About OT Data Connectors
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OT data connectors are an add-on feature available on the Enterprise plan. For more information, contact your MaintainX® representative.
Operational technology (OT) systems, such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platforms, and MQTT brokers, generate real-time data about your equipment. These systems track machine status, runtime, cycle counts, and sensor readings, such as temperature, pressure, or vibration. This data usually stays within the OT environment, separate from the tools your maintenance team uses to manage assets and work orders.
OT data connectors are the integration layer between those OT systems and MaintainX, and the first step in Asset Intelligence. Each connector streams tag data from a specific OT source into MaintainX. After you create the assets that represent your equipment, you map the tag data to meters associated with those assets. You can then use automations to act on the incoming readings.
After you map your tags to meters, MaintainX uses the incoming data to update meter readings, trigger work orders, change asset status, and feed monitors that raise alerts, without a technician re-entering it by hand.
Available OT Data Connectors​
Every OT data connector solves the same problem, getting equipment data out of an OT system and into MaintainX, but not every plant gets there the same way. Some teams already run a SCADA platform or industrial middleware and only need a bridge. Others publish data through a broker or send it to a cloud platform.
OT data connectors are self-managed integrations. You manage your own OT hardware, software, or data platform, and MaintainX provides the connector that streams your existing data into MaintainX.
Across every connector, the data flows one direction: MaintainX receives readings from your OT system, and none of these connectors write commands or configuration back to your PLCs, sensors, or SCADA platform. Each on-premise connector communicates outbound over HTTPS, so your OT network doesn't need to open any inbound ports for MaintainX to receive data. AVEVA CONNECTâ„¢ is a cloud-to-cloud integration. MaintainX connects to your AVEVA CONNECT tenant, so there's nothing to install on your network.
The connectors map to how most industrial sites are already set up:
- AVEVA CONNECT: Organizations that send data from AVEVA® PI System, AVEVA System Platform, or other AVEVA products to AVEVA CONNECT can connect their tenant directly to MaintainX, with no on-premise agent or module.
- Ignition®: Inductive Automation Ignition users install the MaintainX module directly on their Ignition Gateway to stream real-time tag data into MaintainX, without requiring scripting or additional development in Ignition.
- Kepware®: Kepware users set up the Kepware integration to transmit tag data from PLCs, sensors, and other industrial protocols into MaintainX, without adding another point of integration to their OT stack.
- MQTT: MQTT users deploy the MaintainX MQTT On-Premise Agent (referred to as the OPA) to subscribe to their broker and stream that data into MaintainX alongside everything else consuming it.
Integrations​
Each live link between MaintainX and an OT source, such as an AVEVA CONNECT tenant, an Ignition Gateway, a Kepware server, or an MQTT broker, is called a connector instance. Every OT data connector you configure shows up as a connector instance on the Integrations page, alongside the other systems connected to MaintainX. Once it's configured, the connector instance continuously streams that source's tag data into MaintainX.
Benefits of OT Data Connectors​
OT data connectors turn raw machine signals into maintenance action. Instead of relying on manual rounds or reactive fixes, your team can see equipment condition as it changes and let MaintainX handle the parts of the workflow that don't need a human in the loop.
Why Bring OT Data into MaintainX​
Once an OT data connector is streaming data into MaintainX, your equipment's own record of what it's doing sits alongside the assets, work orders, and history that your team already manages. That gives you:
- Accurate data without manual entry: Meter readings and asset statuses reflect what your equipment is actually doing, not what someone remembered to record on their last round.
- Earlier warning of problems: Your team sees changes in equipment condition as they happen, so it can respond to early warning signs instead of finding out after a failure.
- Work that starts on its own: Equipment signals can create work orders, update asset statuses, and raise alerts through monitors and automations, so fewer problems depend on someone noticing and reporting them.
- Maintenance based on real equipment use: Schedule service based on how hard equipment actually runs, instead of a fixed calendar, to avoid over-maintaining and under-maintaining your assets.
- More reliable reporting: Downtime, availability, and reliability metrics draw on actual machine data instead of manual entries.
- A stronger reliability history: Every asset builds a real machine-condition record that supports reliability practices such as root cause analysis.
Common Use Cases​
OT data supports three common use cases, depending on what you're trying to fix first.
Usage-Based Maintenance​
Trigger preventive maintenance (PM) from actual runtime, cycle counts, or production activity, rather than a fixed calendar interval. Usage-based scheduling is currently in Beta and available only to select MaintainX customers.
For example, a PLC tracks runtime hours on a critical motor. That runtime tag streams into MaintainX and updates the asset's meter. When the meter crosses its threshold, a PM work order fires automatically, so the team services the motor based on how hard it's actually running instead of a generic schedule.
For a step-by-step example of this use case, see Set Up Usage-Based Maintenance.
Condition-Based Maintenance​
Trigger work orders from values, such as temperature, pressure, current draw, vibration, or fault codes, when they cross a defined threshold, or let a monitor detect fault codes and unusual patterns for you, so your team responds to early warning signs instead of finding out after a failure.
For example, a vibration sensor on a pump streams readings into MaintainX. When vibration exceeds the defined threshold, a work order fires automatically, prompting the team to inspect the pump before a bearing fails.
For a step-by-step example of this use case, see Set Up Condition-Based Maintenance.
Asset Status Tracking​
Map machine state signals, such as running, stopped, or faulted, to your asset's Online or Offline status automatically, giving you accurate downtime context for reliability and root cause analysis without anyone updating status by hand. A monitor sets the status for you as the signal changes.
For example, a PLC reports a conveyor's state as stopped. MaintainX updates the asset's status to Offline, capturing the downtime automatically instead of relying on someone to log it after the fact.
For a step-by-step example of this use case, see Set Up Real-Time Monitoring.
Choosing Which Data to Connect​
OT data connectors work with a wide range of signals, including:
- Machine status
- Runtime hours or cycle counts
- Meter-based readings, such as temperature, pressure, current draw, or vibration
- Fault codes and alarms
- Production or usage signals
Start with the tags tied to the outcome you're trying to support, such as asset state, usage, or an actionable condition. You can always connect more later. Once your tags are flowing, smart tag mapping uses AI to suggest meters, units, and assets for each one, so you spend less time on manual setup and more time acting on the data.