The vPLC concept is mainly driven by demand from end customers and machine builders, who are struggling with the management, maintenance, updates, and patching of the increasing number of conventional PLCs on large production lines. Virtual applications can be updated, cloned, and secured, and new processes can be implemented within seconds.
Legacy equipment cannot always be updated with new software due to hardware limitations. This can be critical not only for performance, but, more importantly, for cybersecurity updates. vPLC allows retrofitting of legacy PLCs by adding vPLCs to increase performance. Machine builders can also offer new models and software updates to increase efficiency and implement new software-based business models.
Centralized remote management, maintenance, and updatesCentralized management can save a lot of maintenance time and costs and prevent human errors, especially in large production lines. Machine builders can offer new models, software updates, and remote maintenance services and create new revenue streams.
Freedom of hosting vPLC offers flexibility in cloud, server, or device hosting, administration, management, and orchestration. Customers can choose a hardware vendor based on their preferences and application requirements.
Brownfield integration and retrofitLegacy PLCs can be replaced or retrofitted with vPLC with connectivity to the embedded device. vPLC capacity provides for the performance of video analytics or other performative applications.
Performance scalability and reproducibilityThe performance and number of vPLC can be scaled up or down depending on the needs, which can save licensing and subscription costs and hardware resources. vPLCs can be easily exchanged to meet the needs of the application or process architecture.
Cost savings on dedicated hardware and infrastructureSaving on infrastructure, cabling, and space in the control cabinet, as well as saving on the setup and maintenance costs, are other benefits vPLCs offer. Renunciation of dedicated hardware is especially beneficial, considering the recent components shortage.
The benefits of information technology: Performance, integration, and securityFlexibility in architecture and performance, faster system recovery, freedom in the development, simulation, and testing, organization as microservices, DevOps, and GitHub practices and integration with IoT applications are some of the advantages of vPLC. IT security techniques can be applied to the vPLC as a containerized app and microservices.