Inductive Automation Blog

As IIoT and other data-centric concepts are realized in businesses and on factory floors all over the world, the practice of aligning operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) is becoming more and more necessary. Leading technology-research company Gartner defines OT-IT Integration as “the end state sought by organizations (most commonly, asset-intensive organizations) where instead of a separation of IT and OT as technology areas with different areas of authority and responsibility, there is an integrated process and information flow.”

The Ignition SQL Bridge Module goes above and beyond as a tool for connecting SQL databases to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). With SQL Bridge’s multi-functional capabilities, Ignition community members have implemented sophisticated solutions for their industrial control systems that would have otherwise been a costly use of time and resources. In part one of this series, we discussed Co-Director of Sales Engineering Travis Cox’s first six applications of SQL Bridge, which he presented in the webinar “12 Ways to Use PLCs and SQL Databases Together”, which included barcode scanning, scheduling, and other connective operations. In this second post, we’ll explore six additional uses of SQL Bridge, from recipe management, to OEE, to handshaking, and more.

Before he founded Inductive Automation, our CEO Steve Hechtman worked as a control system integrator and often encountered the obstacle of being unable to make operations-side data available to the IT side. This inspired Steve and his team of developers to create a tool — now known as the Ignition SQL Bridge Module — that moves data bidirectionally between PLCs and SQL databases using OPC. Since then, members of the Ignition community have used the versatile capabilities of the SQL Bridge Module to implement many creative and effective solutions in their industrial systems. Co-Director of Sales Engineering Travis Cox highlighted a dozen of the most useful SQL Bridge tips in the webinar “12 Ways to Use PLCs and SQL Databases Together.” In this two-part blog series, we’ll unpack each of these tips in some detail.