Why this matters now

As explored in his recent article in Smart Industry, Emerson’s Dave Denison—leveraging more than two decades of automation expertise—explains that AI, machine learning, and advanced control workloads are pushing traditional controllers beyond their limits. To prepare for an AI‑driven future, manufacturers must modernize with software‑defined architectures that deliver the compute power, flexibility, and scalability these workloads require.

TL;DR

• Traditional controllers lack the processing power for AI/ML and advanced automation.
• Software‑defined controllers run deterministic control and AI workloads on the same high‑performance servers.
• Integrated environments simplify engineering, improve resiliency, and support IT/OT convergence.

Why software‑defined control?

Traditional hardened controllers struggle to support advanced AI/ML workloads because they have limited memory and processing capacity. Many plants already operate at the edge of these constraints. Software‑defined control (SDC) addresses this by shifting deterministic control and high‑performance compute workloads onto modern IT‑grade server platforms.

Denison explains:

“Modern software-defined controllers can run the real-time, deterministic workloads necessary for critical operations on IT hardware with dramatically increased processing power, unlocking the flexibility and availability to drive more autonomous, intelligent operations.”

By consolidating workloads onto a single platform, teams reduce latency and eliminate the need for complex firewall navigation or custom integration steps to connect automation software.

Key Takeaway: SDC delivers compute capacity, flexibility, and real-time performance traditional controllers cannot match.

What is a software‑defined controller?

Software‑defined controllers bring control software onto IT hardware for dramatically increased computing power. As Denison explains:

“software-defined controllers combine proven control software with server-based computing platforms. Because of their ability to use high-performance hardware, a single pair of servers can handle the control requirements of most large-scale facilities. This empowers teams to execute advanced operations on the same hardware as real-time control, providing improved optimizations with no added latencies, while maintaining reliability.”

SDC implementations are also easier to deploy and maintain. They require less wiring, less hardware, and fewer environmental controls—while still delivering deterministic performance.

“Modern software-defined controllers provide the same deterministic performance available from traditional controllers. The most advanced solutions are purpose-built to prioritize control software at the hardware level, ensuring their OT workloads execute reliably—without the risk that system functions might compete with control algorithms for resources.”

Key Takeaway: SDC merges compute density with proven control performance and simplified engineering.

How does SDC improve resiliency and redundancy?

Ensuring redundancy on traditional controllers is challenging due to their shared backplane. In contrast, software‑defined controllers can distribute redundant instances across multiple servers or even buildings.

Denison explains:

“Software-defined controllers also enable resilience that physical hardware cannot match. Traditional controllers require redundant pairs to share the same backplane, creating a single point of failure. Software-defined controllers break this constraint by enabling redundant instances to be deployed on separate servers and distributed across different locations, and even separate buildings. This geographic distribution dramatically improves uptime and disaster recovery capabilities, while maintaining seamless failover.”

Key Takeaway: Geographic redundancy improves uptime, failover, and disaster recovery far beyond traditional architectures.

Should every controller be replaced with software‑defined control?

Not yet. Some applications still require hardened field equipment, which is better suited to traditional controllers. Emerson’s DeltaV™ IQ Controller bridges both worlds, integrating seamlessly with traditional controllers to provide flexibility, scalability, and unified engineering experiences across physical and software-defined platforms.

The DeltaV IQ Controller also provides a unified engineering environment between physical and software-defined controllers. Engineers use identical interfaces, streamlining workflows and empowering teams to move between platforms without the need for additional training.

As teams adopt more advanced automation tools and navigate IT/OT convergence, software‑defined control provides a practical first step toward enabling future industrial AI environments.