Snowflake Plug-in
Seamlessly Integrate Your Production Data into the Cloud
Integrating artificial intelligence into industrial processes requires a powerful data infrastructure. With the new Snowflake plug-in for OPC Router, you can connect your production facilities directly to Snowflake – a cloud-based data platform for AI and machine learning applications. The plug-in enables bidirectional data exchange between your production and the cloud database.
Full-Featured Database Plug-in with Proven Functions
The Snowflake plug-in integrates seamlessly into the OPC Router environment and brings all proven database functions. You benefit from extensive configuration options and can transfer your machine data, sensor readings, and process information directly from production.
OPC Router collects data where it originates – at the machines and systems – and delivers it in a structured format to Snowflake. The cloud platform combines data storage, processing, and analysis in a central solution with an SQL-like query language.
These and other customers rely on the OPC router
It can be that simple.
Snowflake connection via drag & drop
Connecting your Snowflake Data Cloud is easy and intuitive with OPC Router using drag & drop. The screenshot shows an example of connecting the Snowflake database to an MQTT broker for fast and easy sending and receiving of messages.
Automated Data Exchange
- Coupling On-Premise and Cloud:
With the Snowflake plug-in, you enable the distribution and collection of valuable industrial data between on-premise systems and the cloud. OPC Router eliminates data silos and promotes data-driven decisions in networked production. The plug-in is based on standard interfaces for automated data exchange across all levels.
New analysis possibilities open up in the cloud with AI models for classifying, summarizing, and analyzing your data. The platform automatically handles governance and security while you benefit from easy data sharing and collaboration between different departments or locations.
- Intelligent Control Loop through Bidirectional Data Flow:
The plug-in makes bidirectional data flow particularly powerful: You can seamlessly transfer processed and analyzed data back to OPC Router and use it there. AI-generated insights, forecasts, or optimization suggestions flow directly back into your production processes.
With OPC Router, you can send these results to your machines, visualize them in dashboards, write them to additional databases, or use them as triggers for automated actions. This closes the loop: From data collection through intelligent analysis to automated response.
- Industrie 4.0 Integration:
The Snowflake plug-in opens up new possibilities for advanced data analysis and AI-based applications. A classic application is coupling OPC UA data for machine learning and IoT data analysis. OPC Router supports the integration of systems such as OPC UA, SAP, SQL, MQTT, REST, SOAP, and Excel.
- OPC Router as Data Hub:
With OPC Router, you can graphically implement the networking of your systems. Numerous plug-ins make it the ideal middleware for Industrial IoT. Graphical configuration, sophisticated monitoring, and extreme reliability characterize OPC Router and make it a pioneer for your Industry 4.0 projects.
How You Benefit from the Snowflake Plug-in:
- Complete Integration: All proven database functions of OPC Router are available for the Snowflake plug-in.
- Company-wide Collaboration: The plug-in enables sharing and using data across locations in a central cloud environment.
- AI-Supported Data Analysis: Transfer production data for automatic classification, summarization, and analysis.
- Intelligent Control Loop: With bidirectional data flow, transfer AI-generated insights back to production and trigger automated actions.
Snowflake Plug-in application examples
Industrial Data Lake
With the plug-in, you create a modern industrial data lake. Through the various OPC Router plug-ins, you collect data from a wide variety of production systems and pass it on for advanced data analysis. Typical data sources are PLC systems, SCADA, MES, or ERP systems such as SAP. Through graphical configuration, your production systems are connected without programming.
Existing systems can often be connected via standardized protocols such as OPC UA. A typical example is machine data from CNC systems or control data from PLC systems, which are collected via OPC UA and stored for predictive data analysis.
Real-time Data Streaming with MQTT
The Snowflake plug-in can be optimally combined with the MQTT plug-in. For lightweight and fast data transfer, OPC Router sends sensor data from the field level via an MQTT broker. This data can be transferred directly for real-time analysis or for further processing in data engineering pipelines.
This connection is bidirectional with OPC Router. Analysis results can be transferred back to the production environment, for example to an edge device or to existing MES systems.
Connecting Systems with the OPC Router Snowflake Plug-in
Transfer Objects
The plug-in supports the proven transfer objects of the database plug-ins. Select, Update, Insert, and Delete actions are therefore available for the Snowflake database. After processing records, they can be marked as transferred by OPC Router.
Trigger
The Snowflake plug-in has a database trigger and a transfer state trigger.
Database Trigger
The database trigger checks a column of a Snowflake table for changes. OPC Router is notified via change notification in case of changes and then triggers the connection.
The database trigger has no outgoing data fields.
Transfer State Trigger
The transfer state trigger searches for records that have not yet been processed. The values of the records can be output directly. Finally, the transactions are marked as successful or unsuccessful. In case of a failed transfer, the trigger can retry retrieving the value.
Browsing
The Snowflake plug-in can browse the available objects from the database.
Tables and Views
All tables and views accessible to the user are read from the Snowflake AI Cloud. Then the columns and their types are determined and made available for selection.
About Snowflake
Snowflake is a cloud-native data platform with a unique hybrid architecture. The architecture combines traditional shared-disk and shared-nothing database architectures and separates compute, storage, and service layers. As a result, companies only pay for resources actually used.
With native cloud architecture, lossless cloning, and advanced security features, Snowflake enables efficient management of large amounts of data. The platform supports structured and semi-structured data as well as SQL compatibility.