In today's rapidly evolving industrial landscape, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is transforming operations, driving efficiency, and unlocking new possibilities. As industrial networks expand beyond traditional enterprise environments to include plant floors, remote field locations, and critical infrastructure, the need for robust network performance and comprehensive visibility becomes paramount. However, this expansion introduces a distinct set of challenges that traditional Information Technology (IT) solutions are not fully equipped to address.
Addressing such complex demands requires innovative solutions and industry leadership. At Cisco, we are tackling these challenges head-on with our integrated approach to industrial networking. By combining the power of Cisco’s industrial networking portfolio with the advanced network intelligence of ThousandEyes, we offer a unified solution built for the demands of modern IIoT environments. Building on our significant experience in industrial switching and routing, we deliver capabilities that empower IT and Operational Technology (OT) teams to collaborate effectively, combining their knowledge and resources to enhance efficiency, strengthen security, and improve overall operational performance in OT environments.
The IIoT Visibility Gap: Challenges and Pain Points
Despite the immense potential of IIoT, industrial networks face several key challenges that hinder optimal performance and create operational risks:
- Limited Network Visibility: Industrial environments often lack end-to-end visibility into network performance, making it difficult to fully understand network behavior due to the complexity of legacy systems and diverse vendor ecosystems.
- Increased Troubleshooting Complexity: The convergence of OT and IT environments, along with reliance on cloud-based systems, creates significant obstacles to diagnosing and resolving network issues efficiently.
- Unplanned Downtime and Reliability Risks: Downtime disrupts production, causes financial losses, and damages reputations, making it critical to ensure high network reliability and operational continuity.
- Limited IT/OT Collaboration: Differences in expertise, priorities, and tools between IT and OT teams create communication silos, making it harder to coordinate efforts and achieve effective collaboration.
- Scalability and Flexibility Limitations: As industrial networks grow and evolve, organizations face challenges in maintaining consistent performance while accommodating new devices, applications, and business needs.
To help overcome these challenges and unlock the full potential of IIoT, Cisco offers a unified solution through the integration of ThousandEyes with its industrial networking portfolio.
Gain Visibility With Assurance for Industrial Networking
Our integration of ThousandEyes into Cisco's Industrial IoT (IIoT) platforms addresses these challenges directly, providing a comprehensive solution for network visibility and control. By deploying ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents on Cisco’s Industrial Ethernet (IE) switches and industrial routers (IRs), organizations can gain visibility into network performance, troubleshoot issues more effectively, and improve overall reliability.
Key Benefits of Assurance for Industrial Networking
Cisco ThousandEyes is purpose-built to address these challenges, combining real-time visibility with actionable insights to deliver measurable benefits for industrial networks. Key benefits include:
- Enhanced Operational Visibility: Gain real-time insights into network performance to detect anomalies, identify bottlenecks, and resolve issues before they disrupt critical operations. ThousandEyes enables IT and OT teams to proactively address potential problems and prevent downtime.
- Faster Time to Resolution: Pinpoint the source of network issues quickly using anomaly detection and path visualization capabilities. ThousandEyes provides a clear, end-to-end view of network paths, enabling rapid identification of failure domains and efficient problem resolution.
- Stronger IT/OT Collaboration: Foster seamless collaboration between IT and OT teams with a unified monitoring solution. ThousandEyes offers a common platform for monitoring both IT and OT networks, helping to develop shared skillsets and streamlined communication.
- Lower Operational Costs: Minimize the need for costly on-site troubleshooting by enabling remote diagnostics and problem resolution. ThousandEyes delivers network insights from remote locations, reducing the need for truck rolls and optimizing operational efficiency.
Real-world Use Cases: ThousandEyes IIoT Integration in Action
Integration of ThousandEyes across Cisco’s industrial networking portfolio delivers tangible benefits across a wide range of industries:
- Roadways: Monitor data paths from roadway sensors to central traffic control applications hosted in the cloud, ensuring the integrity of traffic management systems.
- Railway: Monitor data from train location sensors at trackside to centralized scheduling applications, enabling real-time train control and signaling.
- Pipelines: Monitor data from pressure and flow sensors across hundreds of miles of pipeline to a centralized monitoring application, ensuring production monitoring and safety.
- Manufacturing: Monitor data from production lines to cloud-based production management systems, ensuring efficient processes and supply chain management.
- Ports: Assure connectivity from quayside cranes to Terminal Operating Systems (TOS) and centralized management systems, optimizing port operations.
- Oil and Gas: Help develop reliable connectivity from wellhead monitoring sensors to central engineering over IRs with cellular backhaul.
- Mining: Assure connectivity for remote operation of cloud-connected large-scale mobile assets like excavators and dump trucks.
Powerful Features and Capabilities for IIoT
- Agent Deployment Flexibility: Deploy ThousandEyes Enterprise Agents via Catalyst Center (available November 2025), SD-WAN Manager (available November 2025), or using the CLI (Command Line Interface) providing flexibility and ease of deployment.
- Centralized Test Configuration: Create ThousandEyes tests directly within the Cisco Catalyst Center interface (available November 2025), streamlining the setup process.
- Streamlined Updates: Receive alerts for agent updates and maintain an audit log in the ThousandEyes Dashboard.
- Comprehensive Monitoring: Monitor the status of applications and IIoT devices in the ThousandEyes dashboard
Redefining the Future of Industrial Networking With ThousandEyes
The integration of ThousandEyes into Cisco's Industrial Networking portfolio marks a significant step forward in providing assurance for IIoT environments. By addressing the unique challenges of industrial networks and delivering actionable insights, we empower organizations to optimize performance, improve reliability, and drive innovation in the IIoT era.
As industrial networks continue to evolve, Cisco and ThousandEyes remain committed to delivering solutions that enable customers to unlock the full potential of the IIoT.