swXtch.io has launched a new Industrial IoT cloud service boosting high performance and high availability workloads. The new cloudSwXtch service is designed to allow high performance IIoT workloads that currently are run on on-premise computing to be migrated to the cloud instead. This can help consolidate workloads and accelerate digital transformation across manufacturing.

cloudSwXtch introduces the ability to equip cloud networking stacks with features that are relied on by on-prem workflows. These include multicast, high-availability, and Precision Time Protocol (PTP), among others. This helps support workflows such as cloud-based audio & video monitoring and virtual test & simulation.

Brent Yates, CEO of swXtch.io, said “Cloud computing has been a cornerstone of IOT industry growth, driving new heights in asset and operational performance and opening the door to new business models. With cloudSwXtch, no-code multicast enablement is available to network engineers for the first time on all the major clouds.”

Many test & simulation platforms work in the cloud today – but a segment that utilises on-prem platforms designed for multicast and broadcast protocol traffic faces migration hurdles. By unlocking multicast and broadcast capabilities in the cloud, cloudSwXtch enables access to cloud-based virtual simulation environments.

Across industries, companies rely on purpose-built, on-prem ‘test & simulation’ platforms to virtually commission assets and controls, to train operators under real-world scenarios, and to drive process performance or product design improvements. A common theme is that each test and simulation environment strives to recreate physical parameters in a virtual environment and subject them to a variety of scenarios or conditions. This has driven much of the market to a virtual machine (VM) or cloud-based approach, for more attractive scale, speed, and consistency. 

cloudSwXtch also offers features to support migration of video monitoring workflows from on-prem to cloud: the ability to enable multicast traffic distribution from on-prem to edge and cloud environments and the ability to enable bandwidth conservation using the dynamic bridge feature. This feature enables users of cloud-based video monitoring solutions to cycle between all video streams available in the on-premises environment and select specific stream(s) to distribute the cloud, on-demand. For example, instead of sending all streams to the cloud, an emergency manager can select a specific traffic camera video feed to pull up for viewing.

Local and state governments often rely on large, rugged camera networks to monitor thousands of real-time streams for traffic, emergency management, and other services. These networks overwhelmingly originate and distribute multicast streams, which were previously incompatible with existing cloud networks.

Yates said “cloudSwXtch has been a revelation for companies looking to migrate to the cloud and take advantage of the benefits it offers. Many of our customers do not realise they have an issue until their attempted migration to the cloud is well underway. We are proud to provide a solution that simply and efficiently meets our clients’ needs and advances the potential of IOT applications around the world.”

cloudSwXtch is available through the Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services marketplaces and is also certified for deployment in Google Cloud. The company plans to add support for additional cloud platforms later this year, including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.