A Comparison of Industrial DevOps & Software Defined Automation:

What are they, how are they related, and how are they different?

Industrial DevOps & Software-Defined Automation (SDA): Similarities & Differences

Manufacturers and distributors face immense pressure to innovate, increase efficiency, and maintain a competitive edge. Industrial DevOps and software-defined automation (SDA) are two emerging approaches that promise to revolutionize how industrial operations are managed and optimized.

Industrial DevOps and software-defined automation share the common goal of improving industrial automation but focus on different aspects:

‍Industrial DevOps: Encompasses the entire software lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and monitoring. It emphasizes collaboration, automation, back-up, disaster recovery, and continuous improvement to streamline operations and accelerate innovation within cyber-physical systems.
‍Software-Defined Automation (SDA): Focuses on abstracting hardware from software, enabling greater flexibility, scalability, and portability. It enables manufacturers to build modular and adaptable automation systems that can be easily reconfigured as needed.

While distinct, Industrial DevOps and software-defined automation complement each other. Industrial DevOps provides the foundation for managing the software that will drive software-defined automation, while software-defined automation enables more agile and responsive automation systems. Together, they offer a powerful combination for transforming industrial operations, especially in the future as organizations adopt Industrial DevOps and advance enough to truly unlock the potential for software defined automation.

Addressing the Pain Point: Lack of Visibility and Control‍

‍A major challenge facing manufacturers is the lack of visibility and control over their industrial code. This becomes even more complex in multi-vendor environments with a mix of legacy and modern systems. As an Industrial DevOps Platform, Copia addresses this pain point head-on, providing a git-based source control solution along with a backup solution (DeviceLink), which together enable:

‍Business Continuity Planning (BCP): Automated backups that create the foundation of Disaster Recovery (DR), a must have for any business continuity plan.‍
Efficient Code Review: Streamlined collaboration and peer review for higher code quality.
‍Seamless Collaboration: Improved teamwork and knowledge sharing across teams and locations, including branching and merging of code.‍
Deployment Across Diverse Environments: Effortless deployment of code across multiple vendors and devices, whether virtual or hard PLCs.

Feature	Industrial DevOps	Timeline	Software-Defined Automation (SDA)	Timeline
Focus	Entire software lifecycle (dev, test, deploy, backup, monitor)	Present	Abstraction of hardware from software	Present/Near future
Key Benefits	Disaster Recovery, collaboration, automation, continuous improvement, faster innovation	Present	Flexibility, scalability, portability, adaptable automation systems	Present/Near future
Challenges	Cultural shift, integration with legacy systems	Present/Near future	Standardization, interoperability, security concerns	Near future
Relevance to Industry	High (critical for modernizing industrial automation)	Present	High (enables agile and responsive automation)	Present/Future

Next Steps for Embracing the Future of Manufacturing

‍To stay ahead of the curve, manufacturers should:

‍Assess Current Practices: Evaluate your current development, deployment, backup, and monitoring processes to identify areas for improvement.‍
Adopt Industrial DevOps: Implement DevOps principles to foster collaboration, automate workflows, and accelerate innovation.‍
Explore Solutions that deliver software defined automation: Investigate software defined automation technologies to create more flexible and adaptable automation systems.‍
Partner with Experts: Consider partnering with a company like Copia Automation to gain the expertise and tools you need to navigate this evolving landscape.
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Ready to transform your industrial automation with Industrial DevOps?

‍Contact Copia Automation today for a demo and consultation.

Copia Automation provides unparalleled visibility and control of industrial automation code across multi-vendor devices for continuous quality control, streamlined production, and preemptive crisis management.