Report 13 Jan 2025

Expert View: The market for virtual PLCs will kick off in 2025, but adoption will be rather slow and use case-specific

Virtual PLCs (vPLCs) are infrastructure-independent machine controllers for industrial equipment. Just like virtualization technology changed the IT world, vPLCs are one element of a software-defined factory. Leading vendors such as Siemens, CODESYS, and Phoenix Contact have been obtaining safety certifications for their vPLC offerings, and early adopters like Audi prove that the concept works in real-life industrial scenarios. Based on this, the market is ready to take off in the coming years, but adoption will happen gradually over multiple years and is not expected to reach each corner of the market.