Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
KEYWORDS: SDA, Software-Defined Automation, OPA, Open Process Automation, ExxonMobil, Process Control, DCS, Control System, Runtime, Wood Group
Overview
Software-defined automation (SDA) is increasingly positioned as a foundational architectural principle for the next generation of industrial control systems. However, from an end user perspective, its importance lies not in abstraction alone, but in its ability to enable openness, modularity, and long-term system adaptability. Presentations by ExxonMobil’s Tyler Soderstrom and Wood’s Alex Eaton illustrate how SDA has evolved from conceptual alignment with Open Process Automation (OPA) principles into commercially viable system implementations.
Soderstrom frames SDA as a necessary enabler of OPA’s core objectives: decoupling software from hardware, enabling interoperability, and restoring optionality for end users operating long-lived, capital-intensive assets. Drawing on ExxonMobil’s Lighthouse project and subsequent commercial deployments, he emphasizes that SDA must be paired with open standards and validated interoperability to deliver real value. Eaton complements this perspective by examining the emergence of commercial OPA systems, which aim to combine the flexibility of multi-vendor architectures with the deployment speed, reliability, and support structures traditionally associated with proprietary platforms.
Industrial users continue to prioritize lifecycle economics, repeatability, and support accountability, reinforcing that successful digital transformation depends on disciplined execution rather than technology maturity alone.
Together, the presentations highlight a shift from R&D-driven demonstrations toward repeatable, commercially supported OPA implementations. They also underscore that while SDA and OPA technologies are increasingly mature, successful adoption depends on disciplined system design, informed procurement practices, and realistic expectations regarding integration effort and organizational readiness.
Recent project experience discussed at the ARC Industry Forum confirms that the evolution of process control systems is architectural rather than a cycle of vendor refresh, as software‑defined approaches enable greater decoupling, openness, and fit‑for‑purpose edge deployment. At the same time, industrial users continue to prioritize lifecycle economics, repeatability, and support accountability, reinforcing that successful digital transformation depends on disciplined execution rather than technology maturity alone.
Software-Defined Automation as an Enabler of Open Process Automation
Tyler Soderstrom positions software-defined automation not as a standalone innovation, but as a core architectural condition required to realize the objectives of Open Process Automation. The OPA vision, which is transitioning the industry away from closed, proprietary control systems toward open, secure, and standards-based architectures, depends fundamentally on the ability to decouple software functionality from underlying hardware platforms. Without this decoupling, openness remains constrained by physical device lifecycles and vendor-specific implementations.
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