IT/OT Convergence Explained: What Developers Need to Know

Whether you're building your first industrial IoT application or modernizing legacy systems, understanding IT/OT convergence (connecting information technology and operational technology) is critical for industrial development. 

IT/OT convergence enables leveraging the data collected in the OT environment for more informed, real-time decision-making. It aims to improve operations and optimize processes through digital technology and data analytics.

In this article, we explain the meaning of IT/OT convergence, what drives IT/OT separation, why convergence is needed, and key integration components and considerations. 

What Is IT/OT Convergence?

IT/OT convergence brings business intelligence to process automation. It bridges the gap between distributed computing power, data processing, and the OT systems that manage and control industrial operations.

OT systems have traditionally been isolated from information technology (IT) systems, with an “air gap” between the two domains. That gap is rapidly disappearing as more industrial equipment becomes web-ready and industrial organizations adopt Industry 4.0 and related Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies.

Why IT and OT Lived Separately

Let's examine why these systems were separate. The IT and OT worlds have shared little meaningful data and relied on oversight from staff with different skill sets. Traditionally, IT and OT teams have had different priorities:

• IT teams focus on data security, innovation, and rapid deployment.
• OT teams prioritize reliability, safety, and minimal disruption.

Traditional industrial protocols have also presented an integration challenge. OT systems, particularly Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks, typically use protocols like Modbus or PROFINET. Such protocols were designed for serial or LAN-based communication rather than modern web applications.

Legacy industrial equipment from different manufacturers frequently relies on proprietary or vendor-specific protocols and closed systems that resist integration with modern IoT tech stacks. Even when using standard protocols, differences in implementation and vendor-specific extensions create significant barriers to interoperability. 

Some systems operate on different network architectures, security models, and hardware lifecycles measured in decades (not years) since traditional industrial equipment often has very long lifecycles.

While different developers have varying perspectives based on their integration experience about which protocols support IT/OT convergence in which architectures, the following diagram maps common protocols you might encounter when building industrial apps. It shows some traditional protocols while others are used more commonly in IT/OT integration.

Why Is IT/OT Convergence Needed? 

Siloed IT and OT systems result in missed opportunities for operational efficiency improvement and informed decision-making. 

Picture a manufacturing or energy plant running critical equipment 24/7, generating terabytes of sensor data. Since this data traditionally lived in isolated OT systems, it was nearly impossible for developers to build modern real-time monitoring or predictive maintenance applications. That's where IT/OT convergence comes in—transforming how industrial applications are built. 

By enabling real-time data exchange between two previously separate domains, IT/OT convergence leads to improved operational efficiency, better data analysis, enhanced decision-making, and optimized processes, ultimately increasing productivity and reducing costs. 

Gartner lists IT/OT integration as one of the “must-have capabilities” for global industrial IoT platforms in its Magic Quadrant for Global Industrial IoT Platforms. Here’s how Gartner describes the integration function:

“This function includes tools and technologies, such as communications protocols, APIs and application adapters, which address the data, process, enterprise application and IIoT ecosystem integration requirements across cloud and on-premises implementations for end-to-end IIoT solutions. IIoT platforms integrate into IIoT devices (for example, communications modules and controllers), IIoT gateways, historians OT systems (hardware, software and industrial apps) and enterprise applications (for example, ERP, materials requirements planning [MRP], supply chain management and CRM).” - Source

This focus on IT/OT integration underscores the importance of platforms that can effectively integrate IT (equipment) data and OT (sensor) data to allow more automation and drive operational intelligence. 

From a developer's standpoint, IT/OT convergence opens up exciting possibilities:

1. Better data accessibility: building applications that use real-time industrial data without complex integration
2. Improved monitoring: creating comprehensive web-based dashboards that span IT and OT systems
3. Enhanced analytics: applying modern data science techniques to industrial processes

IT/OT Convergence Components and Considerations

Transforming isolated systems to converged IT/OT environments is a process that involves data, workflow, and information security considerations. A practical roadmap would include the following steps:

• Assessment phase (cataloging data sources, SCADA systems, and other OT infrastructure)
• Data collection layer (choosing a robust data collection layer that meets ingestion, analytics, and security requirements)
• Unified monitoring (real-time monitoring that spans IT and OT, including modernized SCADA interfaces)

IIoT data pipelines

Building a reliable and efficient data pipeline is at the heart of IT/OT convergence, which usually involves creating a seamless flow from “shop floor to top floor,” as the industry calls it. This expression describes how smart components deliver detailed performance metrics and fault messages to plant management and engineering departments, streamlining maintenance and decreasing downtime. This modern approach introduces several key components:

1. Secure data pipelines from OT to IT systems
2. Edge processing units that handle protocol translation
3. Time-series databases designed for industrial data
4. Modern APIs for application development

Though IIoT architectures can take as many forms as there are use cases, below is an example of an industrial data flow in its most basic form. 

In this sample diagram: 

• OT Systems send sensor data to the Edge Computing Layer, which processes and filters the data.
• The Edge Computing Layer feeds filtered data into the Time-Series Data Layer and can also send local control signals back to OT Systems.
• The Time-Series Data Layer processes and stores the data, sending processed results to IT Systems for analytics and cloud applications.

Time-series data in industrial settings

Since a robust time-series platform optimized for real-time analytics is foundational to integrating IT and OT, it’s worth mentioning some core characteristics and requirements of industrial time-series data management:

• High ingestion rates: Machines and sensors generate massive volumes of data that must be captured in real time without loss to maintain operational visibility and real-time analytics.
• Regular sampling intervals: Equipment and processes are typically monitored at precise, fixed intervals to ensure consistent data collection and analysis.
• Critical timestamp accuracy requirements: Manufacturing processes and compliance needs demand microsecond-level precision to sequence events and diagnose issues properly.
• Need for efficient downsampling and aggregation: Historical analysis and long-term storage require smart data compression while preserving key patterns and trends.

Query performance, ingest performance, cost, and support for both OT and IT data (relational and time-series data) are all considerations in choosing the right platform for your industrial integration project. 

Additionally, given the mission-critical nature of industrial operations (and thereby stringent data accuracy and consistency requirements), another consideration when choosing an IIoT database is ACID compliance. A single application database meeting the above requirements would support stack simplification. 

Next Steps

Beyond marking a fundamental shift in how industrial applications are built, IT/OT convergence has become a business imperative for industrial organizations. Bridging the gap between operational and information technology unlocks new possibilities for insight and innovation while maintaining the performance and reliability that industrial systems demand.

Looking to modernize your systems and bridge the gap between information and operational technologies? Application developers in many industry segments have used Postgres-powered Timescale Cloud to accelerate digital transformation in their companies. 

You can learn more by watching the Managing IoT Energy Data with Timescale webinar, or take our IIoT-ready cloud platform for a test run. 

Additional IIoT resources

• 5 Questions to Ask About Adopting a Time-Series Database for IIoT
• How to Set Up a Dashboard for Global Energy Data Analytics (Real-World Use Case)
• IoT Renewable Energy Models: Building the Future With Time-Series Data
• Best Practices for Building IIoT Energy Monitoring Applications
• Moving Past Legacy Systems: Data Historian vs. Time-Series Database