What is EmberNet?
EmberNet is a secure, multi-tenant platform for monitoring and automating industrial infrastructure. It connects the equipment and edge hardware at your sites to EmberCORE, its operations console, without opening a single inbound port, and deploys the industrial applications you run at the edge.
What it does
Industrial monitoring
EmberCORE reads equipment directly with read-only collectors for OPC UA, Modbus, S7comm, EtherNet/IP, MTConnect, FINS, MELSEC, BACnet/IP, DNP3, and 3D printers, and reaches PROFINET, EtherCAT, HART, CANopen, and FANUC equipment through the controllers and gateways in front of them. Network equipment is polled over SNMP. See Device Connectivity and SNMP Configuration.
Every reading carries its quality, so a value that could not be read shows as unknown rather than zero.
Alerts that reach people
EmberCORE raises alerts for devices that go offline or degrade, sites that go down, storage that is at risk, and clusters that stop answering. Every alert rings the bell in the console. Critical ones also go out by email, and as phone push notifications to anyone who has turned phone alerts on. Alert rules can also post to a webhook for your paging or chat tools. See Alerts & Notifications.
Edge applications
The App Store deploys industrial applications onto your edge nodes: CODESYS PLC runtimes, Ignition Edge, HotLoop, Node-RED, historians, rules engines, and monitoring. Apps run next to the equipment, and their interfaces open in EmberCORE wherever the node is.
Zero-trust security
Every connection is authenticated, authorized, and encrypted. There is no VPN to build and no inbound port to open, because nothing dials in. Access is granted between cryptographic identities rather than between network addresses, so there is no flat network to move laterally across.
See Zero-Trust Networking and Flux.
Multi-tenant operation
One platform runs many independent organizations, which is what makes it workable for managed service providers and for enterprises with several business units. Each organization gets its own data, its own users and roles, and no visibility into anyone else's.
Isolation is enforced on the server, not by hiding buttons in the interface. See Multi-Tenancy.
The pieces
| Component | What it is |
|---|---|
| EmberCORE | The operations console |
| EmberRTOS | Fireball's immutable edge operating system, with an optional real-time kernel |
| EmberNet Endpoint | The Windows and Linux client that joins a host to the fabric |
| App Store | Curated industrial apps deployed to edge nodes |
| Flux, ArcNet, Cinder, AnvilMQ | Networking, storage, and messaging, built in |
Partners
Hardware partner
| Partner | What they bring |
|---|---|
| Velasea | Edge servers, NVRs, and industrial computing platforms (Iron Link series) |
Software and technology partners
| Partner | What they bring |
|---|---|
| Inductive Automation | SCADA and HMI through Ignition |
| Sorba.ai | Machine learning for industrial data |
| CODESYS | IEC 61131-3 automation runtimes. An approved Technology Partner; the announcement is pending. |
Who uses it
- Manufacturing: production line monitoring, quality control, predictive maintenance
- Energy and utilities: grid monitoring, renewable asset management, SCADA integration
- Water and wastewater: treatment plant monitoring, pump station automation
- Building automation: HVAC, lighting, environmental monitoring
- Oil and gas: pipeline monitoring, wellhead automation, safety systems
Next steps
- Architecture: how the platform is built
- Multi-Tenancy: the multi-tenant design
- System Requirements: what you need to deploy it