The longstanding alliance between Rockwell Automation and Cisco continues to find new ways to provide customer value with the recent announcement that Rockwell Automation is adding Cisco’s Cyber Vision solution to its existing LifecycleIQ Services portfolio of cybersecurity threat detection offerings.

The two companies have been working together for more than a decade – recognizing before many that the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) worlds were coming together. While convergence is essential to a digital transformation, it also presents challenges such as siloed networks, cybersecurity threats, skills shortages and an abundance of production data and solutions. The leaders in their respective industries have worked together to offer jointly developed architectures, services and products to help companies address these challenges as they work toward building a Connected Enterprise.

As this deeper integration between IT, cloud and industrial networks creates security issues that become digitization obstacles, Cyber Vision provides full visibility into industrial control systems to build secure infrastructures and enforce security policies – achieving the continuity, resilience, and safety of industrial operations. The addition of Cyber Vision to the LifecycleIQ Services threat detection offerings provides a unique switch-based architecture for customers with existing Cisco solutions, greenfield networks or those updating their Cisco network infrastructure.

“We are excited to continue growing our strategic alliance offerings with Cisco,” said Angela Rapko, director, Portfolio & Business Management – Customer Support and Maintenance (CSM), Rockwell Automation. “Our partnership brings together Cisco’s worldwide leadership in IT networking and security with the global leadership of Rockwell Automation in industrial automation and OT. The addition of Cisco Cyber Vision to our cybersecurity threat detection services portfolio benefits our customers by expanding the integration between the Rockwell Automation and Cisco ecosystems, particularly around cybersecurity.”

“The addition of Cisco’s Cyber Vision to Rockwell Automation’s threat detection portfolio is exemplary of our joint commitment to help customers bolster the cybersecurity of their industrial operations,” said Vikas Butaney, VP and GM of Cisco IoT. “With Cyber Vision we are embedding cybersecurity within industrial networks, making it easy for our customers to secure their business-critical operations at scale. We are proud to offer the most comprehensive portfolio of products and services to enable the collaborative workflow and the shared vision that IT and OT teams need to manage these critical risks and solve their industrial security challenges.”

The new offering builds on the work Rockwell Automation and Cisco are already doing together to solve customers’ industrial networking and security challenges. This includes jointly developed – and freely available - Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) Architectures that provide blueprints for customers to design and deploy scalable, secure industrial networks, as well as co-developed Allen-Bradley Stratix managed switches to provide customers with a secure switching infrastructure for harsh environments.