Orchestrating the future of automation

With more than 500 attendees from across the globe, zenonIZE 25 was COPA-DATA's largest customer event to date. Held under the motto Composing Tomorrow: Automatize, Digitalize, zenonIZE at the prestigious Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, the two-day event brought together customers, partners and industry experts to explore the future of industrial automation. The central theme - software-defined automation - was showcased through inspiring keynotes, track sessions and hands-on engineering workshops.

Diverse formats and expert insights

"zenonIZE 25 featured a rich program with over 60 external and internal speakers, including representatives from ongoing customer projects, who shared their real-world experiences and success stories," said Phillip Werr, Member of the Executive Board at COPA-DATA Headquarters.

Attendees could choose from three different tracks: the Manufacturing Track, offering industry insights and keynotes from the Life Sciences and Process Industry sector; the Energy Track, focusing on virtualisation, interoperability and success stories from the Energy sector; and the Engineering Workshops, providing participants interactive opportunities to explore the full capabilities of the zenon software platform.

From vision to reality: the future of automation

More than a technology showcase, zenonIZE 25 is a special customer event created by COPA-DATA to spark dialogue, share expertise and explore practical use cases. This year, the focus was on moving beyond hardware PLCs and potential vendor lock-ins toward software-driven and virtual PLC solutions.

"For decades, the automation industry has envisioned a future where processes are no longer bound to rigid hardware but orchestrated through flexible software platforms. At zenonIZE 25, we showed how our customers can leverage this approach to gain flexibility, resilience and long-term competitiveness in a fast-changing world," emphasised Stefan Reuther, Member of the Executive Board at COPA-DATA Headquarters.

Attendees discovered how automation can be redefined through open architectures, intuitive design and a focus on operational excellence. From intelligent data orchestration to scalable production management, zenon positions companies to navigate complexity with clarity.

"Software-defined automation is about moving the automation 'brain' from the hardware into software. Decoupling logic from machines. Giving flexibility, speed and openness. Achieving this involves containerising plant-level software, virtualising real-time control with virtual PLCs, replacing traditional IPCs and PLCs with thin clients and hosting everything on a software-defined and cloud-native OT architecture," continued Stefan Reuther.