Native PLC Communication & Why OPC-UA Is Wasting Your CPU

<p>Every IIoT project starts the same way: you need data out of a PLC. The standard answer is OPC-UA — but what if that protocol is overloading your PLCs, eating bandwidth, and costing you thousands in upsized hardware?</p><p>In this episode, <strong>Christofer Dutz</strong> — creator of <strong>Apache PLC4X</strong> and CEO of <strong>ToddySoft GmbH</strong> — joins <strong>Phil Seboa</strong> and <strong>Ed Fuentes</strong> to explain why speaking the native tongue of your PLCs is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than wrapping everything in OPC-UA. Chris shares how PLC4X pulled 2,600 data points every 200 milliseconds at just 2–3% CPU overhead — compared to OPC-UA choking at 200 data points every two seconds on the same hardware.</p><p>The conversation covers the origin of PLC4X (a &quot;JDBC for industrial automation&quot;), the not-invented-here syndrome that created today&#39;s protocol mess, why open-source adoption in OT is still painfully slow, the role of <strong>Apache IoTDB</strong> as a time-series storage engine handling 1.5 billion insertions per second, and Chris&#39;s new commercial venture <strong>ToddySoft</strong> — bringing production-grade Rust-based drivers to platforms like Inductive Automation&#39;s Ignition.</p><p>Whether you&#39;re an automation engineer drowning in protocol adapters or an IT architect trying to bridge the OT gap, this episode is packed with practical insight from someone who has spent a decade making PLCs talk.</p><p>Connect with Christofer on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoferdutz/">linkedin.com/in/christoferdutz</a></p><p>Connect with Phil on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-seboa/">linkedin.com/in/phil-seboa</a></p><p>Connect with Ed on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-fuentes-2046121a/">linkedin.com/in/ed-fuentes</a></p><p>Sign up for the Unplugged newsletter: <a href="https://unpluggediiot.com/newsletter">unpluggediiot.com/newsletter</a></p><p>Learn more about ToddySoft: <a href="https://toddysoft.com">toddysoft.com</a></p><p>Learn more about Apache PLC4X: <a href="https://plc4x.apache.org">plc4x.apache.org</a></p><p></p>