Laser Bananas and Edge Hubs: Exploring Operational Technology (OT) Data Through a '90s Arcade Twist

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OT is a different environment to traditional IT and can have interesting challenges when interfacing the technology to gather data. These OT systems are typically all around us and It’s important to gather information from them to form a whole picture of the operational resilience of an enterprise. 

In this case, the Laser Bananas and Targets act as OT nodes, passing data over MQTT topics, simulating an OT environment. The Edge Hub not only acts as the MQTT broker for collating the OT nodes data, but it also hosts a game orchestrator in a docker container in order to send MQTT commands to the nodes. The Edge Hub forwards all the data and logs to Splunk for processing and visualisation into the game dashboards.  

The Edge Hub is a key capability to interfacing systems often referred to as the 'Edge' of the network and to bring the data into Splunk. Common OT challenges include having to integrate proprietary systems, air gapped or security conscious platforms or indeed just old mechanical systems with additional instrumented sensors. The Edge Hub has several features that this interactive demo leverages, enabling discussion with customers about their OT posture and overall resilience. 

So whether you're climbing the leaderboard or just trying to beat your personal best, you’ll not only have a blast, but also learn how industrial data flows from edge devices to the cloud, and how visibility into system health and performance can make all the difference — even in a banana-fueled laser battle! 

Secure your pass to .conf26 and bridge your IT/OT divide

Cheers, 
Simon, Solutions Engineer

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