OT (operational technology)
Programmable systems and devices that monitor or control physical equipment and processes, as opposed to IT, which handles data for people.
Why it matters for wireless
OT ranks availability and timing first, so a wireless network that carries OT traffic is judged by its longest gap, not its average throughput.
NIST defines operational technology as programmable systems and devices that interact with the physical environment, or manage devices that do. Its examples run from industrial control systems to building automation, transportation, and physical access control. Other NIST publications put it as the hardware, software, and firmware that detect or cause changes in physical processes by monitoring and controlling physical devices directly.
On a plant floor that means PLCs and their I/O, drives, robots, vehicles, HMIs, SCADA, and the networks that join them. The ISA/IEC 62443 series calls the control-system part of that scope an IACS.
IT handles data for people, and a late packet is still useful. OT handles commands and readings for processes, where NIST notes that unexpected outages of the systems controlling continuous processes are unacceptable. That ordering, availability and timing ahead of everything else, is what a wireless network in a plant is measured against.
About this page
Built from 4 sources: 4 standards bodies and labs. Researched and drafted with AI assistance, then reviewed and approved by Ben Rutter on . How pages are made
- First published
- Last updated
Cite this page
Plain
Ben Rutter. "OT (operational technology)." OT Wireless, published October 6, 2026. https://otwireless.com/glossary/ot/
APA 7
Rutter, B. (2026, October 6). OT (operational technology). OT Wireless. https://otwireless.com/glossary/ot/
BibTeX
@misc{rutter2026ot,
author = {Rutter, Ben},
title = {{OT (operational technology)}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://otwireless.com/glossary/ot/}},
organization = {OT Wireless},
}