CloudRail

CloudRail GmbH operates as a specialized provider of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions, focusing on simplifying data acquisition from industrial environments. The company was founded in Mannheim, Germany, in 2013 by Felix Kollmar, Patrick Stoklasa, and David Amann. A significant milestone in the company's history was its acquisition by Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC) in August 2023, integrating CloudRail into Belden's Industrial Automation Solutions (IAS) business segment. Following the acquisition, Felix Kollmar remained as the Business Leader and Patrick Stoklasa as the Technology Leader, continuing to guide the company's direction.

The core of CloudRail's business is a fully managed, plug-and-play system designed to connect industrial machinery to the cloud. This addresses a critical challenge in the manufacturing and industrial sectors: the complex and time-consuming process of bridging operational technology (OT) with information technology (IT). The company serves a diverse client base, including large enterprises in automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, and public infrastructure. Its business model appears to be centered on selling its integrated hardware and software solutions, likely involving recurring revenue through its cloud-based management platform.

CloudRail's platform is engineered to drastically reduce the setup time for connecting industrial assets to cloud services like AWS and Microsoft Azure. Its key feature is the ability to automatically handle data acquisition and normalization for both modern (greenfield) and legacy (brownfield) equipment. For modern systems, it utilizes standards like OPC-UA. For older machinery, it retrofits them using secondary sensors. A proprietary database of over 12,000 sensor definitions allows the system to automatically recognize and configure sensors, transforming raw data into a ready-to-use format. All connected edge devices are managed through the central CloudRail Device Management Cloud (DMC), which enables clients to remotely provision, monitor, and update their IIoT installations globally.

Keywords: Industrial IoT, IIoT, OT to IT integration, data acquisition, edge computing, smart factory, industrial automation, Belden, OPC-UA, sensor data, brownfield connectivity, greenfield connectivity, cloud integration, AWS IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT, machine connectivity, plug and play IoT, remote device management