ARC Advisory Group, the leading industrial technology research and advisory firm, held its 23rd Annual ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida, last month. During this year’s ARC Industry Forum, Inductive Automation Chief Strategy Officer Don Pearson met up with ARC Advisory Group Vice President of Consulting Craig Resnick for a fast-paced executive interview about the imminent release of Ignition 8, and other topics like edge computing, advanced analytics, and digital transformation.
Don said that the new Ignition Perspective Module, which is the biggest new feature of Ignition 8, “gives you a chance to take advantage of some of the mobile technologies and capabilities that you have, like the GPS in your phone, or Bluetooth, or the camera — all sorts of things which maybe haven’t been able to be easily a part of the industrial landscape.” Don also talked about how the new project inheritance system in Ignition 8 allows organizations to deploy projects globally while still giving local sites the freedom to make customized changes.
Unlimited Licensing, Shifting Business Models
Towards the end of the interview, Craig asked Don about what kinds of economic tailwinds and headwinds customers are facing in 2019. Don replied, “Our unlimited licensing model is a tailwind. Given the initiatives that people are already embarking upon, they are realizing, ‘My gosh, if I want to connect millions of sensors, tens of thousands or a hundred thousand PLCs and various RTUs and devices, and I want to do that, I’ve got to have an unlimited licensing model for tags, clients, and connections, or I’m going to die,’ and that’s clearly a tailwind.”
In terms of headwinds, Don said, “It is tough for many legacy companies to shift their business model. Industry is saying, ‘We need you to treat us differently, we need you guys to have open, interoperable, standards-based, secure systems’ ... some companies are struggling with trying to make that transition. It’s a challenge for those companies and it’s a challenge for those end users who want to work with those companies but they want them to be responsive to their needs.”
To watch the full interview, click on the video below:
Breakfast Presentation and Exhibit Booth
Our team was very busy at this year’s ARC Industry Forum. We hosted a breakfast presentation where Don, Co-Director of Software Engineering Carl Gould, and Co-Director of Sales Engineering Travis Cox gave early-rising attendees an extensive preview of the Ignition Perspective Module.
We also hosted a booth in the exhibit hall, where we had many conversations with attendees who were very interested in learning about the new technology. To get a look at what it was like to be there, watch the short video below:
Post-Forum Events
On the day after the ARC Industry Forum, we presented a Discovery Day seminar with our industry partners Cirrus Link Solutions, Sepasoft, Opto 22, Seeq, and FreeWave to present information about how MQTT and the Ignition platform can help large enterprises succeed at digital transformation.
The Ignition Cross-Industry Collective (CIC) also held its second meeting following the close of the ARC event. The Ignition CIC is a new, independent organization dedicated to continuously improving Ignition software development tools and processes by learning, interacting, and sharing knowledge with peers from various industries. If you’d like to learn more, please visit https://ignitioncic.com.
More Industry Events This Year
We’re looking forward to participating in several large industry events this year as we spread the word about Ignition 8. To see which events we have scheduled for this year, go to our Upcoming Events page. For more information on Ignition 8, check out our What’s New page.
