Unified Automation

What Unified Automation does

Unified Automation GmbH is a privately-held German software company, founded in 2006 and headquartered in Kalchreuth near Nuremberg, that specializes exclusively in OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) — the machine-to-machine communication protocol underpinning industrial automation and Industry 4.0. The company develops and distributes cross-platform software development kits, development tools, and runtime products that enable device manufacturers, software vendors, and system integrators to build standards-compliant OPC UA servers, clients, and Publish/Subscribe applications ranging from resource-constrained embedded microcontrollers up to enterprise systems. The portfolio covers Server SDKs in C++, ANSI C, .NET, Java, Delphi, and a High Performance C99 implementation optimized for IoT edge devices, together with PubSub SDKs in the same language families, the UaExpert test client, the UaModeler graphical address-space and code-generation tool, the UaGateway legacy OPC-to-OPC UA migration wrapper, and the UaGDS Global Discovery Server for centralized certificate lifecycle management. All major SDKs hold OPC Foundation Compliance Certifications, and the technology serves more than 2,000 customers globally — including Siemens, ABB, Bosch Rexroth, KUKA, OMRON, Phoenix Contact, Duke Energy, CERN, and Novartis.

The company monetizes primarily through one-time developer licenses (binary and source code, single-seat), with separately purchased support packages and maintenance renewals providing recurring revenue, and instructor-led training (€495–€995 per person) plus consulting as professional services. Go-to-market is sales-led and event-driven: the company runs a content-rich website with self-serve evaluation downloads, participates in major industrial trade shows (embedded, Hannover Messe, OPC Day, SPS Drives), and operates a partner network of solution integrators (e.g., Steinbeis EST), technology partners (Prosys OPC for Java, ECOS for PKI), and regional training resellers (ascolab, DS Interoperability). The company is led by three executive directors — Uwe Steinkrauss, Matthias Damm (co-author of the foundational OPC UA book), and Gerhard Gappmeier — and operates without external venture or private equity backing.

Name

Unified Automation

Legal name

Unified Automation GmbH

Website

https://unified-automation.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Unified Automation GmbH is a German software company that provides certified OPC UA SDKs, development tools, and runtime software used by 2,000+ industrial OEMs, system integrators, and enterprises to build standards-compliant machine-to-machine communication from embedded devices to enterprise systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Communication Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Developer Tools & DevOps Platform Services (CI/CD, Artifacts, IaC) (HDABAAAI)

Keywords

• OPC UA development
• Industrial communication software
• Embedded SDK frameworks
• Machine-to-machine protocol
• Automation interoperability

Headquarters

HQ city

Kalchreuth

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses (SDKs/Toolkits): The company sells Developer Licenses for OPC UA SDKs in both Binary and Source Code forms. Licenses are sold as single-seat developer licenses. They also offer evaluation licenses for testing purposes.
2. Support Packages: Support packages are sold separately from SDK licenses, typically including a specified number of support incidents (e.g., 15 incidents) and first-year maintenance.
3. Training and Workshops: The company offers paid training courses including OPC UA Introduction seminars, Developer Workshops, VDMA Machinery workshops, and webinars. Priced at €495-995 per person.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Unified Automation develops and sells cross-platform OPC UA software development kits (SDKs) and tooling for industrial automation, allowing application developers, embedded device manufacturers, and enterprise software vendors to build OPC UA-compliant servers, clients, and PubSub implementations across C++, ANSI C, .NET, Java, and Delphi. The portfolio also includes development tools (UaExpert test client, UaModeler graphical modeler), runtime products for security and migration (UaGateway, UaGDS), and paid training and consulting services.

Product overview

Unified Automation provides a comprehensive portfolio of OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) software development kits (SDKs), development tools, and runtime software products. The core offering consists of Server SDKs available in multiple programming languages: C++, ANSI C, .NET, Java, and Delphi, each bundled with corresponding Client SDKs. A High Performance SDK targets embedded and IoT devices with optimized C99 code and asynchronous architecture. All SDKs include Publish/Subscribe (PubSub) support with JSON/MQTT transport options. Development tools include UaExpert (a full-featured OPC UA test client) and UaModeler (code generation tool for information model design). Runtime products include UaGateway (legacy OPC to OPC UA migration tool) and UaGDS (Global Discovery Server for certificate management). The company also offers training and consulting services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• C++ OPC UA Server SDK A C++ library for writing portable OPC UA Servers and Clients. OPC Foundation certified compliant (v1.6.0), supports Windows, Linux, vxWorks, and QNX. Bundled Client SDK included. For application developers and embedded device manufacturers targeting mainstream platforms.
• ANSI C OPC UA Server SDK A compact OPC UA SDK designed for embedded devices, providing basic infrastructure to create OPC UA Servers with minimal footprint. OPC Foundation certified compliant (v1.8.0). Bundled with Client SDK. For resource-constrained embedded/IoT device OEMs.
• .NET OPC UA Server SDK A .NET assembly-based SDK for writing OPC UA Servers and Clients with Visual Studio 2022. Pre-built NuGet packages for different .NET Frameworks, .NET Standard, and .NET 8+. OPC Foundation certified compliant (v2.3.1). For application developers targeting .NET environments.
• High Performance OPC UA Server SDK An optimized SDK written in pure C99 for smallest embedded devices and IoT. Single thread/single task fully asynchronous API, 10x faster encoding than previous implementations, runs in ~300K code size on ARM/RTOS, supports sandboxing and modern async network APIs. OPC Foundation certified compliant. For high-performance and embedded deployments.
• Java OPC UA SDK Native Java implementation for OPC UA Client and Server development including PubSub. Requires Java 1.8 SE or newer. OPC Foundation certified (v2.1.0). Developed in partnership with Prosys OPC Oy. For Java-based application developers.
• Delphi OPC UA SDK OPC UA SDK for Client and Server development for Delphi and C++Builder. Precompiled for 64-bit with support for OPC UA and OPC Classic development. For Delphi/C++Builder developers.
• C++ PubSub SDK OPC UA Publish/Subscribe SDK for C++ enabling pub/sub communication patterns including JSON and MQTT transport support. For C++ developers building pub/sub industrial applications.
• ANSI C PubSub SDK Compact OPC UA Publish/Subscribe SDK in ANSI C for pub/sub communication on embedded devices. For embedded developers needing lightweight pub/sub.
• High Performance PubSub SDK High-performance OPC UA PubSub SDK for embedded and IIoT applications requiring real-time publish/subscribe communication.
• .NET PubSub SDK .NET OPC UA Publish/Subscribe SDK supporting JSON and MQTT for modern .NET environments. For .NET developers building pub/sub applications.
• Java PubSub SDK Java-based OPC UA PubSub SDK for implementing publish/subscribe communication in Java applications.
• UaExpert A full-featured cross-platform OPC UA Client test tool for Windows and Linux. Supports DataAccess, Alarms & Conditions, Historical Access, and UA Methods. Extensible plugin framework. Free download for testing and development.
• UaModeler Graphical tool for designing OPC UA address space models. Generates source code for C++, ANSI C, .NET, and High Performance SDKs. Includes consistency checking and companion specification support. For developers building and managing OPC UA information models.
• UaGateway High-performance Wrapper/Proxy for migrating classic COM/DCOM OPC to OPC UA. Supports data aggregation, tunneling, reverse connect proxy, custom address space mapping, tag linking, and Store & Forward datalogger. Handles up to 50 UA servers and 25 classic DA servers as data sources, with up to 300 million data values per hour.
• UaGDS (Global Discovery Server) Security management and central network services for OPC UA. Provides certificate management, automated PKI, push and pull certificate rollout, built-in Certificate Authority, and manages security groups. Optionally integrates with external CAs (e.g., ECOS TMA) for IT-PKI alignment.
• OPC UA Training Services Instructor-led training including OPC UA Introduction seminars (€995/person, 2 days), Developer Workshops (€995/person, 2 days), and VDMA Machinery workshops (€499/person, 1 day). Available online at scheduled dates in 2026, with in-house training option (minimum 4 participants).
• OPC UA Consulting Services Expert consulting services for OPC UA implementation, integration, and application development. For enterprises requiring implementation support beyond SDK licensing.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10x faster encoding performance with High Performance SDK compared to previous implementations
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ECOS Technology GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Unified Automation and ECOS present an integrated solution for certificate lifecycle management (CLM) in industrial environments. The combination of Unified Automation's UaGDS (Global Discovery Server) and ECOS's TMA (Trust Management Appliance) creates a comprehensive solution for automated CLM. UaGDS acts as central entity within OT handling discovery and automated certificate rollout via standardized push/pull methods. ECOS TMA serves as hardened PKI platform in the background managing Certificate Authority and security policies.
• Steinbeis Embedded Systems Technology GmbH (Steinbeis EST)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Steinbeis EST is a solution partner specializing in embedded systems development and industrial applications. They offer system design, integration services, and prototyping based on Unified Automation's High Performance SDK. Together they create reference implementations and prototypes demonstrating OPC UA FX and TSN technology in resource-constrained devices. The partnership focuses on hardware-oriented software development and industrial communication interface integration.
• Prosys OPC OycoreTechnology or IntegrationProsys OPC Oy is the development partner providing the Java-based OPC UA SDK. Unified Automation offers the Java SDK from their development partner. The SDK is a native Java implementation for Client and Server development including PubSub communications, requiring Java 1.8 SE or newer.
• ascolabminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributorascolab runs training classes for OPC Unified Architecture and OPC UA SDK series of products in collaboration with Unified Automation.
• DS InteroperabilityminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDS Interoperability hosts OPC UA training classes in North America as part of Unified Automation's collaborative training initiative.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Unified Automation