The bilingual Smart Automation market overview of open, Linux-based automation platforms, currently 12 manufacturers of 13 platforms, has been available since mid-2024. The first update for 2025 is now online. With two, soon probably three new participants, while two are no longer included, and with new comparison tables. The market is evolving, and so is the overview.
On the platform provider side, Hilscher has joined with netFIELD and TTTech Digital Solutions with UBIQUE. Beckhoff Automation has expressed interest. In contrast, Siemens and Contact Software did not take part in my online survey this time and are not currently listed.
The market overview now includes Bosch Rexroth with ctrlX AUTOMATION, FLECS Technologies with FLECS, German Edge Cloud with ONCITE DPS, Hilscher Gesellschaft für Systemautomation with netFIELD, KEBA AG with Kemro X, Lenze with Lenze NUPANO, Phoenix Contact with PLCnext Technology, SALZ Automation with SALZ Controller, TTTech Digital Solutions with Ubique, TTTech Industrial Automation AG with Nerve, WAGO with WAGO OS and WAGO ctrlX OS, and Weidmüller with u-OS and easyConnect.
The new providers, like the majority of the old ones, come from the automation and OT sectors. Those now missing were the only IT providers in the first overview. The wall between OT and IT is falling, but it is clearly being driven by OT. The automation providers in the manufacturing and process industry have opened up to the IT world with real-time Linux. And for the time being, it is mainly them who know which machines, systems and field devices need which apps and what data they can provide.
The previous comparison tables on the platform comparison page no longer include the one on openness, as all platforms are Linux-based and open; their distinguishing features lie in their functionality for specific fields of application, in their interoperability offering and in the target markets they address.
Cybersecurity is another area of comparison that will be added. In the near future, there will be a race to see who can offer their customers the best services in terms of data and system security in an industry that is now open to edge and cloud, AI and the internet.
As announced last year, the Smart Automation market overview will be updated twice a year, after the Hannover Fair and after the SPS in Nuremberg.