# Get started > What Proxus is, who uses it, and the shortest path from an installed hub to live machine data. Source: https://proxus.io/docs/get-started Proxus is an industrial data platform. It reads the machines of a plant, gives every value a place in one shared structure, keeps its history, acts on it, and passes it on to the people and systems that use it. One installation does the work that usually takes a collection of separate products: connectivity, edge processing, a historian, alarms, dashboards and reports, integration and AI. You run it yourself: on one server, on several sites, or next to the machines. ## What Proxus does ### Connect - **Reads machines.** The edge gateway speaks the protocols of PLCs, CNC controls, robots, meters and sensors: OPC UA, Modbus, SNMP, MTConnect and the native protocols of Siemens, Rockwell, Mitsubishi, Omron, Beckhoff, Fanuc, Haas, Heidenhain and many more vendors. See [Protocols](https://proxus.io/docs/reference/protocols). Devices that send their own values publish them to the gateway's [MQTT broker](https://proxus.io/docs/develop/mqtt). - **Sets machines up quickly.** A wizard tests the connection and browses the device's own tag list; devices can also be imported from a spreadsheet or [from Kepware](https://proxus.io/docs/connect/devices/kepware-import). - **Works next to the machine.** The [edge gateway](https://proxus.io/docs/connect/edge-gateways/install-a-gateway) reads, processes and buffers data on site, and keeps it while the link to the hub is down. ### Organize - **Gives every value a place.** Each device sits in the plant's structure (enterprise, site, area, process cell), and its values are published under that place in the [Unified Namespace](https://proxus.io/docs/concepts/unified-namespace). - **Shows what depends on what.** [Health Checks](https://proxus.io/docs/organize/health-checks) find broken links and wasted data, the [operational graph](https://proxus.io/docs/organize/operational-graph) shows what a change affects, and [application templates](https://proxus.io/docs/organize/app-templates) carry a working setup to another hub. ### Process and automate - **Pipelines without code.** [Pipelines](https://proxus.io/docs/automate/pipelines) clean, convert, window, calculate and route values from ready-made [nodes](https://proxus.io/docs/reference/pipeline-nodes), rehearsed on stored data before they go live. - **Rules and alarms.** [Rules](https://proxus.io/docs/automate/rules) watch values, device status, logs and gateway metrics, raise alarms and run actions. Anomaly detection catches values that leave their usual pattern. - **Your own code.** [Functions](https://proxus.io/docs/automate/functions) are C# code that runs on the edge gateways. ### Store and analyze - **Keeps the history.** Every value of a device that delivers to the Proxus historian (new devices do by default) is stored with its time, with no separate archive product to license. Trend it, compare it with earlier periods and export it in the [Trend Workspace](https://proxus.io/docs/monitor/trend-workspace). - **Dashboards and reports.** [Dashboards](https://proxus.io/docs/analyze/dashboards) and [reports](https://proxus.io/docs/analyze/reports) draw on the history and the plant model, and [scheduled delivery](https://proxus.io/docs/analyze/scheduled-delivery) e-mails them. ### Monitor and respond - **Watches the plant live.** The [Operations Center](https://proxus.io/docs/monitor/operations-center), the [Topology](https://proxus.io/docs/monitor/topology) and the [device page](https://proxus.io/docs/connect/devices/device-page) show what needs attention, and [alerts](https://proxus.io/docs/monitor/alerts) are taken, followed and closed with a note. - **Tells people.** [Notification channels](https://proxus.io/docs/reference/notification-channels) send messages by e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Telegram and other services. ### Share - **Sends data on.** [Outbound targets](https://proxus.io/docs/reference/outbound-targets) deliver values to SQL databases, time-series databases, message brokers such as Kafka and MQTT, cloud services and REST APIs. - **Opens it to software.** A [REST API](https://proxus.io/docs/develop/rest-api), a [telemetry API](https://proxus.io/docs/develop/telemetry-api), [MQTT topics](https://proxus.io/docs/develop/mqtt) and an [MCP server](https://proxus.io/docs/develop/mcp) for AI agents. ### AI - **Copilot.** [Copilot](https://proxus.io/docs/monitor/copilot) answers questions about the plant in plain language, finds why a device stopped, summarizes a shift, and prepares changes and actions that run only after you approve them. It sees only what the user may see. ### Secure and run - **Permissions and records.** [Roles](https://proxus.io/docs/administer/users-and-roles) and [UNS permissions](https://proxus.io/docs/administer/uns-permissions) limit who sees and changes what, down to one site or line, and the [audit trail](https://proxus.io/docs/administer/audit-trail) records who changed what and when. - **Runs where you need it.** [Docker](https://proxus.io/docs/operate/docker) on one server, or [Kubernetes](https://proxus.io/docs/operate/kubernetes) with high availability. ## Who it is for | Reader | Starts with | | --- | --- | | Operator | [A guided tour of the hub](https://proxus.io/docs/get-started/tour), then [Monitor](https://proxus.io/docs/monitor) | | Engineer or integrator | [Connect your first machine](https://proxus.io/docs/get-started/first-machine), then [Connect](https://proxus.io/docs/connect) | | Administrator or IT | [Install Proxus with Docker](https://proxus.io/docs/get-started/install) and the [system requirements](https://proxus.io/docs/get-started/system-requirements) | | Developer | [How Proxus is built](https://proxus.io/docs/concepts/architecture), then [Develop](https://proxus.io/docs/develop) | > **Tip:** Request an evaluation key, or see Proxus on your data in a 30-minute session. [Get a free 30-day trial key](/try#licence) ยท [Book a demo](/demo) ## Start here ## Learn how it fits together The [Concepts](https://proxus.io/docs/concepts) section explains the building blocks: the hub and its edge gateways, how a value travels from a machine to a report, devices and tags, the Unified Namespace, and when to use a pipeline, a rule or a function.