Industrial Networks and IT-OT Convergence: The Skills Challenge for Manufacturers

On 5 November 2026, Automazione Plus published the full version of the roundtable "Industrial networking: up-skilling and re-skilling", which had already appeared in the November-December 2026 issue of the magazine Fieldbus & Networks. The topic is a practical one for anyone running plants and information systems: industrial networks are evolving fast, and so is the professional profile of the people who design, integrate and manage them.

A note on transparency: this article is based on the introduction to the roundtable, the only part available at the time of writing. We therefore do not report any statements from participants, data or specific recommendations, which should be sought in the full text.

What is changing

According to the introduction, technologies such as Industrial Ethernet, TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking), OPC UA, IIoT and cybersecurity are evolving quickly. These are not isolated updates: taken together, they redefine the skills required to build and maintain a factory network infrastructure.

At the same time, the boundary between OT (Operational Technology) and IT is becoming ever thinner. Interoperability, security and compliance with standards are increasingly important criteria in technical and organizational decisions.

A challenge on two fronts

The introduction describes a twofold difficulty for companies:

• finding people on the market with broader, cross-disciplinary skills that bridge worlds that were previously separate;
• upgrading the skills of the staff already in the company.

For this reason, training, up-skilling and re-skilling are identified as strategic topics. The text also touches on the role of certifications and the work of associations and consortia, but the excerpt breaks off at exactly that point.

Why it matters to those running plants and systems

For plant managers and IT/OT managers, the issue has practical consequences. A machine connectivity, data collection or MES integration project relies on a dependable network, shared data-exchange protocols and adequate security measures. If no one can hold these elements together, the constraint may turn out not to be the technology, but the availability of people able to use it.

Network, protocols and security are no longer skills to hand over to departments that don't talk to each other.

Practical starting points

Without anticipating the roundtable's conclusions, a few questions can help frame an internal discussion:

• What skills in networking, protocols (such as OPC UA) and security exist in the company today, and where are they concentrated?
• Do IT and automation teams work toward shared goals on connectivity projects?
• Are there training or certification paths to upgrade existing staff?
• In upcoming data collection or MES integration projects, who owns the network architecture and security from the design phase onward?

An honest skills assessment, carried out before a project starts, makes it possible to decide more knowingly whether to train, hire or rely on external partners.

Further reading

The full text of the roundtable is available on Automazione Plus and lets you check the participants' views and recommendations, which are not reported here.