PTC has announced ThingWorx 9.0, the latest iteration of its Industrial IoT platform. The company says the new release will enhance scalability, simplify solution development, and expand OPC UA support for enterprise deployments.

ThingWorx 9.0 introduces a new, optimised clustered configuration designed to improve the horizontal scalability and availability of the platform. It will enable ThingWorx to scale to “vast populations of devices”, manage demanding data processing requirements, and support a greater number of application users. The clustered configuration will also strengthen ThingWorx capabilities for critical operations and for highly available systems, services, and assets.

ThingWorx 9.0 formally introduces solution building blocks. These are pre-defined, pre-built configurations of connectors, domain models, business logic, and UI elements.  They are intended to simplify implementations of high-value Industrial IoT use cases, such as status monitoring, digital work instructions, and manufacturing job order management.

PTC has worked with Microsoft to increase industrial interoperability through the OPC UA standard. ThingWorx 9.0 integrates with OPC UA components that Microsoft contributed to the OPC Foundation, including OPC UA Publisher, OPC UA Twin, and OPC UA Global Discovery Server.  OPC UA helps integrate ThingWorx Kepware and Microsoft Azure with ThingWorx, where data models get automatically standardised for simplified solution enablement.

ThingWorx 9.0 is introducing enhanced predictive analytics scoring at the edge to reduce data transmission costs and latency challenges, and improve the accuracy of asset performance predictions. These new features support deployments of ThingWorx at the enterprise level, 

ThingWorx 9.0 is designed to simplify the scaling of Industrial IoT deployments across the enterprise with enhancements to the Solution Central tool. Administrators will have access to a broader range of self-service functions for deploying ThingWorx solutions, managing ThingWorx environments, and enabling development team collaboration.

“The introduction of ThingWorx 9.0 will mark an important advancement for PTC’s Industrial IoT strategy,” said Joe Biron, Divisional General Manager and Chief Technology Officer, IoT Segment, PTC. “Our added investments in scalability, solution development, OPC UA support, and stronger analytics are critical as our customers continue to scale their Industrial IoT deployments across the enterprise. These enhancements come at an especially important time, as companies look for new ways to innovate and address challenges from the impact of COVID-19, such as the increased need for remote monitoring, control, and services.”