The Process Industry Case for Software-Defined Automation

KEYWORDS: Software-Defined Automation, Process Automation, Virtual DCS, Open Process Automation, NAMUR Open Architecture, Module Type Package, Industrial Edge, IT/OT Convergence

Overview

Software-defined automation (SDA) is moving from a forward-looking automation concept to a practical architectural direction for industrial operations. In discrete manufacturing, early examples such as Audi’s Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P) show how production applications can be shifted from distributed industrial PCs to a local, virtualized server infrastructure. In the process industries, however, SDA will evolve differently. Chemical, refining, pharmaceutical, energy, and other process users must account for long asset lives, continuous operations, functional safety, cybersecurity, regulatory validation, hazardous areas, and lifecycle continuity across decades. These requirements will shape an SDA architecture that looks less like a virtualized factory cell and more like an open, software-centric control environment built around a virtual DCS, independent safety layers, secure field connectivity, modular process orchestration, and a lifecycle model that decouples application software from the underlying compute hardware.

SDA’s value proposition will ultimately be stronger in the process industries than in discrete manufacturing, because long asset lives make hardware/software decoupling a more strategic economic lever.
 

For process manufacturers, the long-term value of SDA will be less about rapid model changeovers or flexible assembly-line reconfiguration and more about extending the economic life of automation investments. The ability to replace servers, controllers, network components, and edge hardware without rewriting or revalidating the software layers above them could become a defining advantage. If implemented carefully, SDA can help process users modernize aging control systems incrementally, preserve validated process logic, reduce lifecycle risk, and create a more maintainable foundation for analytics, optimization, remote operations, and autonomous control.

This ARC Insight examines how SDA is likely to develop in the process industries, why its value proposition differs from discrete manufacturing, and what this shift means for major DCS suppliers and end users.

Key Takeaways

• Process SDA will differ from discrete SDA. Users will prioritize continuity, safety, validation, and lifecycle stability over rapid reconfiguration.
• The virtual DCS will be the hub. More control, engineering, visualization, historian, and optimization workloads will shift onto resilient edge/server infrastructure.
• Hardware/software decoupling is the prize. SDA can enable infrastructure refreshes without forcing large-scale control-system migrations.
• Brownfield migration will set the pace. Adoption will begin with lower-risk workloads before moving deeper into core control.
• Major DCS suppliers are converging, unevenly. Emerson, ABB, Siemens, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, and Yokogawa are moving toward more virtualized, modular, lifecycle-oriented architectures.
• Governance must be built in. Cybersecurity, safety, version control, validation, redundancy, and supplier accountability are core requirements.

What Is Software-Defined Automation?

At its core, software-defined automation separates industrial automation functionality from the dedicated hardware on which it has traditionally run. Control logic, HMI functionality, engineering tools, data services, device management, diagnostics, and lifecycle services become software workloads that can be deployed, versioned, monitored, secured, and updated on standardized compute platforms. The concept borrows from IT virtualization and cloud-native architectures but must be adapted to the deterministic, safety-critical, and availability-driven realities of industrial operations.

SDA does not imply moving all control to the public cloud. In industrial settings, the relevant architecture is typically local, on-premises, and edge-based, with real-time workloads placed close to the process equipment. The goal is not to eliminate hardware, but to make hardware more interchangeable. Automation software should be portable across qualified compute platforms, easier to patch, easier to back up, easier to recover, and less dependent on proprietary lifecycle constraints.
 

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