Organizations are increasingly embracing cloud computing to support new applications, keeping pace with ever-increasing quantities of data, and fluctuating customer demands.  Software Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WANs), as a hardware appliance, was a necessary first step as it supported the transition from legacy systems, and could handle the workloads and complexities of multi-cloud distribution.

Recent technological advancements in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and computer vision have enabled manufacturers to greatly increase self-driving capability in vehicles. The major benefits of autonomous vehicles include lowering fuel consumption, reducing CO2 emission, and decreasing congestion. Major automaker companies, technology giants, and specialist start-ups have continued to invest and develop autonomous vehicles, and have even begun testing their driverless cars in many regions in the US and EU.

As we transform into the digital smart city era, Intelligent Transport System (ITS) becomes an indispensable component. ITS technologies help cities manage traffic flow, idle vehicle time, congestion relief, and lower emission from reduction of idling and sitting in traffic. Many cities have implemented some upgrades including wireless networks, connected streetlights, surveillance cameras, to improve their existing infrastructures and further enhance capabilities and efficiency. 

Refuge chambers or emergency shelters are heavy duty steel boxes constructed to withstand overpressure of 15 PSI without deformation; each of these chambers is typically comprised of a small airlock chamber and a main chamber, capable of housing up to 20 or more people working in hazardous settings/industries such as underground mining. In the event of an unforeseen disaster caused by fires, floods, rock-falls, or explosions, these chambers, equipped with life-support systems that stay online for several days even when cut off from the main air and power supplies, are the last resort to which everyone involved would escape. 

OT and IT networks operate in different environments, serve different purposes, and have different objectives and risks. IT systems primarily involves storage, retrieval, and transmission of digital information, thus will prioritize protecting data and confidentiality. An OT system will prioritize the safety and availability of equipment and processes.

The current global pandemic has changed many aspects of our lifestyle, pushing internet traffic up to enable employees to work from home, students studying and playing more at home, and enterprises shifting to online business models. This broadband internet increase demand is driving communications service providers (CoSPs) scrambling to increase capacity and improve performance for remote users.

For aging power utility to transform and develop into a modern substation automation system with smart grid technologies, the need for rugged computing platforms with faster processors and reliable storage capacity is essential. The many applications found in a digital substation, including intelligent human-machine interfaces (HMIs) for communication and operator terminals, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems require high performance hardware to ensure safe operation.