IT vs OT: Key Differences, Security Risks, and IT/OT Convergence

IT vs OT is one of the most critical distinctions in modern manufacturing, representing two fundamentally different technology ecosystems: Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). Understanding how these systems differ—and how to secure and integrate them—isn’t just a technical necessity. It’s a competitive advantage that prevents downtime, reduces cyber risk, and unlocks operational efficiency.

What is Information Technology (IT)?

Information Technology encompasses the systems, software, and infrastructure that manage your business data and enable enterprise operations. IT systems handle everything from email and databases to enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and business intelligence platforms.

Your IT infrastructure manages data storage and processing, enterprise communications like email and video conferencing, business applications for finance and accounting, and customer and supplier management systems. These systems increasingly rely on cloud services and software-as-a-service applications that enable flexible, scalable operations.

The defining characteristics of IT systems reflect their business-oriented nature. They prioritize data confidentiality and integrity above all else, stay connected to external networks and the internet for collaboration and communication, and receive regular updates and patches on monthly or quarterly cycles. IT systems use standardized protocols like TCP/IP, HTTP, and HTTPS that enable straightforward connectivity. Most IT equipment has a typical lifecycle of three to five years before replacement, designed with flexibility and scalability as core requirements. When IT systems need maintenance, businesses can usually tolerate downtime measured in minutes to hours.

What is Operational Technology (OT)?

Operational Technology refers to the hardware and software systems that monitor and control physical devices, processes, and infrastructure in industrial environments. OT directly manages your production operations, making it the backbone of manufacturing execution.

OT systems include Industrial Control Systems (ICS), which serve as the umbrella term for all control systems used in industrial operations. Within this category, you'll find Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems that provide centralized monitoring and control, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) that execute real-time control logic, and Distributed Control Systems (DCS) that manage complex continuous processes. Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) provide operators with visualization and control capabilities, while Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) protect people and equipment from hazardous conditions. Building Management Systems (BMS) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) round out the OT ecosystem.

The characteristics of OT systems stand in stark contrast to IT. OT prioritizes safety, availability, and reliability above everything else. These systems were historically air-gapped or completely isolated from external networks, receiving infrequent updates—often annually or only when absolutely necessary during planned shutdowns. OT environments rely on proprietary and industrial protocols like Modbus, Profibus, OPC-UA, EtherNet/IP, and DeviceNet rather than standard internet protocols. Equipment lifecycles stretch fifteen to twenty-five years in operation, designed for stability and deterministic performance rather than flexibility. In OT, downtime tolerance is essentially zero because every minute of stopped production directly costs money. Real-time processing happens in milliseconds, where timing precision can mean the difference between safe operation and catastrophic failure.

IT vs OT: Understanding the Real Differences

Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) are often discussed together, but they were created to solve very different problems. Before connecting these systems, it’s critical to understand where they differ and why those differences matter in real-world manufacturing environments.

Simply put, IT manages information, while OT controls physical processes. IT systems support business operations such as finance, planning, communication, and analytics. OT systems directly run machines, production lines, and safety-critical infrastructure. Because OT interacts with the physical world, its requirements for reliability, timing, and safety are far stricter than those of IT systems.

The table below summarizes the most important distinctions between IT and OT.

IT vs OT: Side-by-Side Comparison

Dimension	Information Technology (IT)	Operational Technology (OT)
Primary Role	Manage business data and digital workflows	Control and monitor physical equipment
Main Priority	Efficiency, data integrity, and confidentiality	Safety, availability, and reliability
Operating Environment	Offices, data centers, cloud platforms	Factory floors, plants, field locations
Typical Systems	ERP, CRM, email, databases, cloud apps	PLCs, SCADA, DCS, HMIs, SIS, MES
What Is Controlled	Information and processes	Machines and industrial operations
Impact of Downtime	Reduced productivity and service disruption	Production stoppage and safety risk
Downtime Tolerance	Minutes to hours	Near zero
Response Time Requirements	Seconds to minutes	Milliseconds to seconds
System Lifecycle	3–5 years	15–25+ years
Patch & Update Frequency	Regular and frequent	Rare and carefully scheduled
Connectivity Model	Internet and cloud by default	Historically isolated, now selectively connected
Protocols Used	TCP/IP, HTTP/HTTPS, REST, SQL	Modbus, OPC-UA, Profibus, EtherNet/IP
Security Priority Model	CIA: Confidentiality → Integrity → Availability	AIC: Availability → Integrity → Confidentiality
Security Approach	Patching, endpoint security, zero trust	Segmentation, monitoring, minimal disruption
Change Management Style	Fast and iterative	Slow, controlled, and risk-averse
Failure Consequences	Data loss or system outage	Equipment damage, safety incidents
Regulatory Emphasis	Data protection and compliance	Safety and critical infrastructure protection
Typical Skill Sets	IT, networking, cybersecurity	Automation, electrical, mechanical engineering

The Growing Convergence of IT and OT

Historically, IT and OT operated in complete isolation. Your factory floor systems never touched corporate networks, and your business systems had no visibility into production processes. This separation provided natural security but created information silos that limited operational intelligence and prevented data-driven decision making.

Today, Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and smart manufacturing initiatives are driving unprecedented IT/OT convergence. Manufacturers are connecting production equipment to business systems to enable real-time production monitoring and analytics, predictive maintenance based on equipment data, automated supply chain integration, quality management with immediate feedback loops, and energy optimization across operations. Remote monitoring and control capabilities that were once impossible are now becoming standard expectations.

This convergence is driven by shared goals that benefit from integration. Both IT and OT teams want operational efficiency and cost reduction, data-driven decision making, improved asset utilization, and enhanced quality control. Regulatory compliance and reporting requirements increasingly demand integrated data from both environments. Perhaps most compellingly, competitive advantage now flows from digital transformation that breaks down the walls between business and operational systems.

Despite their differences, IT and OT systems share more similarities than many realize. Both require robust access controls and authentication mechanisms. Both generate valuable data for business insights when properly captured and analyzed. Both face increasing cybersecurity threats that demand attention. Both benefit from modern technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing. Both require skilled personnel for effective management and maintenance. And both are absolutely critical to business continuity—failure in either domain can cripple operations.

The Critical Challenge: Cybersecurity in IT/OT Convergence

While IT/OT convergence delivers substantial benefits, it also creates significant cybersecurity risks. When you connect production systems to business networks—and potentially to the internet—you expose critical operational infrastructure to cyber threats that were previously impossible. Understanding these risks and implementing appropriate security measures isn't optional. It's essential for protecting your operations, your people, and your business.

Why OT Security Differs Fundamentally from IT Security

Traditional IT security assumptions simply don't apply in OT environments, creating dangerous gaps when IT security approaches are applied without modification. IT security relies heavily on regular patching and updates to address vulnerabilities. OT systems often can't be updated without production downtime, and some legacy equipment literally cannot be patched because vendors no longer support decades-old systems or the equipment lacks the computing resources for security updates.

The availability versus confidentiality trade-off creates fundamental conflicts between IT and OT security priorities. IT security teams will gladly take systems offline to patch critical vulnerabilities or investigate potential breaches. OT security must prioritize system availability and safety above all else—a security measure that stops production or creates safety risks is worse than the threat it prevents. This isn't about OT teams being lax about security. It's about the reality that stopping a production line costs thousands of dollars per minute, and certain security measures could literally endanger human lives.

System lifespan differences compound security challenges. IT equipment is replaced every few years, ensuring relatively current security capabilities. OT systems run for decades, meaning manufacturing facilities commonly operate equipment from the 1990s or early 2000s that was never designed with cybersecurity in mind. This equipment predates modern security threats and often lacks basic capabilities like encryption, authentication logging, or network security features.

Real-time requirements in OT systems prevent the use of many standard IT security tools and techniques. OT systems control physical processes with millisecond timing requirements where deterministic behavior is critical. Security measures that introduce latency, even small amounts, can cause safety issues or production failures. Network scans, intrusion detection systems, and other IT security tools that work perfectly in business networks can inadvertently crash industrial controllers or disrupt critical timing.

Legacy equipment presents perhaps the most intractable security challenge. Manufacturing facilities contain equipment from dozens of vendors spanning multiple decades. Much of this equipment was designed when industrial networks were completely isolated, so it has no security features whatsoever. Usernames and passwords might be hardcoded and unchangeable. Communications happen in cleartext with no encryption. These systems were built to last and they do their jobs perfectly—they just can't be secured using modern security practices.

Understanding Real Cybersecurity Threats to OT Systems

The threat landscape for OT environments is serious and growing. Ransomware attacks increasingly target manufacturing facilities because cybercriminals understand that production downtime pressure makes companies more likely to pay ransoms. A single ransomware attack can cost millions in downtime and recovery, even if no ransom is paid. Manufacturing targets are attractive because unlike IT systems where data can be restored from backups, stopping production creates immediate financial pain.

Nation-state attacks represent sophisticated threats to critical infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities. State-sponsored actors seek to disrupt operations, steal intellectual property, or establish persistent access for future attacks. These attacks are often discovered only after months or years of presence in target networks, during which time attackers map systems, exfiltrate data, and position themselves for maximum impact.

Insider threats from disgruntled employees or contractors with access to OT systems can cause significant damage through malicious action or negligent behavior. Someone with legitimate access and knowledge of industrial systems can bypass security controls that would stop external attackers. The damage can range from sabotage of production systems to theft of proprietary processes and formulations.

Supply chain compromises introduce vulnerabilities through third-party equipment, software, or vendor access. When a vendor's remote access credentials are compromised, attackers gain legitimate pathways into OT environments. Equipment may ship with malware pre-installed or contain undisclosed backdoors. Software updates from trusted vendors can be compromised to distribute malware to multiple customers simultaneously.

Perhaps ironically, unintentional disruptions from well-meaning IT actions cause frequent problems. IT security scans or updates applied to OT networks can inadvertently crash industrial systems that can't handle the traffic patterns or protocol variations. A network scan that's routine for IT systems might overwhelm a PLC that was never designed to handle that volume or type of network traffic.

Implementing Effective OT/IT Security

Network segmentation provides the foundational defense for converged IT/OT environments. Implementing defense-in-depth architecture with clear separation between IT and OT networks prevents threats from freely moving between environments. Industrial DMZs (demilitarized zones) control data flow between environments through strictly managed interfaces. The cardinal rule: never allow direct connectivity from the internet to OT networks, regardless of business pressure or convenience arguments.

Asset inventory and visibility seem basic but prove surprisingly challenging in practice. Maintaining comprehensive inventories of all OT assets including hardware specifications, software versions, communication protocols, and system dependencies requires ongoing effort. Shadow IT in OT—unauthorized equipment connected to industrial networks—creates unknown vulnerabilities. You cannot secure what you don't know exists, making discovery and inventory continuous processes rather than one-time projects.

Access control and authentication require careful implementation that balances security with operational requirements. Role-based access controls with the principle of least privilege ensure people can do their jobs but nothing more. Multi-factor authentication for remote access adds protection without adding excessive friction for legitimate users. Regular reviews of access permissions catch orphaned accounts and excessive privileges that accumulate over time.

Industrial security monitoring deploys OT-specific security tools that understand industrial protocols and can detect anomalous behavior without disrupting operations. Traditional IT security tools often aren't appropriate for OT environments because they don't understand industrial protocols, introduce unacceptable latency, or generate false positives that create alert fatigue. Purpose-built industrial security platforms can monitor traffic, detect threats, and alert security teams while respecting OT's unique requirements.

Vendor and third-party management controls one of the largest attack surfaces in OT environments. Carefully controlling vendor access to OT systems through jump servers, time-limited credentials, and continuous monitoring protects against both malicious actors and accidental damage. Every remote access session should be logged and auditable. Vendors should access only the specific systems they need, not entire network segments.

Backup and recovery planning takes on special importance in OT environments. Maintaining offline backups of critical OT configurations, PLC programs, HMI setups, and system documentation enables recovery when systems are compromised or fail. Testing recovery procedures regularly ensures they work when needed, because restoring OT systems is fundamentally different from IT recovery. You can't simply restore from last night's backup if that backup is months old or doesn't include the custom programming that makes your production line run.

Security awareness training must address the unique requirements of converged environments. IT staff need to understand OT constraints including real-time requirements, change management processes, and why their normal security tools can't be used without modification. OT staff need to understand cybersecurity fundamentals including threat landscapes, attack vectors, and security best practices. Building mutual understanding between IT and OT teams prevents dangerous assumptions and enables effective collaboration.

Regulatory compliance provides frameworks and requirements for industrial security. Industry-specific standards like IEC 62443 for industrial automation security, NERC-CIP for critical infrastructure protection, and NIST Cybersecurity Framework guidance for industrial systems establish baseline security practices. Compliance isn't just about checking boxes—these standards codify lessons learned from incidents across industries and provide structured approaches to industrial security.

Technical Deep Dive: Core OT Technologies

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) serves as the umbrella term for all control systems used in industrial operations. ICS includes SCADA systems, distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, and related technologies that monitor and control industrial processes across manufacturing, energy production, water treatment, chemical processing, and critical infrastructure sectors. Understanding ICS architecture and components is essential for securing and integrating OT environments.

SCADA systems provide supervisory control and data acquisition for geographically distributed processes. A SCADA system might monitor and control water treatment across an entire city, manage electrical generation and distribution across a region, or coordinate production across multiple manufacturing facilities. SCADA systems collect data from remote locations, provide centralized visualization and control, generate alarms when conditions exceed thresholds, and log historical data for analysis and compliance. Modern SCADA platforms increasingly integrate with IT systems for advanced analytics and business intelligence.

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) execute real-time control logic at the machine and process level. These ruggedized industrial computers run specialized programs that read sensors, make decisions based on programmed logic, and control actuators and equipment. PLCs operate in harsh industrial environments with extreme temperatures, vibration, electrical noise, and contamination that would destroy standard computers. They provide deterministic execution where timing is guaranteed, ensuring safety and process control requirements are met. PLCs use ladder logic, function block diagrams, or structured text programming languages designed for industrial applications rather than general-purpose computing.

Distributed Control Systems (DCS) manage complex continuous processes like chemical production, oil refining, or power generation. Unlike SCADA systems that supervise distributed operations, DCS provides integrated control of processes within a single facility. DCS architecture distributes control functions across multiple controllers for redundancy and performance, integrates control, operator interfaces, and engineering tools in unified platforms, and manages complex regulatory control strategies for maintaining product quality and process efficiency. DCS platforms represent significant investments with lifecycles often exceeding twenty years.

Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) provide the visualization and control capabilities that operators use to monitor and manage industrial processes. Modern HMIs display real-time process data through graphics, trends, and alarms, enable operators to adjust setpoints and control equipment, provide historical trending and reporting capabilities, and increasingly support mobile access for remote monitoring. HMI design significantly affects operator effectiveness and safety, making usability and information clarity critical considerations.

Industrial Protocols: The Languages of OT

Industrial protocols enable communication between OT devices but differ fundamentally from standard IT protocols. Modbus, developed in 1979, remains widely used for connecting industrial electronic devices. This simple, robust protocol enables PLCs, sensors, and other devices to communicate over serial connections or Ethernet networks. Modbus's age means it has no built-in security features—all communications are unencrypted and unauthenticated—but its ubiquity and simplicity ensure it will remain deployed for decades.

Profibus and Profinet serve as standard protocols in European manufacturing and are particularly common in automotive and process industries. Profibus operates over serial connections while Profinet runs on standard Ethernet, providing faster communications and more features. These Siemens-developed protocols dominate in certain industries and regions, creating integration challenges when connecting equipment from different vendors.

OPC-UA (OLE for Process Control - Unified Architecture) represents a modern, secure, and platform-independent protocol designed for industrial interoperability. Unlike older protocols, OPC-UA includes built-in security features including encryption, authentication, and authorization. It enables semantic modeling of industrial data so systems understand not just values but their meaning and relationships. OPC-UA is increasingly adopted as the standard for Industry 4.0 and IIoT applications because it addresses both connectivity and security requirements.

EtherNet/IP adapts standard Ethernet and TCP/IP protocols for industrial automation, particularly in North American manufacturing. This protocol is common in discrete manufacturing, packaging, and material handling applications. DeviceNet provides a low-cost network for connecting simple industrial devices like sensors, motor starters, and actuators to PLCs and controllers.

The diversity of industrial protocols creates significant integration challenges. A single manufacturing facility might use half a dozen different protocols across equipment from various vendors and vintages. Protocol converters, gateways, and translation tools are often necessary to achieve connectivity, adding complexity and potential points of failure. This protocol fragmentation makes unified IT/OT integration technically challenging and expensive.

The Organizational Challenge: Bridging IT and OT Teams

Technical integration challenges are matched by organizational and cultural differences between IT and OT teams. These groups often have fundamentally different priorities, training, and approaches to problems, creating friction that can derail integration projects if not addressed thoughtfully.

IT teams focus on keeping business systems running, securing data, enabling collaboration, and adopting new technologies to improve business processes. They're accustomed to regular change, view updates and patches as routine and necessary, prioritize cybersecurity and data protection, and measure success through system availability, user satisfaction, and cost efficiency. IT professionals typically have formal education in computer science or information systems and hold certifications like CISSP, CISM, or various vendor credentials.

OT teams focus on keeping production running safely and efficiently, maintaining equipment reliability, preventing unplanned downtime, and preserving process knowledge that might span decades. They're accustomed to stability and view changes with skepticism until proven necessary, prioritize safety and availability over all other concerns, and measure success through production uptime, quality metrics, and safety records. OT professionals often come from engineering backgrounds in electrical, mechanical, or chemical engineering, holding certifications like PE licenses or vendor-specific industrial automation credentials.

These different backgrounds create predictable conflicts. When IT suggests network upgrades or security improvements, OT worries about production disruption and unproven technology in critical systems. When OT wants to keep running proven systems unchanged, IT worries about security vulnerabilities and inability to integrate with modern business systems. Both perspectives are valid and rooted in real concerns shaped by each team's responsibilities and past experiences.

Successful IT/OT convergence requires building bridges between these cultures. Creating cross-functional teams that include both IT and OT expertise ensures projects consider all relevant concerns from the beginning. Establishing shared goals and metrics that both teams contribute to helps align priorities. Developing mutual respect through education about each domain's challenges and constraints builds understanding. And perhaps most importantly, ensuring executive leadership understands and supports convergence efforts provides the authority and resources necessary to overcome organizational inertia.

Making IT/OT Convergence Work: Strategic Implementation

Successful IT/OT convergence requires a strategic, methodical approach rather than ad-hoc connectivity projects. Start by establishing clear business objectives that justify the effort and investment. What specific problems are you trying to solve? What measurable outcomes define success? IT/OT convergence is a means to an end, not an end in itself, so clarity about the desired outcomes guides all subsequent decisions.

Prioritize use cases with measurable return on investment to build momentum and prove value. Rather than attempting comprehensive integration all at once, identify specific high-value opportunities where connectivity delivers clear benefits. Predictive maintenance that prevents unplanned downtime, real-time quality monitoring that reduces scrap, or energy optimization that lowers utility costs provide concrete value propositions. Success with focused use cases builds organizational confidence and provides lessons for broader implementation.

Design robust security architectures from the beginning rather than adding security as an afterthought. The security model must respect OT constraints while providing effective protection. This typically involves network segmentation with industrial DMZs, defense-in-depth strategies with multiple security layers, OT-specific security monitoring and threat detection, and carefully managed interfaces between IT and OT environments. Security architecture decisions made early are difficult and expensive to change later.

Foster collaboration between IT and OT teams through shared projects, cross-training, and integrated planning. The technical integration cannot succeed without organizational integration. Create forums for regular communication between teams, establish joint governance for converged systems, and develop shared understanding of each domain's requirements and constraints. Successful convergence projects consistently cite strong IT/OT collaboration as a critical success factor.

Plan for long-term evolution rather than one-time projects. IT/OT convergence is an ongoing journey as technology, business requirements, and threat landscapes evolve. Build flexible architectures that can adapt to changing needs, establish processes for continuous improvement, and plan for lifecycle management of integrated systems. The goal isn't reaching a finished state but rather creating capabilities for continuous adaptation and improvement.

Real-World Benefits of IT/OT Integration

When implemented thoughtfully, IT/OT convergence delivers substantial operational and business benefits. Production visibility transforms from lagging indicators based on end-of-shift reports to real-time dashboards that show current performance, immediate quality metrics, and live equipment status. This visibility enables faster problem identification and response, data-driven decision making at all organizational levels, and immediate understanding of production impacts from changes.

Predictive maintenance shifts maintenance strategies from reactive repairs or time-based schedules to condition-based maintenance driven by actual equipment health. Sensors and analytics identify early warning signs of impending failures, allowing maintenance during planned downtime rather than crisis response to breakdowns. This reduces unplanned downtime, extends equipment life through optimal maintenance timing, and lowers maintenance costs through better resource allocation.

Quality management improves through immediate feedback loops that connect production processes with quality results. Rather than discovering defects in finished goods or during sampling, integrated systems can detect quality excursions in real-time and automatically adjust processes or alert operators. This reduces scrap and rework, improves first-pass yield, and enables faster root cause analysis when issues occur.

Energy optimization becomes possible when business systems can analyze energy consumption patterns across production operations. Identifying energy-intensive processes, optimizing production schedules to leverage time-of-use rates, and detecting energy waste from inefficient equipment operation deliver measurable cost reductions. Many manufacturers discover that previously invisible energy waste represents significant savings opportunities.

Supply chain integration becomes more dynamic and responsive when production systems can communicate directly with inventory, purchasing, and logistics systems. Automated reordering triggered by actual consumption rather than forecasts, real-time visibility of production status for customer order management, and immediate coordination of material delivery with production schedules reduce inventory carrying costs while improving delivery performance.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Understanding common implementation failures helps organizations avoid costly mistakes. The single biggest pitfall is treating IT/OT convergence purely as a technology project rather than a strategic business initiative. Without clear business objectives and executive sponsorship, projects devolve into technical exercises that may achieve connectivity but deliver limited business value. Secure executive commitment to desired business outcomes before beginning significant integration work.

Underestimating security requirements leads to vulnerable implementations that expose critical operations to cyber threats. Organizations sometimes focus on achieving connectivity while treating security as something to address later. In IT/OT convergence, security must be architectural rather than bolted on afterward. The cost and complexity of retrofitting security after deployment far exceeds incorporating it from the beginning.

Ignoring legacy equipment challenges causes projects to stall when teams encounter the reality of decades-old systems that can't be integrated using modern approaches. Assess the actual state of existing equipment early in planning, identify systems that will require special handling or replacement, and budget accordingly. Many legacy systems can be integrated through edge devices or protocol converters, but this requires planning and investment.

Failing to involve OT teams in planning and implementation creates resistance and risks disrupting production. IT-led initiatives that treat OT as simply another network to be managed often fail because they don't account for OT's unique requirements and constraints. Successful projects include OT expertise from the beginning and respect the primacy of production operations.

Attempting too much too quickly overwhelms organizations and dilutes resources across multiple initiatives. Better to achieve significant success with focused use cases than superficial progress across broad initiatives. Build momentum through early wins rather than comprehensive transformation attempts.

Your Path Forward with FlowFuse

Navigating IT/OT convergence requires tools that understand both worlds. FlowFuse is built on Node-RED, an open-source platform that has become the de facto standard for industrial integration, with over 5,000 pre-built nodes connecting to industrial protocols, databases, cloud platforms, and business systems. This extensive library means you can integrate Modbus devices with your ERP system, connect OPC-UA machines to cloud analytics, or bridge SCADA systems with business intelligence tools—all without extensive custom programming.

The visual, drag-and-drop interface enables your engineers and technicians to build integration workflows directly. People who understand your processes and equipment can implement solutions themselves, reducing dependency on external developers and speeding project delivery. This democratization of integration development means OT teams aren't dependent on IT resources for every connection or modification.

FlowFuse adds enterprise capabilities including team collaboration, version control, and secure deployment to the Node-RED foundation. These features make Node-RED suitable for production manufacturing environments where change management, security, and reliability are non-negotiable. Projects can be developed in test environments, reviewed by stakeholders, and deployed to production with confidence.

Security features built into FlowFuse protect your integration projects and the systems they connect. Role-based access controls ensure people can access only appropriate projects and deployments. Audit logging provides visibility into changes and activities. Network isolation options enable proper segmentation between IT and OT environments even within your integration platform.

The open-source foundation means you're never locked into proprietary technology or single-vendor solutions. Node-RED's active community continuously develops new protocol support, integration capabilities, and functionality. When you need to connect to new equipment or systems, chances are someone has already created the necessary integration components.

Manufacturing operations worldwide rely on FlowFuse for IT/OT convergence projects ranging from simple data collection to sophisticated predictive maintenance, quality management, and energy optimization initiatives. The platform scales from proof-of-concept projects to enterprise deployments managing thousands of devices and processes.

Book a demo today to see how FlowFuse can help you navigate IT/OT convergence securely and effectively, using proven open-source technology that respects both IT and OT requirements.