The Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) brings together various aspects in a unified model for the first time: communication layers, the lifecycle of systems or products, as well as automation and IT levels. With "Basic Knowledge RAMI 4.0," the reader receives a summary of various documents on the topic of Industry 4.0, providing a coherent thread that relates the contents of these documents to one another. The book conveys the technical fundamentals for realizing Industry 4.0 value creation networks, in which objects from the physical world are described as I4.0 components for their use in the information world according to the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0).