ai-readiness-unified-namespace-01
Services & Solutions

Real-Time Unified Namespace (UNS)

Transform your integration architecture from a tangled web of point-to-point connections into an elegant, event-driven data fabric—where every system has real-time access to a single source of operational truth.

Purpose & Pain Points Solved

A Unified Namespace (UNS) is the modern architecture for industrial data integration that replaces brittle point-to-point connections with a real-time, publish/subscribe data fabric that scales effortlessly as your operation grows.

Point-to-Point Integration Chaos

Every new system integration requires custom connections to every other system, creating a web of brittle, hard-to-maintain integrations.

Impact: Exponential complexity as systems grow—each new system multiplies integration points and failure modes

Delayed Data Propagation

Systems rely on batch updates, polling, or manual data transfers rather than receiving real-time event notifications as changes occur.

Impact: Stale information leads to decisions based on outdated state, missed opportunities, and reactive operations

No Single Source of Truth

Multiple systems maintain their own copies of operational data with no authoritative, real-time view of the current state of operations.

Impact: Data inconsistencies, conflicting reports, and inability to trust any single system's view of reality

Tightly Coupled Systems

Systems must know about and directly communicate with every other system they interact with, creating rigid, inflexible architectures.

Impact: Adding, changing, or removing systems requires touching multiple integration points—slowing innovation and increasing risk

What This Service Enables

Event-Driven Architecture

Real-time pub/sub messaging replaces polling and batch updates—systems react instantly to changes

Single Source of Truth

The UNS becomes the authoritative real-time view of your entire operation—no more data silos

Linear Scalability

Adding systems becomes trivial—one connection to the UNS, not n integrations to other systems

Traditional vs. UNS Architecture

See how the Unified Namespace approach fundamentally transforms integration complexity and scalability.

CharacteristicTraditional Point-to-PointUnified Namespace (UNS)
Integration PatternPoint-to-PointPublish/Subscribe
Complexity GrowthO(n²) - ExponentialO(n) - Linear
Data FreshnessBatch/Polling (minutes to hours)Real-time (milliseconds)
Adding New SystemWeeks to months (n integrations)Minutes to hours (1 connection)
Source of TruthDistributed across systemsCentralized in UNS
FlexibilityRigid, tightly coupledLoose coupling, highly flexible
Failure ImpactCascading failuresIsolated, non-cascading

Enabling Tools & Technologies

We leverage industry-standard MQTT infrastructure and industrial IoT platforms to build production-grade UNS architectures.

MQTT Brokers

Enterprise-grade publish/subscribe messaging brokers that form the backbone of the Unified Namespace architecture.

Key Capabilities:

  • Cloud-managed: AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, HiveMQ Cloud
  • On-premise: Eclipse Mosquitto, HiveMQ, EMQX
  • Scalable to millions of messages per second
  • Quality of Service (QoS) levels for guaranteed delivery
  • Hierarchical topic structures for organized namespaces
  • Native support for TLS encryption and authentication

Industrial Data Gateways

Edge software that bridges OT devices and IT systems to the UNS, publishing structured data into MQTT topics.

Key Capabilities:

  • N3uron: Full-featured IIoT platform with MQTT publisher
  • Ignition: SCADA with native MQTT Sparkplug support
  • HighByte Intelligence Hub: Data modeling with MQTT output
  • OPC Router: Flexible middleware for MQTT integration
  • Protocol translation and data normalization at the edge

Namespace Design Standards

Structured topic hierarchies and data models that organize the UNS for discoverability and maintainability.

Key Capabilities:

  • ISA-95 hierarchical structure (Enterprise/Site/Area/Line/Cell)
  • Sparkplug B specification for industrial MQTT
  • JSON payloads with consistent schema definitions
  • Self-describing topics with metadata and context
  • Semantic naming conventions for easy discovery
  • Version management for schema evolution

Security & Access Control

Enterprise authentication, authorization, and encryption ensuring secure pub/sub messaging at scale.

Key Capabilities:

  • TLS 1.2/1.3 encryption for data in transit
  • Certificate-based authentication for devices and clients
  • Fine-grained ACLs for topic-level permissions
  • Integration with enterprise identity providers (LDAP, OAuth)
  • Network segmentation and firewall-friendly design
  • Audit logging for all publish and subscribe activity
Data streaming real-time

Sparkplug B Standard

We implement the Eclipse Sparkplug B specification—the industry standard for MQTT in industrial environments. This ensures interoperability, auto-discovery, and consistent data modeling across your UNS.

How We Deploy at Your Site

Our proven methodology delivers a production-ready Unified Namespace with comprehensive governance and security.
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1. Broker Deployment & Infrastructure

2-3 days

Activities:

  • Select broker architecture: cloud-managed (AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub) or on-premise (HiveMQ, Mosquitto)
  • Deploy broker cluster with high availability and redundancy
  • Configure network access, firewall rules, and DNS
  • Set up TLS certificates and authentication mechanisms
  • Establish monitoring, logging, and alerting infrastructure

Deliverable: Production-ready MQTT broker infrastructure with security and monitoring

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2. Namespace Architecture Design

3-5 days

Activities:

  • Define hierarchical topic structure aligned with plant/business organization (ISA-95 or custom)
  • Design topic naming conventions (e.g., Enterprise/Site/Area/Line/Cell/Device/Tag)
  • Specify JSON payload schemas for each topic level
  • Document metadata requirements and context attributes
  • Define QoS policies for different data types (real-time vs. historical)
  • Create namespace governance and change management processes

Deliverable: Complete UNS architecture documentation with topic hierarchy and schemas

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3. Publisher Configuration & Integration

4-6 days

Activities:

  • Deploy edge gateways (N3uron, Ignition, HighByte) at data collection points
  • Configure OT data sources to publish to assigned UNS topics
  • Map device tags to namespace topics with proper context enrichment
  • Set up IT system publishers (ERP, MES, WMS) to publish business events
  • Implement store-and-forward for network resilience
  • Test data quality, latency, and message formatting

Deliverable: All data sources publishing to UNS with validated data quality

4

4. Subscriber Configuration & Consumer Apps

3-5 days

Activities:

  • Configure consuming applications to subscribe to relevant topics
  • Set up dashboards, HMIs, and visualization tools as subscribers
  • Integrate analytics platforms and data lakes with UNS subscriptions
  • Configure MES, SCADA, and other operational systems as subscribers
  • Implement subscription filtering and message processing logic
  • Enable bidirectional workflows where applications can also publish

Deliverable: Consumer applications receiving real-time data from UNS

5

5. Security Hardening & Access Control

2-3 days

Activities:

  • Configure topic-level ACLs for fine-grained access control
  • Implement certificate-based authentication for all publishers/subscribers
  • Enable TLS encryption for all broker connections
  • Set up integration with enterprise identity providers
  • Document security policies and access request procedures
  • Conduct security audit and penetration testing

Deliverable: Fully secured UNS with role-based access control and encryption

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6. Testing, Documentation & Training

2-3 days

Activities:

  • Perform end-to-end testing of all publish/subscribe flows
  • Test failover, redundancy, and disaster recovery scenarios
  • Validate message latency and throughput under load
  • Create runbooks for operations and troubleshooting
  • Train teams on UNS concepts, monitoring, and administration
  • Deliver complete architecture documentation and governance guide

Deliverable: Production-ready UNS with trained team and complete documentation

Typical Implementation Timeline

16-25 Days

From initial architecture design to production-ready Unified Namespace

Business Benefits

Decoupled Architecture

Systems publish and subscribe without direct knowledge of each other—add or remove systems without touching existing integrations.

Real-Time Event-Driven Updates

Every system sees changes the instant they happen through live event streams rather than polling or batch updates.

Single Source of Truth

The UNS becomes the authoritative, real-time representation of the current state of your entire operation.

Infinite Scalability

Add unlimited subscribers to any topic without impacting publishers—one data source serves many consumers efficiently.

Agile Integration

New applications can subscribe to existing data streams in minutes rather than months of custom integration development.

Secure by Default

Centralized security model with topic-level permissions and encrypted transport for all data flows.

Common Use Cases

Real-Time Production Monitoring

Every machine publishes state changes, production counts, and alarms to the UNS. Dashboards, MES, and analytics platforms all subscribe to get live updates with zero polling.

Publishers:

PLCs, SCADA systems, edge gateways

Subscribers:

HMI dashboards, MES, data historians, analytics platforms

Outcome: Instant visibility across the enterprise with no custom integrations

Event-Driven Quality Management

When a quality parameter goes out of spec, the machine publishes an event. QMS automatically receives the alert, creates a non-conformance record, and notifies quality engineers—all in real-time.

Publishers:

In-line sensors, vision systems, test equipment

Subscribers:

QMS, notification systems, SCADA, data lakes

Outcome: Automated quality workflows with instant response to deviations

Coordinated Material Handling

Conveyors, AGVs, and warehouse systems all publish their state to the UNS. MES and WMS subscribe to coordinate material flow without direct system-to-system communication.

Publishers:

Conveyors, AGVs, robots, warehouse automation

Subscribers:

MES, WMS, route optimization algorithms, dashboards

Outcome: Orchestrated material flow without point-to-point integrations

Predictive Maintenance Coordination

Vibration sensors publish high-frequency data to UNS. ML models subscribe and analyze in real-time. When anomalies detected, models publish predictions that CMMS subscribes to for automated work order creation.

Publishers:

Vibration sensors, temperature monitors, ML models

Subscribers:

Analytics platforms, CMMS, notification systems, engineers

Outcome: Closed-loop predictive maintenance with automated work order generation

Connected systems network

Ready to Build Your Unified Namespace?

Stop fighting integration complexity. Build a modern, event-driven data architecture that scales effortlessly and delivers real-time insights across your entire enterprise.