Frequently Asked Questions

Xentara is an advanced IT/OT convergence platform designed for software driven industrial automation. At its heart, it has its real-time core which controls and connects technologies. But it also has powerful abilities for data management, test and simulation, and beyond. It was made to facilitate the rollout of what has long been called Industry 4.0 and is now referred to as Manufacturing X - the future of smart production. Xentara can streamline processes, enhance data integration, and enable real-time decision-making, empowering smarter and more efficient operations. Xentara is ideal for developers, engineers, and businesses in the industrial sector looking to modernize and optimize their operations through data-driven insights and automation.

Basically, OT or Operational Technology describes all kinds of machines and devices used in factories, plants or other production sites that are run by legacy control systems like Programmable Logic Controllers or PLCs. IT, on the other hand, is Information Technology which encompasses computers, networks, enterprise systems, the internet, and cloud services. Traditionally, these two kinds of technology could not be seamlessly combined because they communicate in very different ways. OT uses cyclical real-time communication, which favors precision over speed, while IT is built on high speed event-driven communication. But in  order to generate value from machine data, these two worlds have to be brought together. Most available solutions are one way streets that can only transfer machine data to IT systems but not the other way around. Xentara seamlessly bridges both worlds and enables true bidirectional convergence.

People often think "real-time" just means fast. But that is a misconception. Real-Time is about precision, not speed. When talking about communication technology, real-time is defined as every value being available at an exactly defined point in time. Why is this important? Well, if real-time is not maintained in a control system, it can lead to errors, safety risks, system instability, and data loss. That is why established machine controls like PLCs have to rely on real-time communication.

Absolutely! Xentara supports integration with legacy industrial control systems, IoT devices, and modern cloud and enterprise platforms, ensuring interoperability across various technologies. Numerous connectors are available both for south- and northbound connections - meaning connecting to OT or IT - and a wide array of special purposes. New connectors are being added constantly, and the open and flexible Xentara interface makes it easy to create your own connectors for specific purposes.

Sure, Xentara can be used to deploy a Soft-PLC but Xentara's functionality goes far beyond that of a typical PLC replacement. It also offers universal IT/OT connectivity, powerful data management, versatile test and simulation functions, and more. Also, since Xentara is software-based, new features can be added through a simple update whereas adding functionality to a PLC usually means buying additional hardware. For an overview of what Xentara can do for you, please browse our website.

Xentara is not an AI or Machine Learning service. It does, however, offer powerful and flexible data management functions and interfaces like ONNX that allow you to connect to most widely used AI services. This allows Xentara to serve as an ideal data aggregator and pipeline to train and feed your models.

Xentara is licensed through a one time purchase per system with lifetime validity. There are no hidden costs or subscription fees.

Tutorials, how-to guides, and comprehensive documentation are available in the Xentara Knowledge Base. Extensive developer documentation for advanced users and engineers is available at docs.xentara.io

No, Xentara is not a cloud service and Embedded Ocean is not a cloud provider. Xentara can run on any general computing hardware that fulfills the minimum system requirements as listed in our documentation - basically anything that can run Linux or Windows, from small single board systems like Raspberry Pi up to larger servers. It is mainly intended to be deployed on the Industrial Edge. However, if you prefer running your IT infrastructure on cloud servers (either on-premise or hosted), Xentara can also be deployed to those. Keep in mind though that real-time functionality can not be guaranteed through a cloud connection.

Since Xentara is not a cloud service, this is completely up to you. You can host your data anywhere you want. Usually the data model resides on the same system the Xentara core is deployed on, for example an Edge Controller.

No. Using Xentara does not impact your data sovereignty in the slightest. You are free to host your data wherever you choose, which will most likely be on-premise, and you have full undivided control of it. Embedded Ocean has no access to your data unless it becomes necessary for technical support, and even then only if you explicitly request it and give us access.

Since Xentara is not a cloud service, this is completely up to you. You can host your data anywhere you want. Usually the data model resides on the same system the Xentara core is deployed on, for example an Edge Controller.

Xentara employs a robust multi-mesh security strategy to safeguard data and systems. It uses secure communication protocols, defaulting to the highest security and encryption levels available. Access rights to specific parts of the System Model, from individual data points to entire buses can be assigned on a user or group basis. The system supports both password and certificate-based authentication. We constantly update Xentara to improve its feature set, performance and security. Please note that keeping your operating system and software - including Xentara - up-to-date is crucial for addressing security vulnerabilities.

Xentara is a background service handling data communication and process control, so it has no native user interface. But of course, Embedded Ocean also offers a range of graphical tools for configuration and data access, like our Xentara Workbench and the Xentara Inspector. For additional monitoring and visualizations services Xentara also supports open interfaces to applications like Helio, a recommended solution for building Human Machine Interfaces. Comprehensive data dashboards can configured with tools like Grafana. Those are just examples, of course.

Since Xentara is not a programming language itself, there is no IDE. Embedded Ocean offers the Xentara Workbench, a graphical environment for easily configuring your data models. We also offer tutorials on how to install a complete development toolchain for writing and compiling programs that work with Xentara.

Xentara features a powerful C++ API. A Python interface is also available. PLC code can be integrated through vendor specific interfaces like ADS for Beckhoff or PLC Handler for Codesys as an example, or PLC code based on the IEC16499 which is supported by the 4diac IDE. Additionally, more specific situations may arise in which Xentara's control logic receives input from environments like Matlab-Simulink, as it provides the Functional Mockup Interface.

Please keep in mind that as an FAQ list, this page only lists the questions we encounter most frequently in our dealings with customers, partners and industry stakeholders. There is a lot more information in our frequently updated Knowledge Base. For advanced developers and engineers, there is also our developer documentation located at docs.xentara.io.

However, feel free to contact us with any additional questions you have. You can also open a ticket on our support portal at xentara.freshdesk.com to suggest topics you think should be covered in our Knowledge Base but aren't available yet.