Mr. Hess, you have been distributing your soft PLC Codesys with a device-based license so far. Now you're transitioning to an application-based licensing. How should we envision the new payment model?

The new payment model allows licensing without dependence on hardware. The application is categorized into one of eight performance classes based on various criteria such as number of I/Os, number of fieldbus connections, code size, and availability of features like multicore support. This categorization determines the price. The lowest category is less than half the price of the previously cheapest, productive license for the Raspberry Pi, Codesys Control Raspberry PI MC. The most powerful category is not even 10% more expensive than the previously most expensive license for our Windows PLC with hard real-time capabilities, Codesys Control RTE. Additionally, there are additional features such as visualization, OPC UA, or Motion Control, depending on usage, such as the number of data points used.

For which customer base will this model appear as a "hidden" price increase, and which customers are more likely to benefit from the new model?

Customers running small or medium applications on an industrial PC may expect cheaper licenses. For customers who had a very large application on a small ARM device, a price increase might occur. However, very complex applications typically involve many I/Os and/or drives, where the price of a soft PLC usually doesn't weigh much. Before making the decision, we conducted a survey among some of our end-users, resulting in significantly more substantial price reductions or stable prices than price increases.

You're switching to a new payment model that is fairer for the user, but overall, you're anticipating a reduction in revenue, in other words, a decrease in turnover?

The impact on our revenue is difficult to estimate. We do anticipate a possible short-term reduction in turnover in this area. However, in the long term, we can cover a broader market of applications, expecting significantly increased sales volumes and, naturally, revenue growth.

The previous model - paying per device - seems to have a more transparent payment mode than billing based on application size. Isn't the new model very complex to handle?

The previous model was clear but often unfair. Users in mechanical and plant engineering generally understand their application. The Codesys Development System provides all the data needed to select the correct license. This means that you only have to pay the price difference to the higher license at any time. So, it doesn't matter price-wise whether you buy a smaller license first and later upgrade or if you immediately acquire the larger license.

Why is the license change happening now?

On one hand, CPUs are getting faster, and all licenses eventually move into the highest and thus most expensive category, even though the application typically remains the same. On the other hand, there is a trend towards packing many virtual controllers onto a single, very powerful server. Naturally, each virtual PLC requires a license fee. Without this license change, all licenses on such a platform would have to come from the most expensive category. Codesys's virtual control will exclusively start with the new licensing model early next year.