Introduction: 

In the world of pharmaceutical and life sciences manufacturing, the ability to capture, contextualise, and analyse data in real time is essential. Modern operations depend on reliable, validated data systems that not only meet strict compliance standards but also empower continuous improvement, efficiency, and innovation. Among the leading data historian technologies driving this transformation is Canary Historian, a powerful, scalable solution trusted by manufacturers worldwide.

As specialists in data infrastructure and data analytics, Réalta Technologies works closely with clients to implement historian systems like Canary, helping them achieve visibility, reliability, and data integrity across their operations.

What Is Canary Historian?

Canary Historian, developed by Canary Labs, is a high-performance, enterprise-grade data historian designed to store, manage, and analyse time-series data. Built for speed, reliability, and scalability, it provides life sciences organisations with a secure and compliant platform for collecting data from sensors, control systems, and industrial devices.

Unlike traditional historians that can be complex to maintain or scale, Canary’s architecture is lightweight and efficient, allowing for fast data ingestion and retrieval without compromising integrity or performance. It seamlessly integrates with control systems like Siemens, Rockwell, Emerson, and Ignition front end screens, as well as analytics and reporting platforms such as Power BI and SEEQ.

Key Capabilities of Canary Historian

Canary Historian is built with a clear focus on data integrity, speed, and accessibility, all essential criteria in regulated environments such as pharmaceutical manufacturing.

• Lossless Data Compression:
  Canary’s patented compression algorithms allow massive volumes of process data to be stored efficiently while preserving accuracy. This ensures traceability and compliance with regulatory frameworks like FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11.
• High-Performance Data Retrieval:
  Canary is optimised for fast query performance, enabling engineers, data scientists, and quality teams to access and visualise data instantly, even across years of historical information.
• Scalability and Flexibility:
  Designed to scale from a single production line to global enterprise deployments, Canary can handle millions of data points per second, supporting digital transformation initiatives across multiple sites.
• Integration with Analytics Platforms:
  Through seamless integration with SEEQ, Power BI, and other modern analytics tools, Canary allows users to move from raw process data to actionable insights. Additionally, Canary can integrate its UNS architecture seamlessly by collecting data in MQTT & SPBv1.0 specifications from MQTT data sources.
  This empowers smarter decision-making and accelerates continuous improvement. 
• Security and Compliance:
  Canary supports role-based access control, data encryption, and full audit trails , critical for compliance in GxP environments.

Use Cases in Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

For pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers, data integrity and process optimisation are non-negotiable. Canary Historian plays a crucial role across a range of applications:

• Batch Process Monitoring:
  Ensuring each batch follows the defined recipe and identifying deviations or anomalies early in production.
• Equipment Performance Tracking:
  Continuous monitoring of critical systems such as bioreactors, cleanrooms, and HVAC to ensure operational reliability and product quality.
• Regulatory Compliance and Audit Readiness:
  Providing detailed data trails that demonstrate compliance with GMP standards and regulatory requirements.
• Energy and Utility Management:
  Capturing and analysing utility data, from compressed air to chilled water, to optimise energy consumption and sustainability initiatives.
• Predictive Maintenance and Quality Analytics:
  When combined with advanced analytics platforms, Canary enables manufacturers to predict equipment failures before they occur and improve product consistency through process insights.

Data Collection, Visualisation, and Analytics

At its core, Canary is more than a historian, it is a data foundation for innovation. By centralising time-series data and contextualising it within the manufacturing ecosystem, it enables seamless visualisation and analysis.

Through integrations with platforms like SEEQ, engineers can build advanced analytics models, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and uncover correlations between process parameters and product quality. This real-time visibility leads to more efficient operations, reduced downtime, and data-driven decision-making across departments.

How Réalta Technologies Adds Value with Canary Historian

As a trusted data partner to global life sciences organisations, Réalta Technologies has extensive experience implementing and optimising Canary Historian systems. Our engineers understand both the technical and regulatory dimensions of data management, ensuring that each deployment is compliant, scalable, and future-ready.

Our expertise spans:

• Designing and deploying data historian architectures across multi-site facilities.
• Integrating Canary with control systems and enterprise applications.
• Enabling connectivity to SEEQ, Power BI, and advanced analytics frameworks.
• Supporting validation, testing, and documentation to meet regulatory expectations.

Whether you are upgrading from legacy historians or implementing a new data infrastructure, Réalta Technologies provides a complete solution , from design and deployment to ongoing managed services.

Conclusion

In today’s data-driven manufacturing landscape, the ability to collect, contextualise, and analyse process data efficiently is a competitive advantage. Canary Historian provides life sciences companies with the flexibility, speed, and compliance they need to turn data into real value.

Partnering with Réalta Technologies ensures that this technology is implemented with precision and aligned with your business goals. With proven expertise in data historians, automation, and analytics, we empower organisations to achieve operational excellence through data.

To learn more about how Réalta Technologies can help you implement or optimise Canary Historian, contact our team today.

📧 sales@realtatechnologies.com
💻 https://realtatechnologies.com
📞 IRL: +353 21 243 9113 | US: +1 302 509 4401

Introduction: 

Réalta Technologies recently completed a critical PI System upgrade for a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer. The project involved replacing ageing hardware and unsupported operating systems, ensuring the client’s data infrastructure met modern performance, security, and compliance standards. 

As a trusted partner and AVEVA Endorsed System Integrator, Réalta Technologies delivered a seamless transition to a fully upgraded system without data loss, enabling the client to continue operations without disruption and minimal downtime. 

The Challenge

The client’s PI System servers were operating on outdated hardware and operating systems. An upgrade-in-place was not possible due to:

• Incompatibility with newer OS versions and software.
• Requirement for new hardware to meet performance demands.
• The need to keep existing servers intact for rollback in case of an issue.
• The critical need to avoid any data loss during the transition.

These constraints required a carefully designed migration strategy that balanced operational continuity, data integrity, and validation requirements.

Possible Solutions

Drawing on extensive experience in industrial data infrastructure projects, Réalta Technologies identified three potential upgrade strategies:

Option 1: Adding New Servers to the PI Collective

• Build new servers on new hardware and OS.
• Add them to the existing PI System Collective.
• Promote one of the new servers to Primary Data Archive.
• Remove old servers once complete.

Pros: Minimal downtime, data available to users throughout.
Cons: Requires reconfiguring and restarting all interfaces, which can be time-consuming with large systems.

Option 2: Swapping Names and IP Addresses

• Build new servers with temporary names.
• Stop the PI Data Archives.
• Swap the names/IP addresses with the old servers.
• Restart PI Data Archives on the new hardware.

Pros: No interface reconfiguration required.
Cons: Brief downtime while archives are offline, though buffered data is restored.

Option 3: Building a Complete Parallel System

• Create a fully independent system (Data Archive, AF, interface servers).
• Restore a backup from the old system.
• Run both systems in parallel until testing and validation are complete.

Pros: Safest approach, full validation before go-live, allows migration from Batch to Event Frames database in a controlled environment.
Cons: Requires more time, resources, and hardware.

Chosen Solution

After carefully reviewing all available upgrade paths, Réalta Technologies determined that Option 2: Swapping Names and IP Addresses was the most effective and efficient solution for this specific project.

This decision was based on our team’s in-depth understanding of both the technical requirements and the operational constraints within regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing. By applying our expertise in designing bespoke solutions, we were able to match the upgrade approach precisely to the client’s unique needs.

Several factors influenced our decision:

• Minimising Disruption: The client’s PI System had multiple critical interfaces feeding data from across the site. Reconfiguring and restarting these, as required in other options, would have posed significant risk and extended downtime. Retaining the same names and IP addresses allowed us to transition to the new infrastructure seamlessly without altering the existing interface configuration.
• Maintaining Operational Continuity: Pharmaceutical manufacturing operates under strict production and compliance demands. Swapping Names and IP Addresses enabled the upgrade to be completed within a tightly controlled maintenance window, avoiding unnecessary interruption to manufacturing activities.
• Safeguarding Data Integrity: Our approach ensured that all data generated during the brief downtime was buffered and automatically restored to the upgraded system, protecting the accuracy and completeness of production records.
• Bespoke Problem-Solving: Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all upgrade method, we evaluated the project holistically, balancing efficiency, safety, and compliance. Option 2 offered the best combination of speed, reliability, and risk mitigation for this particular environment.

This tailored solution is a clear example of how Réalta Technologies leverages its deep technical expertise and industry knowledge to deliver results that are both strategically sound and operationally safe, ensuring clients can modernise their systems without compromising productivity or compliance.

Benefits of Updating the PI System

• Modern Infrastructure: New hardware and OS increased system performance and stability.
• Data Integrity: All historical data retained with no loss during migration.
• Reduced Operational Risk: Fully tested migration plan ensured predictable results.
• Regulatory Compliance: Updated system aligned with industry best practices and supported ongoing GMP compliance.
• Future-Ready Platform: Prepared for integration with advanced analytics, data visualisation tools, and machine learning applications.

Conclusion

This PI System upgrade demonstrated Réalta Technologies’ expertise in designing and executing complex data infrastructure projects for regulated industries. By selecting the optimal migration strategy and executing it flawlessly, Réalta ensured the client could continue delivering high-quality pharmaceutical products with minimal disruption.

As an AVEVA Endorsed System Integrator, Réalta Technologies provides tailored solutions that modernise industrial data systems while safeguarding compliance, security, and operational excellence.

Need help with updating your systems? Get in touch with our team.

Phone: +353 21 243 9113

Email: sales@Realtatechnologies.com 

As proud Official Data Solutions Partners to Munster Rugby, we recently had the opportunity to spend a morning at the Munster Rugby High Performance Centre for a joint photoshoot. It was a great chance to capture some of the people and moments that represent this partnership — from the players and coaching staff to members of the Réalta Technologies team. 

Our work with Munster is built on shared values of performance, precision and continuous improvement, and we’re delighted to continue supporting the team both on and off the field.

You can view some of the shots from the day below.

Introduction

In the life sciences sector, data is a core asset. Whether it’s used for ensuring regulatory compliance, improving production efficiency, or supporting innovation, the ability to capture, store, and interpret operational data is fundamental. Data historians are central to this process. These specialised software systems are designed to collect, store and manage high-frequency, time-stamped data from manufacturing equipment, automation platforms, and control systems.

Unlike traditional databases, data historians are built specifically for handling time-series data, making them well-suited to the demands of regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical device manufacturing. This article explores several of the most widely used data historian platforms in the life sciences industry, including AVEVA PI, Ignition, DeltaV, Canary, and GE Proficy, and how each supports robust data analytics and operational excellence.