ThingWorx: A Practical Ally for Unified Namespace Integration

At Velotic, we understand the challenges manufacturers face in managing industrial data across diverse systems. The Unified Namespace (UNS) concept—a centralized, event-driven framework for organizing data—has gained traction as a way to address these challenges by providing a standardized approach to data integration. ThingWorx, our industrial IoT platform, aligns seamlessly with UNS, offering practical tools to help manufacturers integrate and act on their data more effectively. This alignment has been validated through real-world applications, including a recent collaboration with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).

ThingWorx is built to connect and manage data from a wide range of industrial systems, making it a natural fit as a consumer and producer for UNS data to provide insights. Its model-based architecture allows users to represent assets, systems, and processes as digital "Things," which can allow easy mapping of any payload format used in the UNS such as SparkplugB, ISA 95 part 2, or custom JSON format. This setup enables data from devices, machines, and applications to be organized and accessed in a consistent way.

A key feature of ThingWorx is its support for MQTT, a lightweight messaging protocol commonly used in UNS setups. With the ability to decode SparkplugB messages—a specification that standardizes MQTT data formats—ThingWorx can efficiently operationalize UNS data. This integration allows users to leverage ThingWorx’s tools for visualization, analytics, and application development, turning raw data into actionable insights.

The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has been exploring UNS through their Factory+ framework, which is designed around UNS principles. In a recent demonstration, they integrated Factory+ with ThingWorx, showcasing how quickly and effectively the two can work together. Alex Godbehere, Senior Technical Fellow at the AMRC, shared his perspective on the collaboration:

“It’s encouraging to see vendors like Velotic actively embracing the Unified Namespace (UNS) approach, recently demonstrated through their ability to decode SparkplugB messages within ThingWorx. As the authors of Factory+, a UNS-first digital framework for manufacturing, the AMRC has long advocated for the benefits of a standardized, interoperable data infrastructure. Factory+ was designed from the ground up around UNS principles, so it’s particularly rewarding to see this level of alignment from a leading industrial platform. During a recent demonstration, Velotic's connector enabled our entire UNS to be integrated with the ThingWorx platform in under 30 minutes, giving us immediate access to its powerful suite of tools for visualization, analytics, and application development. By connecting Factory+ to ThingWorx, we’re able to unlock new ways to explore and act on industrial data—accelerating digital transformation in a practical, scalable way. We’re looking forward to the upcoming launch of ThingWorx 10 and the continued momentum behind UNS-driven solutions.”

ThingWorx dashboards demonstrating Factory+ framework implemented at AMRC

This example underscores ThingWorx’s ability to operationalize UNS in a matter of minutes, providing immediate access to its suite of tools. The AMRC team was able to use ThingWorx’s Mashup Builder to create custom dashboards, apply analytics to gain insights, and develop applications tailored to their needs; all without a steep learning curve.

As we prepare for the launch of ThingWorx 10, we’re continuing to enhance our platform’s interoperability and with modern data frameworks like UNS and tools required for Gen AI. The upcoming release will include improvements like IoT streams to allow for sharing contextualized data for AI for end-to-end Industrial Data Management needs. ThingWorx’s flexibility and robust feature set make it a reliable choice for organizations looking to adopt UNS principles and consume Industrial data for IoT based insights from the applications built on top of ThingWorx

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is a world-leading cluster for research, innovation and training. Part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult network, we have almost 100 industrial partners and work with manufacturing companies of all sizes from across the globe to deliver cutting-edge products and processes, and train new talent and skills. We’re driving sustainable manufacturing technologies for net zero, creating the vital step-changes needed in the low-carbon transition to help businesses increase economic performance, boost productivity and sharpen their competitive edge.

Factory+ (Home | Factory+), developed by the AMRC, is an open-source digital framework designed to enable a Unified Namespace (UNS) approach in manufacturing. Built from the ground up with interoperability and standardization in mind, Factory+ helps manufacturers create a connected, data-driven ecosystem to support their digital transformation journey.