Infrastructure makes digital journey simpler
Leslah Garland 12 September 2023 
Belden, a leading global supplier of network infrastructure and digitisation solutions, has announced the acquisition of the German-based Industrial IoT specialist CloudRail.
The company says with the acquisition of CloudRail, it continues its strategy to deliver the infrastructure that makes the digital journey simpler, more smart and secure. Belden says it is moving beyond connectivity – from what we make to what we make possible through a performance-driven portfolio, forward-thinking expertise and purpose-built solutions with a leadership position in the evolving IIoT sector.
The digitisation of factories is a global trend with the aim of using large amounts of data to optimise production processes as well as reduce downtime and waste. While Belden already had a strong portfolio of products in the areas of data acquisition, edge computing, and security, the industrial automation market also encounters a clear shift from on-premise systems to the cloud.
“CloudRail literally connects the factory to the Cloud. The founders of the company recognized this trend early and gained a unique leadership position. CloudRail complements our solution portfolio by adding sensor data ingestion capabilities to our Belden HORIZON DataOperations Platform and it fully supports the Belden Industrial EDGE strategy”, says Brian Lieser, Executive Vice President at Belden.
CloudRail offers solutions for industrial customers to connect assets to cloud platforms like AWS or Microsoft Azure. According to a study by Capgemini, this can be achieved 5x faster than with traditional methods. In combination with a centralized device management system, CloudRail was able to win multiple global enterprise clients from industries like Automotive, FMCG, Aerospace, or Public Infrastructure that securely connect and operate their IIoT installations.
“Belden is a strong brand in Industrial Automation with a large network of OT, operations technology Partners. CloudRail built strong partnerships also with most leading IT System Integrators and Cloud Providers. In IIoT we need both — Industrial or OT and IT knowledge. That’s a perfect fit”, says Wolfgang Schenk, VP Business Development at Belden.
“We’ve grown CloudRail from a small Startup to a position where we’ve become an essential component of the digitisation strategy of many industrial clients globally. If we combine this with Belden’s solution competency and products around networking, edge compute and security, we’ll see a new market leader in Industrial IoT.”, says Felix Kollmar, Co-founder and CEO of CloudRail.
