One tool for a single task. For most of history, that’s the way it’s been. A hammer for driving nails, a saw for cutting wood. Even in the digital age, many tools have been designed for just one purpose: a keyboard for text input, an MP3 player for listening to music, a camera for taking photos.
But that principle has long been challenged by the smartphone. It has a virtual keyboard, plays music and takes pictures. What gives it this versatility is the combination of powerful hardware and software. Need a new function or capability? It can be added through a new app or operating system version.
This high level of adaptability, familiar from smartphones, offers a glimpse of the direction industry is currently taking with the software-defined evolution. Of course, industrial environments require more than simply adding software to a single piece of hardware. That’s why Siemens takes a holistic view of Software-Defined Systems (SDS), comprising Software-Defined Products (SDP) and Software-Defined Automation (SDA), bringing the benefits of software-defined solutions to industry in a secure, industrial-grade and scalable way.
The goal is to extend software-defined capabilities from the smallest device to entire systems, from product innovation to production optimization. This allows both products and the way they are produced to become more adaptable and to be set up for continuous evolution.
What SDS is and what it can do for you
By extending high-performance Connected Automation with software layers, software becomes a driving force of industrial innovation. Functionalities are decoupled from specific hardware, making it easier to adapt, expand and optimize systems over time. Moreover, a higher degree of software along the value chain provides the ability to easily unlock large amounts of high-quality real-world data for Digital Twins and Industrial AI. Digital insights can then be fed back into real-world operations, creating greater adaptability, speed and sustainability while paving the way toward industrial intelligence in the Digital Enterprise.
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