How The Stack Works

IIoT Architecture

How operational data travels from the plant floor to the enterprise — through edge connectivity, an MQTT Sparkplug B message bus, the IIoT historian, and the Node-RED ecosystem. Follow the flow upward, and meet the partners at every layer.

Historian & Apps Message Bus Edge / Connectivity Field / OT Canary Labs IIoT Historian FlowFuse Node-RED Ecosystem Cirrus Link MQTT · Sparkplug B Smithtek Passport Edge Gateway with Node-RED PLCs · Sensors · RTUs Smithtek Mako Field / OT JasperMate Field / OT Connectivity · Edge AI Data Flows Up
Data flows up the stack
Layer 03 / 04 · Historian & Ecosystem
IIoT Historian

Captures, stores and trends operational data at scale — the system of record for the stack.

Visit canarylabs.com → Node-RED Ecosystem

Supporting ecosystem — builds and scales Node-RED applications on top of the data layer.

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Layer 02 · Message Bus
Message Bus (MQTT / Sparkplug B)

Moves plant-floor data to the enterprise and cloud with the open, lightweight MQTT Sparkplug B standard — built by the inventors.

Visit cirrus-link.com →
Layer 01 · Edge / Connectivity
Edge Connectivity

Gets signals off the plant floor — the edge gateway layer that feeds the message bus.

View in marketplace → Edge Connectivity

Edge acquisition and connectivity — bringing field data into the industrial stack.

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01

Edge & Connectivity

At the bottom of the stack, edge devices and gateways acquire signals from PLCs, sensors and machines on the plant floor and make them available to publish.

02

Message Bus — MQTT / Sparkplug B

Edge data is published over an MQTT broker using Sparkplug B — a lightweight, report-by-exception standard that carries context and state efficiently from OT to the enterprise.

03

IIoT Historian

The historian subscribes to the bus, storing and trending operational data at scale so teams can monitor live and analyse history from one system of record.

04

Node-RED Ecosystem

On top of the data layer, the Node-RED ecosystem builds dashboards, workflows and applications — turning stored and streaming data into operational decisions.

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