Modern industrial control systems (ICS) face growing challenges, such as how to ensure consistent performance, minimize downtime, manage increasingly complex applications, the expansion of edge devices and central servers over distributed architecture, and maintain security— all without requiring advanced technical skills. In our previous post, we discussed how containers bundle applications with their dependencies for reliable, lightweight deployment across IT and OT environments. Now, let’s explore how Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk Optix and ThinManager use containers to address these issues head-on, simplifying operations and empowering your team.
Category: Containers
Introduction to Containerization: Bridging IT and OT
Containerization is a virtualization technique that has existed since at least 2008. It is a type of software deployment that bundles together everything needed to run in a single package. This includes an application and all its dependencies. While historically it’s been used in Information Technology (IT) environments, it has recently been gaining traction in Operational Technology (OT). Modern containerization, popularized by Docker® since 2013, enables efficient, portable application deployment across diverse environments. Industry standards focusing on user experience with containerization have been formed by the Open Container Initiative (OCI). Containerization gives the ability to run applications that would have otherwise been limited by device or operating system. The goal of this post is to demonstrate containerization’s power to streamline application deployment across IT and OT environments, transforming efficiency in modern Industrial Control Systems (ICS).