The Reality of Owning PLCs in Industrial Automation
Hardware-based PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) are sold using a buy-to-own business model. In a way, it’s just like buying a car; except with a car, you can choose to drive it until the wheels fall off or sell it at any point and switch to a different brand or model as your needs change.
Given the steep depreciation of a car’s value, you probably wouldn’t want to do that too often. But you could, and you could do so fairly easily. You wouldn’t need to relearn how to drive, invest in a new garage, or pave new roads that are compatible with your new car.
For PLCs, although you own them just like you own a car, the situation looks completely different. PLCs are the foundation of your entire automation stack. Switching to another brand introduces enormous challenges to infrastructure, staff training, and expenses. And that is no coincidence - the PLC is a key tool for vendors to protect their market position:
You’ve invested in proprietary software to program the PLC, often through a perpetual license purchase.
You’ve learned a vendor-specific programming language that likely abandoned any alignment with international standards long ago.
You communicate with the PLC using proprietary protocols, creating further dependence on a single vendor.
But what if there was a way to remove these constraints while maintaining control, reliability, and scalability? A virtual PLC does exactly that by rethinking the role of hardware in automation.
Moving From Ownership to Accessibility
Over the past decade, people and businesses have increasingly valued access and flexibility over ownership.
Let’s go back to the car analogy. These days, you don’t need to own a car to use one. Car-sharing and subscription leasing are popular because they offer convenience and flexibility without long-term commitments. Switching cars is simple since it doesn’t require retraining or major adjustments.
But traditional PLCs? Not so much. Moving to a subscription-based model is a different story, and here’s why:
Hardware Dependency: PLCs are tightly coupled with specific hardware, making them harder to adapt.
Costly Change: Changing hardware vendors requires retraining staff and overhauling systems.
Vendor-Driven Models: Vendors have no incentive to move away from their profitable buy-to-own model, leaving few options for compatibility or choice.
This outdated rigidity is also expensive, and the industry needs solutions that focus on customer flexibility instead of vendor control.
SaaS Model: Putting “You” in Control!
What works best for customers, on the other hand, is something entirely different. Let’s have a look at the other end of the spectrum, where hardware almost isn’t part of the equation at all: software. According to Redline and Statista, the global SaaS market is expected to reach $250 billion by 2024 and grow to over $1 trillion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of about 20%.
What makes SaaS so successful? It’s simple: SaaS puts the customer first.
Freedom of Choice: Cancel your subscription anytime and switch to another vendor if it better meets your needs.
Continuous Innovation: SaaS providers must keep improving their offerings to retain customers.
For any SaaS provider, this means they have to continuously add value to their offering because if not, customers will take their business elsewhere.
In industrial automation, however, this shift has been very slow. Some vendors now offer subscription-based engineering tools, but under the hood it’s still the same old desktop product, following the same slow release cycles, and adhering to the same old dependencies on all the proprietary traps of the ecosystem and its dedicated hardware.
What we need is a true SaaS revolution, one that starts with a virtual PLC.
Virtualization: The Key to Unlock SaaS in Industrial Automation
Virtualization has already transformed the IT and cloud sectors. Now it’s time to do the same for industrial automation.
What’s needed is to break hardware dependency and give organizations real choices beyond their current vendor’s ecosystem.
The key is virtualization, specifically virtual PLCs, combined with open architecture and international standards. Meeting these criteria allows customers to choose the best technology rather than being limited to a vendor’s current product offerings. Only then can the as-a-service model prove its value by focusing entirely on the customer.
How Does This Work in Practical Terms
1. Hardware Independence
Virtualization is a proven idea and a core part of today’s cloud technology. In the OT(Operational Technology) space, it means simplifying the hardware layer, not removing it. This allows customers to run PLC programs on any standard hardware instead of being tied to a particular vendor’s hardware. The device communicates using an Ethernet connection and common industrial protocols, connecting to I/O cards via communication modules, essentially turning all I/O into remote I/O(RI/O).
2. Open International Standards
The programming of the virtual PLC should be fully compliant with open, international standards. This ensures that customers' IP remains portable if they choose to stop using and paying for one vendor's engineering platform and move their codebase to another.
3. Open Architecture
The virtual PLC, or virtual control system, should be built on an open architecture. This means all the data it produces is accessible in a structured, open, and easy-to-read format. This contrasts with the current automation landscape, where PLCs act as gatekeepers of data, driving up switching costs and limiting innovation.
Why the Right Time is Now
As industrial automation evolves, businesses are demanding more agile, customer-focused solutions that align with modern operational needs. The growth of virtual PLCs with SaaS is changing how automation systems are made, used, and managed.
By adopting a SaaS-based virtual PLC, businesses unlock:
On-Demand Flexibility: Scale your automation infrastructure as needed, paying only for what you use. No more overcommitting to hardware or features that don’t align with your immediate goals.
Lower Costs: Save money on proprietary hardware by using off-the-shelf devices and a subscription model. SaaS includes updates, improvements, and maintenance without the large upfront costs of traditional systems.
Continuous Innovation: SaaS models prioritize regular updates and feature enhancements, ensuring your automation system stays aligned with the latest advancements without requiring major overhauls.
Freedom of Choice: SaaS platforms use open standards to free businesses from vendor lock-in and allow them to integrate with best-in-class technologies from multiple providers.
Virtual PLCs, delivered through SaaS, redefine what automation can achieve, putting the focus back on the customer.
SaaS-Based Virtual PLCs
Automation systems should give businesses control, not control them. Yet, many providers in the industry still build on proprietary systems, limit flexibility, and protect their market at the customers’ expense.
At OTee, we want our customers to choose to stay with us every month because they see value in our virtual PLC platform, not because they can’t leave. For us, this means that we have to continuously expand and improve our feature set and exceed customers' expectations. Our virtual PLC platform is built on three core principles:
Freedom from Hardware Constraints: Deploy on any device, from industrial PCs to edge servers.
Compliance with Open Standards: Keep your intellectual property portable and your options open.
Open Data Access: Gain full visibility into your operations, enabling faster, smarter decisions.
By following these principles, our SaaS platform gives businesses the tools to create flexible, scalable, and efficient automation systems for both today and the future.
What’s Next?
The next generation of automation is about flexibility, transparency, and putting customers' needs first. Learn more and:
Sign up for early access to our virtual PLC platform and see how it fits into your operations.
Book a demo to see how OTee can help you create an automation system that fits your needs.
Your automation system should work for you, not the other way around. Let’s innovate, together.
Relevant Links
How Do Virtual PLCs Untangle Spaghetti Architecture in Operational Technology?: Explore how virtual PLCs eliminate point-to-point dependencies, enabling a scalable and maintainable automation architecture.
How a Virtual PLC Solves Your 3 Major Automation Problems: Discover how virtual PLCs can help solve common challenges with virtual PLCs.
OTee Virtual PLC Platform: Dive into the core features of our cloud-native virtual PLC solution, designed for seamless integration and centralized control.
Case studies: Find your industry and see how OTee’s virtual PLC solution is helping improve operations and overcome specific pain points.
Commenti