Atos Business Outcome-as-a-Service (Atos BOaaS) is a 5G cloud application that allows engineers to collect and analyze data from connected devices throughout a company. The application aims to provide engineers with an efficient way to improve processes by correcting and automating on-site operations.
Atos BOaaS is the product of a continued partnership between Atos and Dell Technologies. The solution relies on Dell’s Streaming Data Platform to simplify on-site functionality, support and scaling.
Atos estimates the BoaaS app will allow clients to decrease their overall carbon footprint by hundreds of tons of CO2 per year per client. This estimate is based on the number of truck rolls, or times a technician has been sent to a client, that the app helps clients avoid.
Additional Benefits for Corporations
One advantage of Atos BOaaS is that a company can save time and money on employee training.
“[It makes tasks] a lot easier because you can just query the data the exact same way. They [workers] don’t have to learn two different technologies. They don’t have to learn two different ways of accessing the data. Training and inference [are] done the same,” says Arnaud Langer, Global Head of Product Management, 5G, Edge & IoT Center of Excellence at Atos to engineering.com.
Langer explains that use of the cloud allows Atos BOaaS to offer “hardware as a service.” Intelligent software that connects and authenticates a user helps a client avoid waiting weeks to receive and connect a device.
Atos BOaaS claims it is distinguished from similar applications developed by competitors because it can hyperscale. It also combines the use of the cloud with computing at the edge and far edge in a unique way.
Think of it this way: operational technology (OT) environments, the hardware and software that control processes and devices for a company, are typically isolated from the outside world. In this scenario, having a set of IoT devices that is governed from the cloud is not possible. In addition, customers in this scenario do not typically agree to have data sent to the cloud as it is expensive.
The solution is to utilize air gapping, when a secure computer network is physically isolated from unsecured networks on the factory floor. This becomes the far edge. The office space close to the factory floor becomes the edge. The next environment covered by the app is the cloud.
“Each of [these environments] is separated by a firewall. Our solution has been designed to allow a cloud infrastructure to be receiving data from the far edge but not see the edge directly. That way we prevent attacks and preserve the security of the ecosystem,” says Langer.
Other desirable traits of Atos BOaaS include the ability to act quickly and automatically in an emergency. If the app collects data that shows an imminent equipment failure, this could trigger a series of automated actions, including ordering new hardware and alerting the maintenance crew.
Atos BOaaS contains an App Market. This feature allows a client to choose what task to perform, such as temperature or vibration monitoring. The Atos Computer Vision platform, which is available on the App Market, allows a client to run AI and scenario-based analytics on existing video surveillance equipment.
Another selling point of Atos BOaaS is that it is a zero-touch deployment model. Settings, configurations and applications are automatically and securely made available on the devices. From the cloud, a client’s team can modify thousands of devices at the far edge.
An Example From the Factory Floor
One of the complex tasks for which Atos BOaaS is used is predictive maintenance. A manufacturing facility with hundreds or thousands of sensors could ship that sensor data to an inference cluster at the office space. The company’s teams can connect to the cloud, access new information provided by inference, and use a messaging app to discuss concerns. The scenario reveals how Atos BOaaS bridges the gap between the far edge and remote workers.
Other workplaces in which Atos BOaaS provides useful knowledge include retail stores, in which sensors monitor product movement, track locations and predict delivery times. Atos BOaaS is also beneficial for theme parks, in which sensors collect information about repairs and upgrades of rides.
Atos improved BOaaS’s utility by enhancing the app’s ability to automate. For the future, Atos is working to improve AI in the app, but Langer wouldn’t be more specific than that.