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Sparkplug governing body and industry collective welcomes an innovative industrial data analytics and information management software provider to help drive the future of the protocol.
Austin Texas - May 5, 2021 — This month, industrial data analytics and information management software provider, Flow Software, announced it had joined the Eclipse Foundation as a participating member in the Sparkplug Working Group. The Eclipse Foundation, which has been the home for open-source implementations of the MQTT IoT protocol since 2011, introduced the Sparkplug Working Group in 2020 to broaden adoption of the Sparkplug topic and payload specification for MQTT. Flow Software joins other influential IoT suppliers and users: Canary Labs, Cirrus Link Solutions, Chevron, Inductive Automation, HiveMQ, and Opto22.
Flow Software has a history of supporting the MQTT standard, starting in 2018 with the introduction of its MQTT Consumer module. This module supports the integration of Flow Information Platform data into any MQTT enabled software products. The MQTT Consumer module supports the Sparkplug topic and payload specification, allowing data to be easily consumed into Sparkplug enabled software products, like Canary’s Historian product and Inductive Automation’s Ignition product. COO at Flow Software, Graeme Welton, commented that “Our participation in the Sparkplug Working Group not only gives us the opportunity to contribute to the development of Sparkplug, but also highlights the commitment we have made to keeping our product open to standard communication and data transfer protocols, for the benefit of our customers. We are excited to be working with the Eclipse Foundation on such an important initiative.”
In the last decade, MQTT has become the most popular IoT-specific messaging protocol for consumer and enterprise applications. The Sparkplug topic and payload specification for MQTT was developed to ensure interoperability within industrial applications, strengthening MQTT as the de facto standard for the global internet of things and paving the way for the large-scale digital transformation of manufacturing, utilities, and processing industries. The Eclipse Foundation now manages Sparkplug under the Eclipse Tahu project and uses its working group to invite collaboration from technology partners in ongoing specification development, compliance certification, and industry education.
“With the broad adoption of Sparkplug across sectors, the working group is well-positioned to bring market leaders together to drive industrial standardization,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “We are happy to welcome Flow Software, an influential early adopter in industrial data analytics and information management, to contribute to Sparkplug's goals of achieving new levels of interoperability across the IIoT ecosystem.”
The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organizations with a mature, scalable, and business-friendly environment for open-source software collaboration and innovation. The Foundation is home to the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, and over 400 open-source projects, including runtimes, tools, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, distributed ledger technologies, open processor designs, and many others. The Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 330 members, including industry leaders who value open source as a key enabler for their business strategies. To learn more, follow us on Twitter @EclipseFdn, LinkedIn or visit eclipse.org.
The Flow Information Platform (“Flow”) simplifies the creation and sharing of operational and strategic decision support information across an organization. Using Flow, an organization can combine and transform data from multiple sources into a single namespace representing a "single version of the truth". This truth can then be shared with people via configurable dashboards or with other systems via configurable integrations, including MQTT Sparkplug. Flow is an "ETL for OT", a "DataOps" platform, that ingests and transforms complex data into KPIs, making it accessible when it is needed the most. Flow is available through a global network of distributors and system integrators. Flow Software, the company, was founded in 2015.
The Unified Namespace (UNS) enables real-time data flow and simplicity, but lacks historical data access and transformation capabilities. The Unified Analytics Framework (UAF) complements UNS, providing a platform for governed data transformation, historical insights, and seamless integration with real-time architectures.
Flow Software replaces the functionality of AVEVA PI Asset Framework while reducing costs, unlocking historian flexibility, and empowering OT teams to build analytics without specialized expertise—enabling businesses to focus on solving real problems, not managing infrastructure.
Scalable information management in manufacturing requires a foundational approach to integration, robust data governance, and adoption of flexible, platform-agnostic architectures - these key points will ensure your strategy is successful.
At Flow Software, we exist to give teams decision-making superpowers.
We’re a driven, curious, and dedicated global team, committed to turning raw data into actionable insights since 2011.
Guided by our core values, we empower businesses to elevate their operations, embrace innovation, and achieve lasting success. Remote by design and lean by choice, we deliver solutions that simplify complexity and inspire smarter decisions.
When information flows, insights grow.