The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as one of the most transformative and growing technology trends today.

As the industrial plant floor and corporate enterprise become more connected, the demand for skilled professionals who understand the exchange between information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) is increasing.

Establishing a connected industrial enterprise may appear to be an overwhelming challenge but it is one that manufacturers must address to remain competitive in the current marketplace.

In response, Rockwell Automation together with Strategic Alliance partner Cisco, has launched a new training course, Managing Industrial Networks with Cisco® Networking Technologies (IMINS). This is a hands-on lab-based course, which helps students with the foundational skills needed for the management and administration of networked industrial control systems.

According to Cuong Vo, business manager, Customer Support & Maintenance at Rockwell Automation, “Automation engineers are increasingly required to manage networked industrial products and solutions so this course is designed for IT and OT professionals and control engineers who are involved with the implementation, operation and support of networked industrial products and solutions,”

“This course aims to enable participants to achieve competency and skills to install, maintain and troubleshoot industrial network systems while helping to ensure network availability, reliability and Internet security throughout their companies,” he said.

Industrial IoT technologies can help customers lay a foundation for a highly secure, connected enterprise using standard unmodified Ethernet to connect people, processes, data and things. This ultimately drives greater productivity and sustainable competitive differentiation.

The five-day course focuses on networking technologies that are needed in today’s connected plants and enterprises. Participants will get hands-on experience working with the Rockwell Automation suite of products to help converge technologies and bring the value of the connected enterprise to life. It also provides a foundation for the Cisco Industrial Networking Specialist Certification exam.

Rockwell Automation and Cisco have been working together to bridge the gap between enterprise IT and plant floor operations technology professionals through network and security products, Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) reference architectures, services and solutions.

The IMINS training course will be conducted on 16-19 March as part of the Rockwell Automation ConnectED 2015 and Cisco Live 2015 in Melbourne.  This course will also be available at other locations around Australia, later in the year.