November 24, 2025 - Next-Generation Platform Release
Software Defined Automation Platform
The next-generation platform release marks the transition from the legacy Software Defined Automation platform to a new architecture purpose-built for scale. This update modernizes every layer of the platform—from connectivity and security to scalability and usability—while maintaining backward compatibility with existing SDA gateways and devices.
These release notes summarize what has changed, what remains compatible, and what users can expect as they migrate to the new release.
What’s New
1. New Platform Architecture
Fully cloud-native design built on microservices for high availability and horizontal scalability.
Multi-tenant environment with dedicated isolation between customers, resource groups, and users.
Fully redesigned, modernized user interface with a unified console to manage all all devices, projects, pipelines, documents, and hubs at a very large scale up to tens of thousands. Supports policy-driven access rights management, multidimensional organization, advanced workflows, and reporting.
Improved performance and responsiveness, particularly for large tenants with hundreds of devices or projects.
2. Enhanced Security and Compliance
Zero trust architecture applied across all services and user access.
Security Hub enables secure credential storage for PLC devices and projects as well as automated credential rotation for select PLC vendors
Role-based access control (RBAC) with granular permissions for devices, projects, and pipelines.
Integrated audit logging for all user actions, device communications, and API events.
Compliance readiness for SOC 2 Type 2 and alignment with ISO 27001 and IEC 62443 principles.
Secure communication channels for gateways using updated TLS and certificate handling.
SDA’s firmware status monitoring provides a comprehensive review of the firmware of managed assets - starting with Siemens - helping you to strengthen your security posture.
3. Browser-based Engineering (IDEaaS)
IDE-as-a-Service (IDEaaS) is a browser-based PLC and automation engineering environment. Supports a wide range of vendors and versions.
Integrates directly with devices and repositories to edit or compile projects directly from your browser.
Connect to your industrial devices via the SDA gateway to download, upload, or monitor rubbing devices.
4. Automated Backup
SFTP/FTP and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols allow for backup and restore of a wide variety of controllers, including KUKA robots.
Comprehensive support for Siemens SIMATIC STEP 7 v5.7 support
Live value backup of instance data blocks, safety blocks, and tag values for Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 and S7-1500 controllers.
5. Pipelines and Industrial CI/CD
New pipeline engine for automating build, deployment, and backups of projects.
Supports common actions, such as backup, deploy, password change, and library update management.
Includes approval workflows, rollback capabilities, and detailed execution logs.
Enables continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) for automation code, improving reliability and traceability.
6. Improved Connectivity Services
Gateways can now be provisioned using simplified installers for Windows, Linux, and Docker.
Improved gateway connectivity model with enhanced offline handling and retry logic.
Streamlined backup and restore process with version history and audit visibility.
7. Documents, Tags, and Resource Groups
Documents now support version control, tagging, and linking to multiple SDA objects.
Tags can be applied to devices, projects, and pipelines for advanced search and reporting.
Resource groups introduced to organize assets by site, production line, or environment.
8. Secure Remote Access
Fully redesigned secure remote access allows users to connect to industrial controllers from anywhere through a secure tunnel to any Windows machine.
Permissions within SDA control what actions a user can take and what devices, projects, and assets they can access.
Secure remote access utilizes our industrial-strength SDA gateway to eliminate the need to install other devices on your OT network.
Usage-based billing ensures you only pay for the time you are connected.
9. Pragmatic AI
Factory Agent (Pre-Release Feature) has been extended to provide explanations of differences between project versions.
Factory Operator (Pre-Release Feature) is an intelligent assistant on the SDA platform and therefore on the factory/machines. Factory Operator uses natural language conversation to allow automation engineers to focus on innovation while it handles routine operations, such as interactively creating and querying assets, as well as retrieving information about jobs, such as the reason a backup failed.
9. Administration and Licensing Enhancements
Unified company management interface to handle users, roles, and license assignments.
Billing and usage dashboards provide transparency into subscription and consumption data.
New integrations page for connecting external identity third-party services (GitHub).
PREVIEW: Users can now automate the creation/update/deletion of their SDA resources using HashiCorp Terraform templates.
10. API and Integration Upgrades
Complete REST API v2 for automation of all major SDA functions.
Support for webhooks and event-driven integrations.
Extended SDK examples for Python.
Existing Customers - Migration Notes
All ACTIVE existing tenants, gateways, and devices have been migrated to the new platform. If you have not been migrated, please contact SDA to schedule your migration.
User credentials and access roles remain valid; however, session reauthentication may be required on first login.
Legacy UI and project links will redirect to the new console.
Legacy pipelines and automations must be reviewed and reconfigured using the new pipeline engine.
Some legacy integrations, such as older SDA agent versions, may require manual upgrade to maintain compatibility.
Known Changes
Area
Legacy Platform
New Platform
UI
Separate dashboards for devices, projects, and backups
Unified console with context-aware navigation
Pipelines
Limited to backups and
deployments
Full CI/CD with multi-step workflows
Gateway Connectivity
Limited platform availability
Available on Windows, Linux, and as a Docker Container
Security Model
Basic user roles
Granular RBAC with audit and zero trust enforcement
Documents
Limited file upload only
Version-controlled documents linked to objects
Integrations
Limited APIs available
Managed integrations via webhooks and external services
Performance
Limitations for largest customers
Distributed microservices for scalability and fault tolerance
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