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INDUSTRY UNPLUGGED
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SPECIAL EDITION
24 September 2026
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| ICC 2026 — What to Watch at the Ignition Community Conference |
24 September 2026 | Special Edition |
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◆ SPECIAL EDITION · ICC 2026
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INNOVATION UNLEASHED · #ICCUnleashed
What We’re Watching at the 2026 Ignition Community Conference
This week the Ignition community is in Sacramento for ICC 2026 (22–24 September, SAFE Credit Union Convention Center). It’s the one week a year the whole ecosystem — integrators, OEMs, end users and the Inductive Automation team — is in one room, and this year’s theme, Innovation Unleashed, is doing a lot of work. So we pulled together a special edition: what’s being announced, the threads we care about most, and the people from this world who’ve already sat down with us on the show.
We’re not covering ICC from the outside. This is our world — over 59 episodes we’ve sat down with Inductive Automation’s own people, premier Ignition integrators and the MQTT/Sparkplug builders who make Ignition sing. Here’s the short version of what to watch, what the community is already saying from the floor, and where we fit in.
→ In this edition: what’s on the ICC stage, what people are saying about it on LinkedIn, the Ignition minds who’ve joined us on Unplugged, and how to reach Ed to talk Ignition.
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◆ WHAT’S ON THE ICC STAGE
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THE HEADLINE
Ignition 2027 — the next major platform generation
The keynote centrepiece: the next-generation Ignition platform, previewed at ICC with a beta targeted for later this year and general availability in early 2027. It’s positioned as a long-term-support foundation and is being built with regulatory readiness (CRA compliance) in mind — a signal about where industrial software is heading, not just a version bump.
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DATA & CONNECTIVITY
A new Data Acquisition Suite and a rebuilt historian
Two announcements we’ll be reading closely: a Data Acquisition Suite that broadens native connectivity (including Beckhoff ADS/TwinCAT) and a next-generation historian built on Tiger Data / TimescaleDB, with REST APIs opening up Historian and Tag access. On top of that: OPC UA redundancy and events, an Observer Mode, and HashiCorp Vault support. This is the data-layer plumbing we talk about every week.
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AI
A native MCP server — Ignition meets the AI-agent era
The one that made us sit up: a native Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, letting AI agents interact with Ignition through a standard interface. It lands right on a theme we keep returning to — AI is only ever as good as the data layer beneath it, and a clean, self-describing model is what makes agents useful instead of dangerous on the plant floor.
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ON THE FLOOR
Build-a-Thon, the Discover Gallery & the Firebrand Awards
Beyond the keynote, ICC is where the community shows its work: the Discover Gallery and Firebrand Awards spotlight real integrator projects, and the live Build-a-Thon final pits Barry-Wehmiller Design Group against Prime Controls, decided by an audience vote. Can’t make it to Sacramento? Session recordings go on-demand from 5 October — and ICC 2027 is already set for 5–7 October 2027.
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◆ WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING · LIVE FROM ICC
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The floor is buzzing. Here’s a quick highlights reel of what the Ignition community is posting from ICC 2026 this week — straight from LinkedIn, tap any card to read the original post:
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“The future of industrial automation, and Ignition, just became crystal clear.”
Teasing the #ICCUnleashed Technical Keynote — agentic AI via Ignition Catalyst, a TimescaleDB historian with new partner Tiger Data, and 16 new Perspective chart components.
Inductive Automation
Official · #ICCUnleashed
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“Day one complete. So many game changers announced with Ignition 2027… going to unleash a new wave of innovation and creativity through our amazing community. Exciting times.”
Heshan Rajakaruna
At ICC 2026 · industrial open-technology advocate
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“Ignition 2027 is coming. And AI is taking center stage.”
Reporting live from Sacramento on the first Ignition 2027 previews — a November beta, a new Beckhoff driver, and a TimescaleDB Enterprise Historian.
EFA Automazione
At ICC 2026 · Ignition partner & integrator
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◆ IGNITION MINDS ON UNPLUGGED
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We’ve been lucky enough to host several of Inductive Automation’s own team — and the people who build on Ignition every day. If you’re at ICC and want the back-story, these conversations are a good place to start:
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CARL GOULD · CTO, INDUCTIVE AUTOMATION
What Ignition 8.3 Means for Industrial Automation’s Next Leap
An in-person sit-down with Carl on the thinking behind Ignition 8.3, distributed architecture and where the platform is going — essential context for everything landing at ICC 2026.
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COLBY CLEGG · INDUCTIVE AUTOMATION
How Ignition 8.3 Is Changing Industrial Automation Forever
Colby joined us for a deep dive on the engineering direction of Ignition — the updates that matter and the future roadmap. If the ICC keynote left you wanting the “why,” this is it.
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TRAVIS COX · INDUCTIVE AUTOMATION
How IIoT Is Changing Data Management
One of our earliest conversations — Travis on how IIoT reshapes the way industrial data is captured, moved and used. Foundational listening for the data-layer story ICC 2026 is built around.
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KYLE VAN EENENNAAM · EX-INDUCTIVE AUTOMATION, NOW BW DESIGN GROUP
Every Seat at the Ignition Table
Our most recent episode. Kyle — a former Inductive Automation trainer, now a software engineer at Barry-Wehmiller Design Group (a 2026 ICC Build-a-Thon finalist) — maps the four types of Ignition organisations and shares a practical 2026 guide to learning Ignition, from the Design Challenge to Git, CI/CD and AI.
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◆ DEEP IN THE IGNITION WORLD
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The Ignition story runs right through the show — and through the community around us. Jan Madsen of Enuda took us inside building Europe’s only Ignition-only premier integrator ( Episode 32). Our friends at Cirrus Link Solutions build the MQTT and Sparkplug modules that so many Ignition architectures depend on — and Sparkplug co-inventor Arlen Nipper has joined us more than once. New to the platform, or levelling up for 2027? Our library has a step-by-step guide to learning Ignition 8.3 from scratch — the fastest way to get hands-on before the next generation lands. |
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◆ WANT TO TALK IGNITION? REACH ED
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Ed Fuentes knows the Ignition community inside out.
Our co-host Ed lives in this world. He’s not at ICC in person this year — but if you want to talk Ignition — a project, a question, an idea for the show, or just to compare notes on everything that dropped this week — reach out to him directly on LinkedIn. He’d genuinely love to hear from you.
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◆ SUPPORTED BY OUR COMMUNITY
These companies are part of the Industry Unplugged community — supporting what we do and doing great work in the field.
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Canary Labs
canarylabs.com
Industrial data historian — capturing, storing, and visualising OT data to power smarter manufacturing and process decisions.
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FlowFuse
flowfuse.com
Industrial Node-RED platform — connect, manage, and scale automation from edge to cloud.
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Cirrus Link Solutions
cirrus-link.com
Cirrus Link Solutions develops MQTT and Sparkplug software that helps industrial organizations connect systems, move data in real time, and make operational information available wherever it’s needed.
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◆ SUPPORT THE SHOW
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Unplugged: An IIoT Newsletter
by Industry Unplugged | Phil Seboa | info@unplugged-education.com
Industry Unplugged, Brisbane, Australia
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