
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When your industrial operations depend on continuous OPC UA client-server communication, even short disruptions can ripple into major consequences. OPC UA session timeouts act as a built-in ...
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Welcome back to our blog! In our previous post, Protecting Historical Data Integrity Using Store & Forward, we walked through several architectures that leverage Cogent DataHub to securely ...
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Are you looking for a simple way to bring live process data into Power BI for dashboards and visualization? OPC Router’s REST plug-in provides a flexible and secure way to push data from your ...
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Software Toolbox attends a wide variety of customer and networking events throughout the year. Each one gives us valuable opportunities to connect with our customers, exchange ideas with peers, and ...
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In today’s fast-evolving oil and gas industry, accurate and reliable Electronic Flow Measurement (EFM) data is critical for custody transfer, regulatory compliance, and optimizing production. Yet ...
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Welcome back to the Summer of IoT Blog Series. In this blog we’ll explore how Cogent DataHub’s External Historian and built-in Store and Forward features ensure efficient data flow without risking ...
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Welcome to the Summer of IoT! As part of our Summer of IoT blog series, we spotlight practical ways to simplify and accelerate your digital transformation journey. In this second post, we’re diving ...
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Welcome to the launch of Software Toolbox’s Summer of IoT blog series for 2025. In the coming posts, we’ll explore how our solutions support the evolving world of the Industrial Internet of Things ...
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On June 26, 2025, Software Toolbox hosted a live panel discussion that brought together three industry subject matter experts. They explored how organizations can unify data across legacy and modern ...
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Shared Challenges, Shared Progress In an industry defined by precision, tight timelines, and rapid innovation, collaboration isn’t optional — it’s essential. That may seem counterintuitive, ...
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We’re in your corner, not your lane At Software Toolbox, we deeply value the partnerships we have with our System Integrators. Their deep industry knowledge and hands-on expertise are key to ...
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Integrating with SAP: A Simple Guide Using OPC Router In many industrial environments, getting real-time data from machines into SAP can feel like a complex, code-heavy challenge. Whether triggering ...
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A major pharmaceutical company struggled with manual, error-prone data extraction for monthly compliance reporting within their utilities department. The team was reliant on fragile Excel macros ...
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If you’ve ever had to dig into historical data, you know that being able to easily access and understand it is key for gaining insights and decision making. Without the right tools, retrieving and ...
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A leading UK retailer, serving millions of customers through an extensive store network, set out to modernize aging infrastructure in its high-throughput distribution centers. Burdened by legacy ...
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As the Industry 4.0 movement transforms industrial automation, engineers and system administrators are tasked with managing more devices, across more locations, and under tighter security policies. ...
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In the Industry 4.0 movement we are in today, companies going through the digital transformation process have to turn data into information and get it in the structures people want, how they want it ...
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In the oil and gas industry, data drives everything—from production optimization to regulatory compliance and remote asset management. But in an environment with geographically dispersed assets, ...
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Happy belated Earth Day! We hope you took the time on Tuesday to enjoy the great outdoors or made a plan to get outside this weekend. Perhaps you did neither and instead decided to put your reusable ...
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While security and ease of project execution are often the focus when discussing remote configuration, they’re just the beginning. In this post for our 2025 Environmental Sustainability blog series, ...
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When it comes to Earth Day, conversations often center on renewable energy and reducing raw materials—but true sustainability goes far beyond solar panels and recycling bins. One of the most ...
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How a Common Data Infrastructure is Helping Amcor Meet its Net Zero Goals We are celebrating World Earth Day all month long and recognize that sustainability is not just about using eco-friendly ...
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For OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), delivering high-performance machinery is an absolute requirement. However, their true measurement of success lies with ensuring long-term reliability and ...
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Oil and gas is a complex, high-risk, high-reward industry affected by factors like operational challenges, frequent system configuration change, buying/selling of field assets, environmental risks, ...
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Each year, National Napping Day recognizes our need for rest the day following the return of daylight saving time, when many of us shift our clocks forward one hour. If you are one of the many who ...
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Now that we’ve proved it at the recent ProveIt! 2025 Conference, I want to give our technical teams a break from providing our usual deep technical content. They will be back next week for sure, but ...
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Last week Software Toolbox was one of the 39 vendors exhibiting and presenting at the ProveIt! Conference in Dallas (check out the other ones we'll be at). We hardly noticed the freezing cold Texas ...
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A global beverage manufacturer sought to modernize its data workflows by integrating operational technology (OT) with enterprise systems. Specifically, they needed to transfer real-time data from ...
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There is nothing like talking to each other in person and establishing that individual connection Do you get tons of invitations to various events and wonder “Why should I go? Is this worth my time? ...
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Although Cogent DataHub is best known for its wide range of connectivity interfaces, its intuitive design for configuring and using its features—both locally and remotely—is equally important for ...
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Streamline Operations, Improve Visibility, Enable Compliance, and Drive Success In the highly regulated and fast-paced oil and gas industry, leveraging real-time, secure data is crucial for improving ...
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Over the last several years, it has become a beloved tradition to start the new blog year with a review of the most popular content the team at Software Toolbox put together to build your automation ...
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When working with Modbus communication, understanding the key concept of function codes is essential for ensuring efficient and accurate data exchange. Sometimes a device manual might only refer to ...
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IoT, IIoT, MQTT, Big Data, and The Cloud—these tools and technologies are shaping the future of various industries. But how do you actually bring your critical process or control data into the cloud ...
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When you hear "EFM data", you probably think of well-known Oil & Gas devices like ABB TotalFlow, Fisher ROC, or OMNI Flow and their native protocols, or perhaps Enron Modbus. However, the Oil ...
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Redundancy is a broad concept, as explored in our Demystifying Redundancy Blog. In this post, we narrow the focus on how to manage redundant OPC servers—a critical topic for ensuring reliable process ...
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Welcome back to our Data Storage Deep Dive series! In our previous post, we demonstrated how Cogent DataHub can integrate with AVEVA PI System to push data to CONNECT Data Services. However, with ...
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Secure data transmission between the Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) layers is a critical concern in industrial automation. Traditional methods often expose critical ...
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When working with Modbus devices and TOP Server, one critical factor that can significantly influence communication efficiency is the concept of block sizes. Optimizing block sizes for your ...
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Welcome back to our Data Storage Deep Dive Series, where we continue to explore innovative ways to integrate our industrial automation software solutions with enterprise-level historians. In one of ...
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Risk is often defined as the likelihood that something will occur multiplied by the impact it would have. In the world of automation, some of those possible impacts are unexpected downtime, loss of ...
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In today’s industrial environments, securing and streamlining data communication is essential. If you're not familiar with OPC Router, it’s a powerful software solution that integrates various ...
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Software Toolbox has provided AVEVA™ (formerly Wonderware) users, integrators, OEMs, and channel partners in over 100 countries with best-in-class connectivity solutions since 1996. Many of you will ...
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Welcome back to our Data Storage Deep Dive series, where we have been exploring the possibilities of integrating our variety of industrial automation software solutions with historians to allow for a ...
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The TOP Server® from Software Toolbox and KEPServerEX® from the Kepware division of PTC® are well known connectivity solutions for extracting industrial automation data from PLCs and other devices, ...
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Welcome to the next installment of our Data Storage Deep Dive series! For years, Software Toolbox has been synonymous with terms like “device connectivity” and “data integration” thanks to our ...
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Welcome to the kickoff post of our Data Storage Deep Dive blog series! In this series, we will explore the crucial role of data storage solutions and Historians in industrial automation. Over the ...
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OmniServer is a universal data acquisition software application designed to bi-directionally retrieve information from a wide range of Ethernet, serial, or USB devices that use 'non-standard' ...
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Building on last week’s Cogent DataHub v11 Security Enhancements Deep Dive blog, this post dives into a practical application of these security enhancement by focusing on the implementation of ...
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As briefly shared in our blog “Cogent DataHub V11 Features to Be Excited About”, Cogent DataHub has expanded its security configuration and options in the v11 release, offering even greater ...
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Though you may have never needed to contact Software Toolbox for support, it’s always smart to be ready for any challenges that might arise. That’s why it’s helpful to know the resources you have at ...
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If you've been keeping up with our Summer of IoT blog series, you've likely noticed our in-depth exploration of Software Toolbox solutions and the use of MQTT for IoT applications. In this latest ...
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As part of our ongoing Summer of IoT Blog Series, this week we will continue to review the exciting new release of Cogent DataHub Version 11. In a previous post, Cogent DataHub V11 Features to Be ...
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As OPC UA has grown in it's adoption, more device vendors are implementing OPC UA interfaces on their PLCs and other devices to increase interoperability. OPC UA has been proven to be an adaptable ...
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Continuing our Summer of IoT blog series, we'll delve into the exciting new release of Cogent DataHub V11. For those that may have missed our previous post on Cogent DataHub V11 Features to Be ...
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Welcome back to our Summer of IoT blog series! This week, we are excited to announce the release of OmniServer Version 3.4.0.1 which in the professional edition, now includes MQTT client capability, ...
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As we continue our Summer of IoT blog series, this week we'll turn our focus to the V11 release of Cogent DataHub, a powerful platform known for its ability to seamlessly connect to a wide range of ...
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Welcome back to our Summer of IoT blog series! In this third installment, we continue our journey through the fascinating world of IoT, delving deeper into the transformative technologies Software ...
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Welcome back to our Summer of IoT blog series! We hope that last week’s introduction to the series created excitement as we continue to explore how our IoT solutions can help you achieve even greater ...
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Welcome to the kickoff of Software Toolbox’s Summer of IoT blog series! Over the next few blog posts, we’ll discuss how our products can play a role in the exciting world of Internet of Things (IoT), ...
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Originally developed by the American Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, BACnet (short for Building Automation and Control Network) is a communications protocol primarily used in ...
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In the ever-changing landscape of industrial control, the ability to establish connections and facilitate efficient data exchange between different technologies is crucial. With digital ...
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The TOP Server OPC server is known for its ability to collect real-time data from a wide range of devices, using off-the-shelf industry standard protocols. However, challenges arise when not all ...
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Sometimes we are approached by users and integrators with very specific business demands, and an off-the-shelf OPC client solution isn't always the answer to their problems. As they explore the fully ...
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Cogent DataHub enables users to integrate diverse data sources quickly and efficiently within their industrial automation ecosystems. By providing multiple ways to consume, organize, and deliver ...
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Software Toolbox’s solutions play a pivotal role throughout multiple renewable energy sectors. However, our solutions don't only help with the day-to-day creation of renewable energy but also the ...
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Happy early Earth Day! And welcome back to our Environmental Sustainability series, where we explore the pivotal role of innovation in safeguarding our planet. In this third installment, our focus ...
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There is significant growth in companies offloading their applications, data management, files, and content to cloud hosted systems. While this is great for a multitude of reasons, have you wondered ...
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In this first installment of our 2024 Environmental Sustainability Blog Series, we’re going to piggyback on last year’s Waste Reduction blog post, and take things a step farther – how can you ...
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Those of you who are aware of OmniServer will already know that it is primarily used to retrieve information from devices that use 'non-standard' protocols to communicate, such as weigh scales, ...
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Have you ever been confused on the difference between Modbus offsets and addresses? I’m sure you may have configured different Modbus devices from different manufacturers who follow different ...
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If you’re an existing user or you’ve been keeping up with our previously released Cogent DataHub blogs, you’re already aware that Cogent DataHub is renowned for its extensive connectivity options to ...
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TOP Server is widely used in automation for data collection from your industrial control systems. One of the many benefits of using TOP Server is that it ensures data integrity – meaning that the ...
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DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) is a communications protocol primarily used for communications between a client application such as HMI, SCADA, or Historian and Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) or ...
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OPC Router is a powerful tool that can be used to easily integrate large quantities of data from a variety of sources using its modular configuration, adding value to a variety of industrial, ...
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When logging data to a database or text file, the way that data is presented is essential due to the implications it has for who, or what, is reading this data to make decisions. Without the correct ...
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Software Toolbox has been a fixture in the automation industry since 1996, offering software tools and components from project conception to completion. Our expert staff is committed to helping ...
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Unlike off-the-shelf OPC servers and drivers that talk to specific devices or protocols and no others, OmniServer can be configured to talk to virtually any device or combination of serial, USB, or ...
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Welcome to our most popular blog post of the year! Each year we publish this blog post to help you learn, grow, and support empowering you to improve your business. This post is our 7th annual ...
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If you've been keeping up with our previously released Cogent DataHub blogs, you're already aware that Cogent DataHub is renowned for its extensive connectivity. However, it's worth emphasizing that ...
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In the world of industrial automation and control systems, communication protocols play a crucial role in ensuring seamless data exchange between devices. Modbus started as a protocol used in ...
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To achieve operational and business goals, many industrial automation system architectures are designed to push and pull data from a multitude of sources and destinations that come with a variety of ...
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Cogent DataHub is primarily known for its extensive connectivity to OPC DA, OPC UA, OPC A&E, Databases, Historians, Excel, ODBC, DDE, Linux, Modbus and more. However, it is worth noting that this ...
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Developers that have leveraged our OPC Data Client toolkit for their custom OPC client development needs know that we’ve historically supported Python as a COM development language, but that had ...
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MQTT continues to grow in popularity and implementation within the industrial automation community. For those who are still new and learning about this protocol, MQTT is a light-weight transfer ...
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Whether you're running a production system in manufacturing, oil and gas, building automation, or energy, safety and uptime are of the utmost importance, especially with cybersecurity attacks ...
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In today's business landscape, the exchange and storage of data plays a pivotal role in ensuring efficient and robust operations. Whether operating in sectors like Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, ...
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Your operations visibility relies on real-time data from machinery, systems, and field devices. When there are communications issues resulting in loss of or inaccurate data, addressing issues ...
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