Highlighting the importance of software in an advanced automation portfolio, Mitsubishi acquires Iconics to extend its Edgecross edge computing platform.

Acquisitions have been redefining the industrial automation landscape over the last few years, with examples ranging from PTC’s acquisition of Kepware and ThingWorx, Emerson’s acquisition of Aventics, Dassault’s acquisition of IQMS, and Honeywell’s acquisition of Nextnine. As you can see from these examples, all but one of the five listed is focused on software.

Following this software acquisition trend is Mitsubishi Electric’s recent announcement that it will acquire Iconics’ and its software for SCADA, HMI, IoT, mobile, analytics, and cloud applications. In its announcement, Mitsubishi noted that it will strengthen Mitsubishi’s software portfolio and technology for the manufacturing, industrial, and building automation markets.

More specifically, Satoshi Takeda, senior deputy general manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s Nagoya Works, said, “The addition of Iconics software, product development, and technology capabilities will allow Mitsubishi to accelerate its e-F@ctory and edge computing solutions.”

“Mitsubishi Electric already uses Iconics’ DataWorX tunneling technology as part of its Edgecross platform, so we will be enhancing our DataWorX technology to support the latest standards, such as OPC UA TSN, the pub/sub model, and other advances to the OPC UA specifications,” said Russ Agrusa, CEO of Iconics. He added that the acquisition will also lead to the development of a new software center of excellence in Foxborough, Mass. (the location of Iconics’ headquarters) to accelerate the development of advanced factory and building automation software.

Iconics notes that its software has more than 350,000 installations in over 100 countries worldwide and is running in over 70 percent of Global 500 companies.

The picture accompanying this article shows (left to right) Satoshi Takeda, senior deputy general manager of Nagoya Works, Mitsubishi Electric; Russ Agrusa, CEO, Iconics; Yuji Ichioka, deputy general manager of Factory Automation Systems, Mitsubishi Electric; Hideaki Minamide Sr., director of Mitsubishi’s North American Development Center; and James Kent, CFO, Iconics.