Automation Extended, a new architecture designed to help industrial operators upgrade control systems while avoiding costly shutdowns and wholesale equipment replacements. The program addresses a critical challenge facing industries where continuous operation is essential and system failures can have severe consequences.
Modernization Without Replacement
Large industrial facilities across energy, chemicals, mining, and utilities sectors face a difficult dilemma. Their existing distributed control systems work reliably but lack capabilities to integrate modern technologies like artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and Internet of Things connectivity. However, replacing entire control systems risks operational disruption that these industries cannot tolerate.
The traditional approach to control system upgrades — often called rip-and-replace — involves taking systems offline, removing existing infrastructure, installing new equipment, and commissioning the upgraded system. For facilities producing essential resources or operating continuous processes, this downtime translates directly to lost revenue, missed contractual obligations, and potential safety issues.
Automation Extended provides an alternative by allowing operators to modernize gradually while preserving existing infrastructure. Companies can introduce newer digital technologies without interfering with mission-critical operations. This evolutionary approach reduces risk while enabling access to capabilities that improve efficiency, reliability, and decision-making.
At the core of Automation Extended is an architectural model separating critical control functions from newer digital applications. This separation represents a fundamental rethinking of industrial automation architecture.
The control environment operates as a software-defined domain responsible for maintaining deterministic performance in essential processes. These are the systems that cannot fail — the controls managing chemical reactions, power generation, material processing, and other operations where precision and reliability are paramount. This domain preserves the proven performance characteristics operators depend on.
Alongside the control domain sits a securely connected digital environment where advanced applications operate. This is where AI and machine learning tools, predictive analytics, digital twins, and other innovations run. These applications support decision-making without altering proven control structures.
The separation allows companies to experiment with and deploy new capabilities at scale while reducing operational risk. If a digital application encounters problems, the core control systems continue operating normally. This fault isolation provides confidence to adopt innovations that might otherwise seem too risky.
