loader image

Home → Projects →

Soft­ware Defined Automa­tion (SDA) Phase 2 — Open Dev Stack & margo

The Chal­lenge
We’re Tack­ling

In Phase 1 we showed that automa­tion can be soft­ware defined, with container­ized control apps decou­pled from specific hard­ware. The chal­lenge now is to take this further: not just a single demon­strator, but an ecosystem where appli­ca­tions can be deployed, updated, and orches­trated across many devices from different vendors. Phase 2, the OI4 SDA Stack, is about building the infra­struc­ture that makes this scale possible, using Open­De­vS­tack as the back­bone for CI/CD, aligning with margo compli­ance, and proving it in real indus­trial envi­ron­ments. (Follow-up to the first phase: Soft­ware Defined Automa­tion)

Who is
Partic­i­pating?

Why this project
matters and for who

This project is about breaking the cycle of isolated solu­tions in indus­trial automa­tion. By creating a shared stack that is open, scal­able, and multi vendor, and by using Open­De­vS­tack to enable contin­uous deploy­ment and life­cycle manage­ment, we move from isolated proofs of concept to an oper­a­tional back­bone that can run in produc­tion.

It matters because it lays the ground­work for a future where indus­trial soft­ware is deployed and managed as seam­lessly as cloud services, portable, update­able, and inter­op­er­able across company and vendor bound­aries. That shift enables faster inno­va­tion, more resilient produc­tion, and an industry that is no longer slowed down by frag­men­ta­tion.

What we’ve
done so far

Phase 1 of Soft­ware Defined Automa­tion proved that container­ized automa­tion work­loads can run decou­pled from dedi­cated hard­ware. The project deliv­ered a working demon­strator, an archi­tec­tural blue­print, and prac­tical guides that showed how IT concepts like orches­tra­tion and life­cycle manage­ment can be applied to OT.

  • Orga­ni­za­tional frame­work set up with regular meet­ings, commu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels, and infra­struc­ture

  • Project mile­stones defined and aligned across all part­ners

  • First work­shops sched­uled for October to refine the high level archi­tec­ture, test margo compli­ance, and prepare the SPS 2025 demon­strator

project
Deliv­er­ables

Scaled Demon­strator

Deploy­ment of multi vendor appli­ca­tions from Open­De­vS­tack to margo compliant edge devices, proven at the Boehringer Ingel­heim chem­ical pilot plant.

OI4 SDA Stack Archi­tec­ture

High level archi­tec­ture refined and vali­dated, presented at SPS 2025 in Nurem­berg.

Running Open­De­vS­tack Instance

A fully oper­a­tional CI/CD plat­form at OI4 to build, test, and deploy automa­tion apps.

Margo Compli­ance Vali­da­tion

Testing and veri­fying compo­nents like the Flecs OSS agent and vendor appli­ca­tions against the margo stan­dard.

Ready To
Jump in?

The OI4 SDA Stack project takes soft­ware defined automa­tion from concept to scale. With Open­De­vS­tack as the back­bone and margo as the compli­ance layer, we are building an open and multi vendor stack that makes deploying and managing indus­trial appli­ca­tions as seam­less as in IT.

Everyone inter­ested in these topics is welcome to join. You can contribute exper­tise, collab­o­rate in work­shops, or connect through demon­stra­tors and events. Together, we can turn frag­mented approaches into a shared foun­da­tion for the next gener­a­tion of indus­trial automa­tion.

Contact