Native PLC Communication, Open-Source Drivers & Why OPC-UA Is Wasting Your CPU

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?

In this episode, Christofer Dutz — creator of Apache PLC4X and CEO of ToddySoft GmbH — joins Phil Seboa and Ed Fuentes 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.

The conversation covers the origin of PLC4X (a “JDBC for industrial automation”), the not-invented-here syndrome that created today’s protocol mess, why open-source adoption in OT is still painfully slow, the role of Apache IoTDB as a time-series storage engine handling 1.5 billion insertions per second, and Chris’s new commercial venture ToddySoft — bringing production-grade Rust-based drivers to platforms like Inductive Automation’s Ignition.

Key topics covered in this episode:

• Native PLC communication beats OPC-UA on performance: 2,600 data points in 200ms at 2-3% CPU vs OPC-UA at 200 points in 2 seconds
• PLC4X as a “JDBC for industrial automation” — one unified API across all PLC brands
• The hidden costs of OPC-UA: bigger PLC hardware, more CPU overhead, and expensive licensing just to run the protocol layer
• Why open-source adoption in OT is still early — companies use the software but rarely contribute back
• Apache IoTDB: time-series storage at 1.5 billion insertions per second
• Best-of-breed is winning: breaking out of single-vendor silos to choose the best tool for each job

Connect with Christofer Dutz on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christoferdutz

Learn more about Apache PLC4X: plc4x.apache.org  ·  ToddySoft: toddysoft.com