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Operational technology (OT) – definitions and differences with IT

What is operational technology (OT) and how is it different from IT and at the same time converging with information technology?

It’s impossible to talk about the evolutions in Smart cities and innovations in areas such as Industrial IoT without mentioning the convergence of IT and OT.

Operational technology – definition, origins and evolution While operational technology is about control and safety systems and industrial process assets, IT or information technology is about business and enterprise systems that store, process and deliver information. The most often used definition of operational technology comes from Gartner: “Hardware and software that detects or causes a change through the direct monitoring and/or control of physical devices, processes and events in the enterprise”. The definition from Gartner is more for IT people and that’s probably why it’s so popular. There are several other definitions of OT whereby some limit themselves to the lowest levels of the traditional automation pyramid (field level, control level, production level,…) while others go higher.

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