Virtualized Control Technology in Practice
30.01.2026
Software determines functionality in televisions, vehicles, smartphones, and increasingly industrial automation and industrial control systems. This development has led to the emergence of virtual PLCs (vPLCs). The following article describes how such control systems are implemented in practice and which application scenarios are technically feasible.
Today, virtual computers and software-defined disk drives are commonly used in data centers. Virtualization enables independent configurations for different applications and increases the data security of systems by imposing sensible access control mechanisms. Similar priciples apply to industrial control systems, where software also defines system functionality. In this context, virtualization is a must.
Physical hardware is still required to run virtual controllers (vPLCs), but the underlying infrastructure is abstracted. The control project is processed via a runtime environment, i.e., software that is independent of the specific hardware platform. Suitable target systems include industrial PCs, edge computing platforms, and server systems such as hyper-converged infrastructures (HCI).
You can find the complete article in full length on computer&automation 01-2026 p.26.
Author: Roland Wagner