Operation Technology (OT) was the name given to the software for the shop floor, for production. The software in the offices and in management was called Information Technology (IT). In between stood an invisible yet impenetrable wall. IT could not control any device in real time. OT was not considered part of IT. Now this wall is collapsing. The wrecking ball is called: real-time (RT) Linux. What is emerging is a market of open platforms for the industry. And a tremendous liberation of creative minds in software development among providers and users.
The dividing wall between OT and IT was necessary as long as IT could not deal with machines and sensors in real time. This is why the special area of embedded software was created, which was embedded in the machines and field devices and only served this one purpose: to control and regulate the respective device in real time. IT had to content itself with managing the planning and management of the processes. Away from the shop floor, in the offices of engineering and IT management. The two worlds were alien to each other.
Then IT began to engage with the Internet of Things (IoT). The cloud also opened up for products and production, edge computing arrived and a real-time-capable Linux operating system emerged in the tens.
At the same time, OPC UA, Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift became open standards that finally made it possible to develop and operate independent runtime environments in industry and its heart, manufacturing itself. The industry seized this opportunity.
Even if it is not the only way to eliminate the separation of OT and IT, it currently seems to be the way that brings the greatest openness and therefore flexibility and agility to the industry.
Bosch Rexroth supplier page with ctrlX AUTOMATION, extract from screenshot.
Open, Linux-based platforms for the industry
A new market of open, Linux-based platforms for industrial automation and IoT is currently emerging.
And as if to emphasise that the boundary between OT and IT is no longer needed, some of the providers come from IT, such as Siemens and Contact Software, some from OT, such as Bosch Rexroth, KEBA, Lenze, Phoenix Contact, WAGO and Weidmüller, and some are start-ups with the exclusive business of new automation software, such as FLECS Technologies, German Edge Cloud, SALZ Automation and TTTech Industrial.
These 12 providers from Germany and Austria are currently represented in the Smart Automation market overview with 13 platforms.
The market is a market of software providers and yet it is very different from previous software industries. There seems to be an unspoken agreement that the basis is real-time Linux. This means that everyone involved is committed to offering and supporting open systems.
This is new and unusual. Above all, it opens doors for innovation in the industry that were previously not even there, let alone open. The young, creative minds in the industry can get involved and bring the Internet of Things to life.
The providers of the new platforms are focussing on different fields of application and scenarios. This ranges from supporting robotics as a service via apps to energy management directly in production. Almost always with the promise that the customer can download other functions from another provider at the same time.
A market driven by suppliers and users
The variety of possibilities is huge. Because almost anything is now conceivable, the question arises in every company as to what the most important use cases are, what is the fastest and what is perhaps the best approach in the medium and long term. Decisions can now be made by those who are responsible for the processes.
The decision-making level for the development and purchase of such software is moving closer to the workplace, closer to the user and closer to the production line. And in two respects: in the choice of platform and apps from third parties and in the development of own software that runs together with them.
Supplier page TTTech Industrial with NERVE, excerpt from screenshot.
Provider page German Edge Cloud, excerpt from screenshot.
It is precisely this freedom and flexibility in the interaction of applications from a wide variety of sources that is meant when we talk about composable software. In reference to the Gartner study from 2022, in which the recognised analyst firm proclaimed the Composable Enterprise.
Now the transition, the transformation to this realisation of Industry 4.0 and the comprehensive digitalisation of industry, must be organised and, of course, programmed.
After all, the machines and devices are much more durable than the software and the existing ones are far from being written off. It is therefore necessary to regulate how they can be optimally utilised in the new type of smart automation.
The next few years will be very exciting, because nobody can yet say what the industry will do with these new freedoms. Just as nobody could say in the 1980s whether the 3D model of an engine or aeroplane would ever be a central communication medium in companies. The term digital twin had not yet been coined. As with CAD back then, it now depends on what the providers make available and even more on what the customer’s users do with it.
Platform no longer means a proprietary basis where the manufacturer determines what can run on it. That’s how it was in the old OT and IT. It now means: an open basis for optimal, company-specific processes.
Best of breed is turning from a marketing slogan into reality. At the moment, the liberating effects on OT and automation are particularly noticeable. But they will also soon become apparent in IT.
Call for Input!
Industry Digitalisation and the Smart Automation market overview will follow this development closely. With reports on platform developments and information from manufacturers.
Hopefully soon also with user reports in which industrial customers and their experts have their say. It is the best way to explain to potential users what is better, faster and safer about the new type of automation than the previous one. The triumphant advance of CAD software would have been inconceivable 40 years ago without a wealth of user reports.