Topics 9 March 2023
WAGO and Bosch Rexroth Join Forces as System and Technology Partners in Automation

The collaboration between WAGO and Bosch Rexroth has reached a new level: As the first system and technology partner, we are bringing the ctrlX OS operating system to our devices, strengthening the idea of an open platform – all to the great advantage of users in many industries.

As with the technical side, the levels of the traditional automation pyramid are constantly breaking down, and solution providers are opening up to an increasingly collaborative way of working. The opportunities for industrial automation in this environment are tremendous but are increasingly requiring data- and software-driven solutions. Future-proof digitalization and automation technologies must accordingly be open, flexible, easily expandable and, at the same time, secure. Whether for mechanical and systems engineering, building and energy automation – the merger of IT and OT applications is supported and heavily driven by industry participants.

The Mutual Goals at a Glance

Integration of the ctrlX OS operating system into future WAGO controllers
Increasing the freedom for automation users through joint development of the ctrlX AUTOMATION platform
Development of industry-specific apps
Creating a world-leading platform by integrating other partners

Change the Game

Since the fall of 2021, we have been part of ctrlX World, a broad partner network from Bosch Rexroth, and are supplementing the open automation system with our WAGO I/O System 750 and WAGO I/O System Field components. We believe the future of automation lies in the exchange of ideas that promote innovation and the joint development of Industry 4.0-qualified solutions. Openness and strong partnerships that facilitate co-creation are the foundation for exploiting the opportunities offered by the digital transformation. Therefore, we are now taking a decisive step further with Bosch Rexroth by taking our collaboration to the next level. As the first system and technology partner, we’re helping shape the ctrlX OS industrial Linux® operating system for our industries and applications and will integrate it into our automation portfolio going forward. We are therefore pursuing our goals of creating a “marketplace of possibilities“ with an open automation platform and establishing ctrlX AUTOMATION as a standard on the market through our joint development.

Open New Degrees of Freedom

For us, “marketplace of possibilities” means a versatile portfolio of products and solutions based on open standards that accounts for new technologies and security aspects. The manufacturer- and device-independent ctrlX Store supports this approach in every respect. Therefore, we will gradually incorporate Bosch Rexroth's Linux®-based, real-time-capable technology into our mid- and high-performance controllers and offer it as an option on our edge computers. The comprehensive, standardized operating system reduces integration costs with its flexibility in all directions and ensures faster time-to-market. Similar to today’s WAGO solutions, ctrIX OS also allows easy connection of all standard bus and network protocols.

The system and technology partnership between WAGO and Bosch Rexroth makes it easier for users to meet today’s challenges with future-proof solutions – for example, by freely selecting the programming environment. With ctrlX OS, we are enriching our own automation platform with numerous ways and means to develop individually tailored control applications more freely. This gives users the option of using the apps in addition to WAGO applications, as well as help from the growing community of ctrlX World Partners – there are currently more than 65 of them. In addition to CODESYS, developers have the right tools for every need: logi.CAD, NodeRED, Blockly, high-level languages like Python and other engineering tools are compatible with the ctrlX OS operating system. Even people with little or no programming experience can find applications in the ctrlX OS solution room that work according to the no-code or low-code principle.