To better meet the specific needs of users, touch panel supplier Christ is expanding its portfolio to include ARM-based control technology with CODESYS V3. Just like the panels, the PLC integration is also modular. In this way, the company intends to provide its customers with PLC solutions that are exactly suitable for their requirements.

Modern techniques are increasingly abstracting industrial controllers, making them more compact, flexible, and easier to maintain. This development eventually leads to "Control 5.0", the virtual PLC. What do such virtual controllers look like in practice, and how can they be used?

The second part of the article about the "Industrial Controller 5.0": How it can be used and what advantages it offers.

Control technology is on its way to making the step to virtual control - Control 5.0. But haven't we just reached Industry 4.0? In order to better understand what developments are taking place in control technology, it is first worth looking back at the individual stages of evolution in this first article on the subject of virtual controllers. Part 2 then presents how to use virtual controllers and the possible use cases. However, one practical benefit is obvious: The dependency on hardware is dissolved - not a mistake in case of delivery bottlenecks.

New opportunities and freedoms for machine builders through the abstraction of hardware and the merging of OT and IT.

Shortage of supply has long since reached the field of automation technology. It is not only the chip shortage that leads to weeks of delays in the delivery of controllers and other intelligent automation components. How does a supplier of SoftPLCs deal with this problem? What can he do in order to bypass delivery problems? The German trade journal "etz magazine" interviewed Manfred Werner, CEO of the CODESYS Group, on this topic.