Software-defined automation requires open container architectures

Industrial automation is currently undergoing a fundamental shift in its technological foundation. For decades, automation platforms were closely tied to proprietary operating systems, specific hardware, and closed architectures. This model worked reliably for a long time – but today it is reaching its limits.

Modern industrial companies are under increasing pressure: production environments must become more flexible and be in accordance with rising cyber security regulations. This means software needs to be updated more frequently. At the same time, requirements for cybersecurity, scalability, and data availability for AI applications are becoming more demanding. The answer is software-defined automation.

In many industrial environments, automation applications have traditionally been isolated using virtual machines (VMs). While this model works, it comes with high resource consumption and additional complexity.

Containers are significantly leaner, faster to start, and easier to scale. Most importantly, they enable a much more consistent approach to software deployment. A containerised application behaves identically regardless of whether it is operated at the edge, or in a cloud environment. This consistency is just as critical for software-defined automation as the way automation software is developed, operated, and updated. Instead of tightly coupling applications to specific hardware or operating systems, containerisation packages them into standardized, portable runtime environments. Software is therefore decoupled from the underlying infrastructure. While this may sound highly technical, it has enormous strategic implications for industrial operators.

Traditional automation environments have often evolved over many years: different hardware generations, proprietary systems, and complex dependencies between software and infrastructure. As a result, updates become cumbersome, migrations risky, and innovation slow. Containers help address precisely these challenges.

Strategic relevance for industrial operators

Containerised applications run independently of the underlying hardware or specific operating system configurations. This makes deployment significantly easier, more standardised, and more portable. For plant managers this means:

•    Faster software updates independent of hardware refresh cycles 
•    Easier scalability across different locations 
•    Greater portability between edge, data center, and cloud environments 
•    Reduced dependence on individual vendors or proprietary platforms 
•    Having a foundation for automated testing, deployment, and software updates through DevOps and CI/CD, reducing manual effort and deployment risks 

This is particularly relevant in industries such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, energy, and critical infrastructure. Systems in these sectors often remain in operation for many years or even decades, while requirements for flexibility and security continue to increase. Containerization creates the foundation for making automation systems more open and adaptable over the long term.

Open standards are becoming a competitive factor

As containerisation gains momentum, the relevance of open standards is growing as well. Technologies and frameworks built around OCI (Open Container Initiative) standards ensure that applications can operate in an interoperable and vendor-independent manner. For site owners, this is far more than an IT issue.

Vendor lock-in is emerging as a strategic risk. Organisations that can only operate software within closed vendor ecosystems lose flexibility over time – whether in innovation initiatives, component replacement, or the integration of new technologies. Open containerised architectures, by contrast, create greater technological sovereignty. Against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, growing cybersecurity requirements, and accelerating innovation cycles, this openness is becoming increasingly important.

In addition, modern industrial architecture continues to evolve towards edge computing and IIoT. Data is no longer generated solely in centralized environments but is distributed across machines, production assets, and locations.

Containerised platforms are ideally suited to these decentralised architectures. Applications can be distributed, updated, and orchestrated flexibly, regardless of where they are running.

Containerisation can also help to improve cybersecurity: Standardized container environments enable more consistent patching processes, clearer isolation of individual applications, and more controllable software life cycles. Security updates can be rolled out more quickly and in a more standardized manner.

Enablers of industrial AI

The importance of this development becomes even more apparent in the context of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). The value of industrial AI does not arise from the model itself alone, but from the environment in which the model operates. AI requires standardized, accessible, and flexibly integrable data and software environments.

Only open, containerised platform architectures provide the technical framework that enables AI systems to interact reliably with industrial data, processes, and applications. Without standardised software layers, many AI applications remain isolated point solutions. Containerization therefore also becomes the foundation of future industrial AI ecosystems.

Many industrial companies are already actively exploring containerization and software-defined automation. Demand is growing significantly. At the same time, operational implementation is still at an early stage in many organizations.

This is not surprising. OT environments traditionally evolve more slowly than conventional IT landscapes because stability and availability are top priorities in industrial settings. Nevertheless, the direction is clear: the future of automation will be more open, more software-defined, and more containerized. Containerization is an important accelerator in this transition. And open standards will determine just how interoperable, flexible, and innovation-ready industrial systems will be in the future.

Lukas Punzenberger is director product management at COPA-DATA 

www.copadata.com/en/