Managing and programming a machine remotely, controlling how it works and monitoring its status are becoming increasingly widespread and more and more restaurants want to be able to do this. The devices that use and exchange information through IoT generate one billion gigabytes of data every day. This is an upward trend, as is clear from a study by Juniper Research, which estimates that the number of devices and sensors connected up to the Internet of Things will have reached a staggering 50 billion by 2022, as compared with just 21 billion in 2018. In other words the figure will have doubled in just four years. But what are the most recent innovations? We asked two manufacturers of professional kitchens.

“The latest innovations in the field of IoT are all related to connectivity, data and streamlining processes,” explains Rachel Brueser, senior marketing specialist at Alto-Shaam. “Thanks to our cloud-based remote oven management system, operators are able to monitor their ovens from wherever they are. They are also able to push and pull recipes, set their ovens and also do much more via the Cloud. In functional terms this ensures consistency across multiple locations, while significantly reducing labour and costs associated with travel or the manual upload and download of recipes to ovens. It is available on our deluxe lines, as well as on two redesigned ovens, which were just introduced to the industry this month."

“Inter-connectivity has become a part of our day-to-day routine: in our work in the kitchen, now, as elsewhere, we would be lost without equipment that has a touch-sensitive interface, and all the latest software, to manage HACCP data quickly and intuitively, in order to organise and standardise our work properly,” says Glauca Vesperini, head of marketing for Sagi and Angelo Po. “For example, one of our combined multi-function ovens enables us to do all of this. It optimises costs, ensures we can work safely and get excellent gastronomic results.”

One of the big issues surrounding industrial connectivity is cybersecurity: how have you addressed it?

“Some ovens allow an exchange of data with a portal in the Cloud so that restaurateurs and catering chains can monitor the parameters and update their software. It is also possible to communicate with the oven from your tablet and smartphone. Exchanging data in this way is completely safe: data passing from the oven to the portal in the Cloud are encrypted, while data travelling from the oven through a wi-fi router are made safe by an anti-intrusion system set up internally.”