Newly published: NE178 NAMUR Open Architecture Verification of Request

The newly published NAMUR recommendation NE178 contains detailed recommendations for the administration and operation of VoR (Verification of Request) systems. 

The use of modern IT technologies in combination with proven and secure OT architectures is essential in order to recognize and exploit market advantages. To achieve this, information must be securely exchanged between the IT/OT areas. NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA, NE175) describes an additive architecture for exchanging information between the three areas of OT/core automation (CPC), plant specific optimization (psM+O) and central monitoring and optimization (M+O). By using open information models (NE176), aggregation servers (NE179) and security gateways (NE177), NOA makes CPC information accessible to a variety of applications in the psM+O and M+O domains. NOA Verification of Request (VoR) is another piece of the NOA puzzle: It describes how information (recommendations for action) from the “external” psM+O can be communicated back into OT/CPC in a highly automated manner without jeopardizing the availability or safety of the plant. 

The NAMUR recommendation NE178/VoR: 

• Describes a system-of-systems architecture distributed between psM+O and CPC. 

• Describes a series of necessary, sequential information processing steps. (authentication & authorization, verification, mapping, acceptance and mapping verification) that must be applied so that information can be communicated securely and reliably between the IT/OT areas. 

• Protects the know-how about the internal architecture and specific automation of a system. 

• Describes a feedback mechanism that informs the issuer of a request about the processing status without revealing internal system information. 

NE178 contains detailed recommendations for the administration and operation of VoR systems. Simplified application examples are also listed. 

For further information www.namur.net