IDIAL – Avoid Production Downtime
Industrial Digital Identity for Automated Lifecycle. Keep production running with automated certificate management for OT environments.
Your Production Line Doesn't Wait for Manual Certificate Renewals
When a certificate expires on a PLC or industrial controller, production stops. Immediately. Manual certificate management can't keep pace with the scale and complexity of modern industrial operations.
The Cost of Expired Certificates in OT Is Measured in Minutes, Not Hours!
Manual certificate management creates operational risk. When certificates expire, production stops immediately. Your team scrambles to identify the cause while downtime costs accumulate.
Production stops without warning. Expired certificates halt manufacturing lines or break OPC UA communication. Downtime costs mount while your team searches for the root cause.
Manual processes don't scale. Managing certificates across hundreds of PLCs and controllers via spreadsheets fails. The challenge intensifies with the growing number of connected IIoT devices in production. One missed renewal cascades into outages or compliance violations.
Visibility gaps create risk. Which assets have certificates? When do they expire? The complexity and heterogeneity of OT environments – diverse protocols, legacy devices, segmented networks – make certificate inventory challenging. See CERIAL for IT certificate automation.
Compliance requirements are tightening. NIS2, IEC 62443, and Zero Trust require verifiable identities and audit trails. Certificate lifetimes are shortening – TLS server certificates must be valid for maximum 47 days by 2029. Manual processes struggle to keep pace with these requirements.
Your OT team shouldn't be doing certificate administration. Every hour spent on certificate administration takes time away from production optimization.
Automated Certificate Lifecycle for OT – Without Touching Your Devices
IDIAL automates PKI for OT environments without agents on your devices. It runs as a containerized service, integrates with your existing PKI and asset inventory, and automates certificate enrollment, renewal, and distribution.
Zero-footprint automation for field devices
IDIAL automates certificate lifecycle for PLCs, controllers, sensors, and edge systems – field devices where traditional PKI deployment methods don't reach. Manages certificates externally using OPC UA GDS Push. No agents, no new attack surface, no production disruption.
Built for industrial protocols
IDIAL implements OPC UA GDS Push for zero-touch certificate provisioning. It supports EST and CMP enrollment protocols, enabling seamless integration with Siemens, Phoenix Contact, Beckhoff and others. RSA and ECC crypto for legacy and modern assets.
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Asset-driven lifecycle management
IDIAL integrates with REST-based CMDBs and asset repositories to track machine identities in your environment. When assets are added, modified, or decommissioned, IDIAL triggers enrollment, renewal, or revocation automatically.
Containerized deployment for operational flexibility
IDIAL runs in Docker or Kubernetes for isolated, scalable deployment across sites and network segments. Deploy centrally or distributed. The architecture adapts to your topology and security requirements.
What Is OPC UA GDS Push?
The OPC UA Global Discovery Server (GDS) Push model centralizes certificate lifecycle management. A GDS initiates and delivers updated certificates and trust lists to registered OPC UA applications. Endpoints receive and apply identity updates automatically instead of handling enrollment and renewals locally.
This works even in segmented OT networks where devices can't initiate outbound connections. IDIAL acts as the GDS Certificate Manager, implementing the OPC UA Part 12 specification.
Three Steps to Continuous Identity in OT
IDIAL's deployment model is designed for industrial realities. Phased rollout. Minimal disruption. Integration with your existing security infrastructure.
01
Deploy IDIAL as a containerized service
IDIAL runs in your OT network segment as a lightweight container (Docker/Kubernetes). No changes to existing devices required. Deploy centrally or distributed across network zones. Implementation takes hours, not weeks.
02
Connect to your PKI and asset inventory
IDIAL connects to your Certificate Authority via EST or CMP protocols and integrates with your CMDB via REST APIs, pulling asset metadata to drive certificate operations. If you use a Registration Authority for approval workflows, IDIAL works through that process. You define policies for enrollment, renewal intervals, and trust distribution.
03
Automate certificate operations
IDIAL handles the complete lifecycle automatically. Enrollment for new assets. Proactive renewal based on certificate validity period and your operational requirements. Certificate validation via OCSP or CRL. Secure distribution using OPC UA GDS Push. Your team monitors. IDIAL executes.
Post-enrollment actions ensure seamless activation. IDIAL can push updated certificates to devices immediately or schedule activation during maintenance windows, aligning with your operational schedule and change management processes.
Protect Uptime. Reduce Effort. Enforce Compliance.
IDIAL delivers measurable operational and security outcomes that directly impact your bottom line.
Operational flexibility
Certificate operations adapt to your production schedule, not vice versa. Define enrollment and renewal windows aligned with planned maintenance, change freezes, or production peaks. IDIAL executes according to your operational constraints.
Eliminate downtime risk from expired certificates
Automatic renewal before expiry ensures certificates are always valid. Monitoring alerts you before expirations impact operations. Organizations report zero certificate-related outages after implementation for covered assets.
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Free your team from repetitive manual work
IDIAL automates certificate requests, renewals, and distribution – reducing administration effort by up to 80%. Your OT team focuses on production optimization, not PKI paperwork.
Maintain compliance and audit readiness
IDIAL writes certificate status back to your CMDB, providing complete visibility into which certificates are active. Monitor compliance directly in your asset management system. When auditors ask for certificate inventory, you have real-time answers.
IDIAL extends your existing PKI into OT. No need to replace your CA or rebuild your security architecture. IDIAL integrates with the infrastructure you already have.
IDIAL automates certificate lifecycle in OT environments
For IT certificate automation, CERIAL provides the same zero-touch automation. Need comprehensive PKI operations support? Explore our PKI Managed Service.
Built for Your Industrial Reality
IDIAL addresses the specific certificate management challenges in modern industrial operations.
A Clear Path from Evaluation to Production
You need to see IDIAL in action and understand what implementation involves.
- Schedule a demo: Our team conducts a virtual walkthrough tailored to your infrastructure. We discuss your certificate management challenges, show IDIAL's capabilities, and demonstrate integration with your PKI and OT assets. We can set up a proof-of-concept in your test environment.
- Implementation timeline: Typical project takes 4-8 weeks from initial scoping to production, depending on environment complexity, integration requirements, and number of sites. The core IDIAL deployment itself completes in one day. We start with a pilot cell to validate integration, tune policies, and train your team before scaling.
- Who needs to be involved: Successful implementations require your PKI team, OT engineers, and network administrators. BxC engineers work alongside your teams, providing expertise in PKI automation and industrial protocols. Not sure if your PKI is ready? Our PKI Consulting service assesses your architecture.
- What you'll need to prepare: Access to your Certificate Authority and asset inventory systems (CMDB, EAM). A suitable network segment (typically OT DMZ). List of device types and protocols for initial deployment.
- Deployment model: IDIAL is built on standardized protocols (EST, CMP, OPC UA GDS). Approximately 80% is pre-configured. The remaining 20% adapts to your environment – PKI integration, CMDB connections, certificate policies, and custom connectors for brownfield devices. You're configuring proven automation, not custom software.
- Pricing approach: Pricing based on managed devices. After initial discussion, we provide a proposal covering licensing, implementation, and support. No hidden fees.
- Risk mitigation: We start with pilot deployment in a non-critical environment. Validate, tune, train. Only after you're confident does IDIAL expand to production-critical systems.
Enterprise-Grade Security. Industrial-Grade Reliability.
IDIAL is built for environments where security and uptime are non-negotiable.
Technical Highlights
Containerized runtime – Docker/Kubernetes for isolation and scalability
No endpoint agents – Zero-footprint architecture
REST API integration – Connects to CMDBs and asset repositories
OPC UA GDS Push – Industry-standard certificate distribution (OPC UA Part 12)
Multi-protocol enrollment – EST, CMP support
Modern and legacy crypto – RSA and ECC for all asset ages
OCSP validation – Low-overhead certificate validity checking
IDIAL extends your existing PKI into OT rather than creating a parallel system.
Standards & Compliance
IEC 62443 – IDIAL supports certificate management requirements across OT zones and conduits.
Zero Trust Architecture – Establishes verifiable machine identities enabling "never trust, always verify" principles.
NIS2 Directive – EU cybersecurity regulation for critical infrastructure. IDIAL provides automated certificate lifecycle and audit trails for compliance.
KRITIS – German critical infrastructure regulations. IDIAL enables certificate-based authentication and monitoring.
OPC UA Security Standards – Implements mandatory components of OPC UA Part 12 (GDS) in full compliance.
Audit Trail & Logging – Complete lifecycle events recorded for compliance reporting with timestamps and attribution.
Multi-CA Support – Works with any Certificate Authority that provides an EST or CMP endpoint.
Why Choose BxC for OT Security
BxC delivers certificate lifecycle automation for industrial environments. We address the unique challenges of OT security.
- Part of the BxC Identity Suite: IDIAL works with CERIAL (IT automation) and PKI Managed Service to deliver continuous identity from data center to plant floor.
- Two decades of OT security expertise: BxC specializes in IT-OT security convergence. We understand industrial protocols, operational constraints, and securing production environments across pharmaceutical, chemical, energy, and manufacturing.
- Proven in regulated industries: Our solutions meet NIS2, KRITIS, and IEC 62443 requirements in sectors where security, compliance, and uptime are critical.
Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? We’ve got answers. Here are some common queries about IDIAL.
No. IDIAL uses zero-footprint architecture – no software runs on industrial devices. Certificates are distributed using OPC UA GDS Push or device-specific APIs. Your endpoints remain unchanged.
IDIAL supports EST and CMP enrollment protocols, integrating flexibly with PKI solutions through these standardized protocols. For distribution, IDIAL implements OPC UA GDS Push and vendor-specific APIs.
IDIAL connects to REST-based CMDBs via API. When your asset inventory changes, IDIAL detects this and triggers appropriate certificate operations automatically, keeping certificate lifecycle synchronized with infrastructure.
The core IDIAL deployment completes within one day. The full project – from scoping and pilot to production rollout – typically takes 4-8 weeks, depending on environment complexity and integration scope.
IDIAL requires an existing Certification Authority supporting EST or CMP as enrollment protocols. If starting from scratch, our PKI Consulting service designs and implements PKI architecture for your OT environment. We can also support you with PKI Managed Service for a fully managed approach.