We met in a conference room at an office in Barrington, IL. A place where sometime later a couple guys thought they’d screw me in a business deal. I came out ahead in the end, but the place has mixed memories.
This meeting involved thinking about the future of asset data and systems interoperability. We had a system diagram. The idea was to solve a huge problem for owner/operators of process manufacturing enterprises—flowing engineering data into other software systems for operations, maintenance, and enterprise. The incumbent system was a morass of paper (or pdf documents which was much the same thing).
We did trademark searches and domain name searches and eventually settled on the Open Industrial Interoperability Ecosystem—OIIE.
I plot this history for context for the conference I attended recently—the 2nd ADIF Workshop at Texas A&M University dubbed Driving Asset Data and Systems Interoperability Toward an Open and Neutral Data Ecosystem.
This workshop brought together owner/operators, EPCs, System Integrators, university researchers, standards organizations, and software vendors. Each group conducted a panel discussion of its needs and successes. I was there for a short presentation and to moderate the standards panel.
Professor David Jeong from Texas A&M and the session leader previewed the discussions. One of his colleagues later presented research his team has performed to provide a method for taking P&ID documentation into a standard format usable by other software systems.
The message that came to me from the panel of owner/operators (grossly summarized, as will be all the discussions) included two key words—collaborate and operationalize. They are impatient about solving this data interoperability problem. One panelist quipped, “We know the project is finished when the large van backs into the loading dock and disgorges mountains of paper.”
What blows my mind is that I was moved to a position called Data Manager in 1977 to tackle the (much smaller) mountain of paper our product engineering department provided to operations, accounting, and inventory management. I led a digitalization effort in 1978 to tackle the problem. The problem not only remains, but it is immensely more complicated and critical.
The EPCs basically said that their hands were tied by the owner/operators mandating which design and engineering software to use and the inflexibility of the vendors of said design and engineering software. When owner/operators had requested digital documentation, they had responded with pdfs. Hardly interoperable data.
Our standards panel included the leader of DEXPI, whose organization has developed a method of changing P&ID data into an xlsx (Excel) format. That, of course, is a good start.
An organization called CFIHOS (see-foss) presented their take on standards. I’m afraid I got a bit lost in the slides (note: more research needed). What I gathered was that they were attempting one overriding standard—and that that work was years away. Interesting that I listened to Benedict Evans’ podcast this morning. He is a long-time tech industry analyst. He remarked in another context, “It seems that where there are 10 standards and someone comes along with a standard to encompass them all, you wind up with 11 standards.”
The ISA-95 was presented. This messaging (and more) standard is incorporated with the OIIE, which was presented next. Dr. Markus Stumptner of the University of South Australia presented his research work on proof of concept of the OIIE.
If we can get enough momentum focusing on this area and find some SIs willing to take the OIIE to an owner/operator, perhaps we can finally prove the business case of asset data and systems interoperability.
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I’ve been invited to two Aras community events over the past two years. Prior to that, my PLM market knowledge was dominated by three companies. To be honest, I’d never even heard about the company. With one visit and a few interviews, I knew there was something different and better here. (See this report from this year’s event Agentic AI, SaaS, Community—The Aras Community Gathering.)
Aras holds a smaller market position (based on conversations, not market research—something I shun), but it offers something that larger companies don’t. Enterprise and manufacturing software developers usually require users to change their operations systems to fit within the constraints of the software system. Aras provides a more flexible system—something that both Aras product people and customers have told me.
Lauritsen worked for a partner called Minerva for many years prior to its acquisition by Aras. He has held a couple positions within Aras mostly in sales leadership. His background also includes programming and product management—providing him with a background to lead the company in its next iteration.
Aras was a founder-led company until growth required someone to provide professional organization and systems. That leader was Roque Martin. After four years, the board felt it was time for the next step. Lauritsen told me this next step is to incorporate AI into the offerings. In fact, he looks to have the company “supercharge with AI.” He obviously didn’t get into the AI weeds, but I gathered the impression that his product people are working with a variety of approaches for the best fit for each application.
He starts with the customer as he defines his vision of the company. PLM defines the best ways of working for the customer. He has the company working in its labs to find innovative ways to implement AI for both within the organization’s development team and for best practices for customers.
Interesting given my recent work with organizations seeking data interoperability, Aras is seeking ways to coexist with current enterprise solutions.
Many times conversations with company spokespeople center on the product. I asked Lauritsen to define business values provided to customers. He told me about two customers at about the same stage of market development. One used the Aras PLM solution to improve systems to increase quality. The other had a different problem—product development time to launch. Aras provided solutions to fit the business need of the client.
While researching for the interview, I saw that Lauritsen had been on the Danish national Judo team and remains on the national Judo board. Judo requires as much mind training as physical training. So, I had to ask how Judo helps his thought process as a leader and marketer. He laughed, saying the other Aras folks on the call had probably heard enough about Judo. He gave an example from strategic marketing. The principle of Judo is to use the opponent’s force against them. When you face a larger opponent, you know you cannot directly engage, but you must look for the weak point where you can leverage their size agains them.
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I’ve had the opportunity to talk with many CEOs and SVPs following acquisitions that, to me, seemed out of place. Perhaps a distraction to core business. Perhaps just an ego play to build a larger business/division. Two ranking executives told me that the acquired company and the acquiring company’s software were build with object-oriented programming. Therefore, they said, they could just combine the objects into a new, stronger software offering.
Neither succeeded.
It so happened that the PTC CEO and I were attending the same conference not long after the acquisition of ThingWorx and Kepware. Both acquisitions were beneficial to the owners of the acquired companies. I couldn’t see how entering a new market could help PTC’s business.
“Gary,” I was assured, “we will integrate all the software into a unified and comprehensive industrial software offering.”
I didn’t believe it then. Subsequent events proved me correct. PTC has unloaded the two companies to TPG, a company that seems (foolishly?) trying to grow into a market that I think is dominated (at least in terms of innovation) by Inductive Automation. TPG previously acquired the industrial software business (former Cimplicity, Intellution, iFix) from GE Vernova. I bet they think they can integrate the three (and perhaps others?) into a competitive offering.
Meanwhile, PTC states that the “sale of Kepware and ThingWorx businesses enables PTC to increase focus on Intelligent Product Lifecycle vision.”
PTC further says, “Transaction will provide the Kepware and ThingWorx businesses with additional resources for growth.” I guess that means that PTC had ceased providing sufficient resources for that said growth. TPG is one of those private equity firms. Think it will fatten them up for eventual sale?
Here’s a bit about the businesses, in case you’ve forgotten about them.
Kepware facilitates connectivity between industrial automation devices and applications, acting as a communication platform that enables data exchange and integration across a diverse range of industries including manufacturing, oil and gas, and utilities to simplify the process of collecting, monitoring, and controlling data from multiple sources. ThingWorx is a comprehensive IoT platform for industrial enterprises that connects systems, analyzes data, and enables the remote management of devices through a secure and scalable architecture.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2026, subject to the satisfaction of regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
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Rockwell Automation has upgraded its cybersecurity offering for operations technology (OT) applications. Executives touted how Rockwell’s roots in operations roots its cybersecurity offering more naturally in the plant than IT-oriented solutions overlaid at a recent media briefing. They noted its OT-designed platform and security services empower industrial organizations to reduce risk, maximize uptime and simplify compliance across the full cybersecurity lifecycle.
Rockwell Automation announced the launch of SecureOT solution suite, a comprehensive industrial cybersecurity offering designed to help manufacturers and critical infrastructure protect critical operations and build secure environments.
As industrial operations become increasingly connected, organizations are facing a sharp rise in cyber threats targeting operations technology (OT) systems. Many legacy systems were never designed with cybersecurity in mind, and traditional IT tools often fail to protect complex, aging industrial environments. SecureOT was developed to close the gap, helping organizations secure their OT infrastructure with technology and expertise built for the realities of modern industrial operations.
SecureOT brings together Rockwell Automation’s purpose-built SecureOT Platform, professional services and managed security services into a unified solution that delivers end-to-end protection for complex, aging and highly regulated industrial systems.
SecureOT Platform delivers real-time asset visibility, risk prioritization and vulnerability management across diverse vendor ecosystems.
Through its professional services, SecureOT offers strategic advisory, assessments and implementation support to help organizations strengthen their security posture. Its managed security services provide continuous 24/7 monitoring and incident response from Rockwell’s dedicated OT Security Operations Center (SOC) and Network Operations Center (NOC).
SecureOT aligns with globally recognized frameworks, including NIST CSF, NIS2 and IEC 62443, and takes a vendor-neutral approach to securing industrial control systems and technology stacks.
Use case examples:
A leading oil & gas producer achieved full OT asset visibility and remediated critical risks across remote operations in just six months.
A large beverage manufacturer migrated their aging industrial network and compute installed base to a fully managed and supported infrastructure across more than 150 sites globally.
An energy company doubled its NIST CSF maturity scores while delivering measurable ROI to executive leadership.
A power utility gained secure, real-time visibility into remote substations – achieving NERC CIP compliance and reducing costs through agentless monitoring.
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Inductive Automation unleashed Ignition 8.3 during its Ignition Community Conference in September. It included many significant updates. Trying to be “IT-friendly” since it founding, this tagline of “The OT-IT Bridge of the Future” draws ever closer. They call Ignition 8.3 a unified industrial integration platform that makes it easy to bring your OT and IT environments into one system.
I’ll bullet a few examples of new tools and end with a link to a cool use case for Ignition from the Ukraine.
Centralized Events Management
Use the new Event Streams Module to handle and manage tag changes, database events, alarms, and more from a central location.
Event Streams
Easy Enterprise Orchestration
Connect or manage configuration across enterprises using standard IT technologies with Ignition’s self-documenting REST Web API.
World-Class Security
Protect enterprise data with first-class security features like Secrets Management, with extensibility to integrate with third-party secrets management platforms like HashiCorp Vault coming soon.
Secrets Management
A Stable, Long-Term Foundation
Since 8.3 is a Long-Term Support release, you’ll get improvements and fixes for a minimum of five years.
Git Compatibility
Use Ignition 8.3 with Git to collaborate better on big projects and gain complete version control.
Check out the Hebron Project presented at the Ignition Community Conference. This application should get you thinking outside the box searching for cool applications of your own.
(Note: Inductive Automation is a long time sponsor of The Manufacturing Connection. This post is purely my own writing/editing with no additional compensation.)
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AVEVA updated its software offering by converging all data into its Connect platform.
AVEVA is converging all data onto CONNECT industrial intelligence platform. Through enhancements to AVEVA Asset Information Management, AVEVA System Platform and AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure, AVEVA can enable the visualisation of engineering and operations data in one interface. This offers organisations the ability to scale digital twin solutions more flexibly and reduce IT overhead.
At this year’s Schneider Innovation summit, AVEVA is showcasing its solutions and vision for its industrial digital twin.
For AVEVA Asset Information Management, the new enhancements will bring together trusted asset contexts, accessible through the CONNECT visualisation offering a single flexible and unified UI to visualise trusted engineering, asset and maintenance data. From P&IDs, drawings, and documents to real-time sensor readings, process events, and historical performance metrics, teams can view and analyse all relevant data in one place.
Meanwhile, AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure is an ever-advancing modern and flexible foundation for rapidly connecting, contextualising and acting on industrial insights from operations data. Its sophisticated data management capabilities continue to drive value across enterprises and new enhancements ensure enhanced hybrid connectivity, visualisation and analytics for AVEVA’s industrial digital twin.
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