2 posts tagged with "modernization"

SCADA systems have been the backbone of industrial monitoring for four decades. They've earned their place — when a plant needed visibility into process variables, alarms, and equipment status, SCADA was the only game in town.

But here's what's happening in 2026: manufacturers aren't replacing their SCADA systems because SCADA stopped working. They're looking for alternatives because SCADA was built for a world that no longer exists — a world where data lived on-premise, where remote access meant a VPN headache, where adding a new data point required an integrator and a purchase order.

The modern manufacturing floor demands real-time cloud analytics, mobile access, AI-powered predictive maintenance, and deployments measured in minutes, not months. Legacy SCADA can't deliver that. These alternatives can.

SCADA systems have been the backbone of industrial automation since the 1970s. They were revolutionary when operators needed centralized visibility into distributed processes. But fifty years later, many manufacturers are running SCADA architectures that were designed before the internet existed — proprietary protocols, on-premises servers, thick-client HMIs, and licensing models that charge per tag. Modern IIoT platforms offer everything SCADA does, plus predictive analytics, AI-driven insights, remote access, and deployment timelines measured in minutes instead of months. Here's why the shift is happening and what it means for your plant.