ETM professional control – Austria – Automation
SIMATIC WinCC Open Architecture (WinCC OA), developed by ETM professional control, is a favorite among the professionals who develop and operate many of the complex applications on which modern society and business depend on – a challenging job for protection and licensing systems.
The Challenge
The WinCC Open Architecture stands behind some of most complex, distributed, and remotely operated SCADA systems running critical infrastructures everywhere in the world.The software technology landscape is rapidly evolving towards the utilization of cloud systems, providing shorter time-to-market and update cycles. Modern operating environments like Docker containers or container clusters, require open and flexible software that is robust enough to protect against fraud while supporting a wide range of platforms, from ARM to x86 on the hardware side and Windows and Linux from an operating system standpoint. The modular structure of WinCC OA makes it easier to customize the installation and enables simple maintenance and deployment of the software. The licensing system should be flexible so that new functions can be added effortlessly. This results in a wide range of items that can be combined in a specific WinCC OA product license.
The Solution
ETM professional control has chosen CodeMeter as a powerful replacement of their home grown solution to meet the new requirements, providing uniform and fully aligned protection and licensing capabilities across all relevant systems and platforms, ranging from ARM to x86, running on Windows and Linux, and from the smallest IoT device to the cloud. CodeMeter’s ability to ensure secure licensing even in distributed and decentralized setups, range of license containers, and its effective integration with ERP systems give users in the field a flexible choice of ways to manage their licenses and tailor their systems perfectly to their projects’ needs.
The Result
Robustness and adaptability: Two characteristics that Wibu-Systems and ETM professional control have in common. The integration of CodeMeter as a protection and licensing solution provides a new level of flexibility and convenience with the ability to tailor licenses to specific requirements with true granularity. Always keeping its finger on the pulse, WinCC Open Architecture, protected by CodeMeter, enables them to respond to the rapidly evolving demands of the software technology landscape. As technology and regulatory requirements constantly adapt, so do business models. Thanks to the agile CodeMeter system, ETM professional control can provide a seamless and easy-to-use customer journey.
Dr. Bernhard Reichl CEO, ETM professional control
“Our SCADA product SIMATIC WinCC OA uses CodeMeter for license generation and protection, enabling us to expand our global business together with our partners. With CodeMeter, not only are we protected against unauthorized usage, but the technology of Wibu-Systems also secures the valuable know-how of our integration partners’ solutions.”
The Company
ETM professional control is a fully owned subsidiary of Siemens AG based in Eisenstadt, Austria, that develops the SCADA system SIMATIC WinCC Open Architecture. Part of the SIMATIC HMI line, the system is used in traffic, water, energy, oil and gas, building automation, and many other critical sectors to run sophisticated control systems. A worldwide network of WinCC OA partners and integrators adds to the core team to realize customers’ projects around the globe.
Crafting Tomorrow: Tech and Business Beyond Boundaries
For nearly four decades, SIMATIC WinCC Open Architecture has been the flexible and scalable SCADA framework designed to control large-scale applications, offering unparalleled customization, superior monitoring, control, and management capabilities for industry and public infrastructure. It supports a variety of connectivity options with seamless integration with a wide range of controllers and centralized monitoring systems. The platform-independent SCADA software provides access via native applications as well as mobile and web user interfaces. The open architecture design enables easy adaptation of new technologies such as cloud-based IT, increasing the longevity and the ROI of WinCC Open Architecture and enabling continuous innovation by their customers.
The technological landscape is rapidly evolving, with modular operating systems, virtualization and Docker container solutions, and cloud systems providing shorter time-to-market and faster update cycles. This calls for open and flexible software that is also robust enough to protect against unintended operation and tampering on a wide range of platforms, from ARM to x86 and from Windows to Linux. Thanks to its modular structure, WinCC Open Architecture has always been easy to maintain and can be flexibly expanded by adding new functions as required. What this calls for is a licensing system granular and flexible enough to cover every user’s unique installation.
Wibu-Systems’ CodeMeter was chosen to replace ETM’s previous proprietary protection solution as a perfect match for the characteristic openness of WinCC OA. CodeMeter is available and continuously updated on the required platforms. Its robust APIs are integrated with WinCC OA and provide flexible licensing, while protecting the integrity and security of WinCC OA, especially for distributed, decentralized connected components. Customers benefit from licensing tools for both on-site and off-site usage, to fully automate the deployment of their WinCC OA project. To accommodate traditional and modern workflows, customers need to be able to manage their licenses independently from a digital platform. With CodeMeter, they can easily handle license upgrades, add or remove features, and scale their WinCC OA projects up or down without having to necessarily interact with an ETM representative.
CodeMeter’s backbone infrastructure integrates with ERP and shop systems to provide a closed user journey from selecting an item in the store to shipping the license. Flexible binding options, with or without dongles, complete the picture. The fine-grained structure of license item properties is perfectly aligned with the highly modular nature of a WinCC OA system and meets the business model specifications for permanent and recurring revenue. It allows dependencies as well as the addition and removal of features when composing a license from individual parts.
Business models with recurring revenue gain more and more significance aside from the traditional one-time investments. Software procurement should seamlessly adapt to this model to ensure uninterrupted plant operation. Enterprise-level supply chain integration is critical to delivering a superior customer experience. Customers expect a seamless experience, from ordering to software license delivery to integration into the software project.
The partnership between ETM and Wibu-Systems ensures that the software solution grows and evolves with the changing needs of its customers, giving ETM a remarkable level of robustness and adaptability and making it impervious to technological change and disruption. The software’s ability to seamlessly handle both standard processes and individual customer requests has contributed to its continued success and customer satisfaction.
