Sacramento, CA | September 17, 2025 — At the 2025 Ignition Community Conference (ICC), during the Technical Keynote, CEO Colby Clegg and CTO Carl Gould highlighted the role of Model Context Protocol (MCP) in transforming Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration within industrial automation and previewed a new MCP Module for Ignition.
MCP is a standardized bridge that connects AI systems to real-world applications and data sources. This makes MCP different from an AI model, which on its own only knows the data it was trained on. MCP enables AI to securely access external tools, resources, and live data, turning isolated AI models into connected systems capable of real-world problem-solving.
Gould explained that even though MCP was introduced less than a year ago, Ignition 8.3 was already designed with the architectural elements needed to take advantage of this breakthrough. Human-readable configuration files and open JSON-based APIs align perfectly with how AI systems process and understand text, setting the stage for a new level of intelligent integration.
Turning Ignition Into the Easiest Platform for Building MCP Functionality
The upcoming MCP Module will extend Ignition’s capabilities in two ways. First, it will allow Ignition and its modules to contribute tools, resources, and prompts directly through MCP so that capabilities such as tag data, database access, configuration management, observability, and design tools can be accessed by AI systems through a standardized protocol. Second, it will make Ignition the easiest platform for creating custom MCP servers. Within the Ignition Designer, users can define their own tools, resources, and prompts, and even author tools in Python, to connect AI agents directly to OT domain-specific data and workflows.
“This makes building MCP functionality into your Ignition project trivially easy,” said Clegg. “If you’re experimenting with agentic AI applications, the MCP Module provides the domain-specific context they need.”
The MCP Module is currently in proof of concept but is planned for release in 2026 as part of the Enterprise Integration Solution Suite. According to Clegg, this highlights an important aspect of the Solution Suites approach: when you invest in a suite, you are not just buying today’s modules, you are buying into tomorrow’s innovations as they develop. Gould added that AI-powered development tools within Ignition Designer are also being actively explored. “Anything we can do to make learning and developing in Ignition easier is a high priority,” he said. “With the pace of change in AI, we will be back here next year talking about capabilities we cannot even imagine today. With Ignition 8.3, we now have the perfect foundation to build on.”
About Inductive Automation
Inductive Automation creates industrial software that empowers organizations to swiftly turn great ideas into reality by removing all technological and economic obstacles. By cross-pollinating IT with SCADA technologies, Inductive Automation created Ignition software, the first universal industrial application platform with unlimited potential. Ignition empowers industrial organizations around the world and in virtually every industry, with an outstanding software platform and top-notch support. For more information, visit inductiveautomation.com.
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