Single Pane of Glass Solutions Streamline IoT and Remote Device Management

MCA CNS TeamDigi International, MCA News

Aggregated Data and Operations Dashboards Provide Oversight and A Clear View

If you spend time in the IT, OT management, or cybersecurity worlds, you may have heard of the term "single pane of glass." Simply put, this concept refers to the aggregation of operational and device data into a single dashboard, providing system-wide visibility, automated alerts, remote monitoring and management capabilities, and security monitoring.

In today's digital-first age, scalable, reliable technology operations are essential for business success. The single pane of glass approach allows IT teams and network managers to scale more quickly, efficiently support innovative use cases, and yield positive ROI on technology investments.

What Is Single Pane of Glass?

In today's world, having a unified view of an organization's operational environment is critical for administrators, security teams, and DevOps engineers. This is where the concept of a single pane of glass comes in - a centralized platform that provides access to the operational data needed for daily tasks.
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For instance, IoT management solutions can consolidate operational data for a fleet of connected devices into a single dashboard. With a single-pane-of-glass approach to network management and system monitoring, teams responsible for managing numerous connected devices can easily track uptime, security breaches, outdated software, failed wireless connections, and other vulnerabilities. In addition, these teams can receive instant notifications about security issues and outages, troubleshoot and repair most issues remotely, and keep firmware up-to-date with the latest security features.

Essential features of a single pane of glass software include event alerts and notifications with specific triggers or thresholds, root cause analysis and remote debugging capabilities, reporting functionality to monitor device health and performance, and the ability to integrate data from multiple technologies and vendors.

Types of Single Pane of Glass Views

Dashboard management solutions are commonly referred to as a single pane of glass dashboard or management console. However, the method of aggregating and reporting operational data can vary depending on the number of data sources, the type of data displayed, and the sophistication of the management solution.

Typically, IT teams use single pane views to monitor and manage IoT devices and platforms for two purposes:

  • System-Level Data Analysis 
  • Remote Device Management

System-Level Data Analysis

A single pane dashboard enables organizations to access system-level analytics that provide insights from operational data collected from every device in their IT environment. This empowers businesses to make critical decisions about things like investing in new technology, upgrading existing security protocols, or whether to scale up resources in the field.

Remote Device Management

Single pane consoles can also be leveraged by IT teams for remote management of IoT devices. This is particularly beneficial for devices deployed in remote locations that are difficult to access or have limited technical support resources. Cloud-based management solutions allow for access to the interface of individual devices via a centralized console, regardless of their physical location.

Why Does Single Pane of Glass Matter?

Single pane of glass cloud management solutions such as Digi Remote Manager offer organizations an opportunity to harness the benefits of innovative IoT-enabled use cases, including process automation, predictive maintenance, reduced cybersecurity risks, improved operational efficiency, and lower carbon footprint. As IoT devices are often deployed in remote locations, managing their security and operability from a single console has become a critical business capability.
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The prevalence of IoT in smart city applications, the rapid growth of distributed industrial IoT networks, advances in smart vehicle technology, and the shift to hybrid and remote workforces all highlight the importance of this approach. Furthermore, edge computing and IoT devices are increasingly used to leverage advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), enabling companies to streamline production and transportation while implementing predictive maintenance.

With the single pane of glass approach, network management teams can receive notifications and alerts 24/7/365, providing mission-critical visibility and access to support these innovative use cases, minimize unplanned downtime and operational costs, and increase productivity and efficiency.

Single Pane of Glass Benefits

Scalable and seamless monitoring is now more critical than ever in the distributed environments where IoT use cases are on the rise, from remote industrial sites to smart city infrastructure and transportation.

With single pane of glass monitoring capabilities, organizations can expand their edge computing footprints and scale IoT fleets sustainably without sacrificing security requirements. In fact, single pane of glass security is a clear advantage, providing automated reports, instant visibility across the network, and automated remediation, as we will discuss in the context of Digi Remote Manager.

To successfully implement capabilities like automation and edge computing, organizations in manufacturing, healthcare, and retail are deploying thousands of IoT devices, requiring IT management solutions that increase visibility and simplify routine monitoring and security tasks for operations teams.

From developers and cloud operators to cybersecurity teams, everyone involved in designing, deploying, and maintaining connected devices needs access to operational data that is often generated across multiple IT footprints. Single pane of glass solutions can streamline how operational data is accessed, shared, and used, including security incidents and vulnerability detection, network performance such as data throughput and latency, user and device access and authentication, application usage and performance, compliance with security policies, and software updates and patches.

Single Pane of Glass Risks

Similar to any other IT management or security strategy, the utilization of single pane of glass software also presents potential drawbacks. It is crucial to recognize these risks to effectively integrate single pane solutions into an organization’s IoT management plan.

One such issue is that not all technical personnel require access to every level of authorization to execute their tasks. Despite having a single pane IoT management solution, IT teams should have the option to access personalized views that cater to their respective roles, while still enabling them to obtain other operational data as necessary.

Digi Remote Manager: Single Pane of Glass Solution

To manage IoT devices at scale, organizations need a single pane of glass solution that offers automation and integration tools for improved security and performance. Digi Remote Manager (Digi RM) is a cloud-based management and monitoring platform that simplifies the deployment and management of fleets of IoT devices. With Digi RM, network and IT teams can easily monitor device security, deploy firmware updates, and enhance features.

Automated IoT Management

Digi RM offers automated solutions to simplify the operational burden of device management at scale. The platform's drag-and-drop graphical interface simplifies critical security tasks such as configuration management and security monitoring, while allowing users to manage individual devices like cellular routers for industrial, enterprise, or transportation use cases.

Threat Mitigation and Disaster Recovery

Digi RM helps organizations mitigate threats and recover from disasters at scale. The platform's real-time alerts monitor IoT devices for security breaches and vulnerabilities, while software-defined security policies ensure necessary firmware upgrades, patches, and device reboots. This allows IT staff to focus on high-value work while ensuring the security of the entire network.

Digi TrustFence and Integrated Risk Management

To ensure secure authentication of all connected devices, Digi TrustFence, a security framework, and optional add-on service, delivers certificate-based authentication and provisioning. This framework also supports two-factor authentication for continuous validation of devices integrated with third-party applications and APIs.

Digi's defense in-depth approach to IoT security ensures the security of the entire network, making it a trusted solution for organizations with distributed wireless networks.

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Single Pane of Glass Use Case Examples

Networks come in various sizes and scaling is vital for large industrial operations, smart cities, transit systems, government entities, distributed enterprises, branch networks, and global operations. Digi RM offers not only system-wide visibility through its single pane of glass dashboard but also quick configuration and deployment and secure remote management, making it an ideal solution for such use cases. Let's explore a few examples.

Traffic Management: City-Wide Visibility

New York City DOT is an excellent example of how Digi RM's powerful capabilities helped them configure and roll out transportation routers to over 14,000 intersections across all five boroughs. With Digi RM, the Configuration Manager feature enabled zero-touch provisioning for rapid deployment, and the network managers at the traffic management center had complete visibility of the rollout and uptime metrics of each device remotely.

Private Networks: Remote Monitoring and Management

Private networks are gaining popularity, especially with publically available bands that provide secure and reliable networks that are entirely sequestered from public networks. Digi RM enables system-wide visibility and management of such private networks, as illustrated in the diagram below.

Out-of-Band Management of Offline Devices

Another crucial use case for Digi RM's single pane of glass functionality is out-of-band management. With this capability, network managers can securely and remotely reboot offline serial-based devices, even those that are not Digi hardware. Digi RM alerts can notify network personnel when a remote device is offline, and the network manager can access the offline device through a secure VPN tunnel using Digi RM's terminal console. This powerful capability can save significant operational technology expenditure in the management of remote devices, considering that each device can be deployed at various geographical locations and miles from the enterprise headquarters, where a truck roll can cost thousands of dollars. The following diagram provides a view into an out-of-band management use case.

About USAT

USAT specializes in designing and deploying fixed and mobile wireless data connectivity solutions for organizations of all sizes — complete with implementation, training, proof of concept (POC), system auditing, and on-site RF surveying services with optional engineering maintenance contracts. Our team not only helps you select, provision, and activate devices, we make sure they work in practical applications and real-life situations.
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For over 25 years, USAT has provided fixed and mobile communications solutions for public and private enterprises in various IoT and M2M applications across the USA. With our extensive catalog of world-class routers, gateways, and software designed for remote monitoring and management in even the harshest environments — you can count on us to get and keep you connected.

Better mobile connectivity translates to less manual equipment maintenance, reduced downtime, and an overall increase in your business's ROI. Contact the experts at USAT to learn how our wireless networking solutions can help meet your organization's exacting needs.

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