Mr Hess, you have been selling your Codesys Soft PLC with a device-based license up to now. Now you are switching to application-based licensing. What is the new payment model like?

The new payment model enables licensing without any dependency on the hardware. The application is divided into one of eight performance classes based on various criteria such as the number of I/Os, number of fieldbus connections, code size and the availability of functions such as multi-core support. This determines the price. The lowest category is not even half as expensive as the cheapest, productively usable license for the Raspberry Pi to date, Codesys Control Raspberry PI MC. The most powerful category is not even 10% more expensive than the most expensive license to date for our Windows PLC with hard real-time, Codesys Control RTE. Then there are additional functions such as visualization, OPC UA or motion control, depending on the degree of use, i.e. the number of data points used.

For which customer clientele will the model represent a "hidden" price increase and which customers are more likely to benefit from the new model?

Customers who have a small or medium-sized application running on an industrial PC may be able to expect cheaper licenses. Customers who had a very large application on a small ARM device could see a price increase. However, very complex applications also have many I/Os and/or drives. The price of a SoftPLC is not normally a significant factor here. In the run-up to the decision, we carried out a random test with some of our end users and the result was that we recorded significant price reductions or unchanged prices much more often than price increases.

Are you switching to a new payment model that is fairer for the user, but where you are accepting a price reduction, i.e. a drop in sales?

It is difficult for us to estimate the impact on our turnover. We believe that a short-term decline in sales in this area is certainly possible. In the long term, we can cover a broader market of applications and expect a significant increase in unit sales and, of course, an increase in turnover.

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

The previous model was clear, but often unfair. Users in mechanical and plant engineering generally know their application. The Codesys Development System provides all the data needed to select the right license. This means that you only ever have to pay the price difference to the higher license. So it makes no difference to the price whether you buy a smaller license first and then upgrade later, or whether you buy the larger license immediately.

Why is the license changeover happening now?

On the one hand, CPUs are getting faster and faster and all licenses will eventually slip into the highest and therefore most expensive category, even though the application generally remains the same. On the other hand, there is a trend towards packing many virtual controllers onto a single, very powerful server. Of course, a license fee is also due for each virtual PLC. Without this license conversion, however, all licenses on such a platform would have to come from the most expensive category. The Codesys virtual controller will be launched exclusively with the new license model at the beginning of next year.