The Ignited Podcast

Data centers are no longer just IT infrastructure — they're becoming some of the most complex, process-controlled facilities in the world. In this episode, we explore how explosive growth in data center demand is reshaping what it means to be an OT engineer, and why the tools of modern software development are now essential on the plant floor. Hosts Travis and Tom sit down with Jason and Keith to unpack how the surging demand for data center capacity is driving a fundamental shift in OT architecture. What was once the exclusive domain of IT — DevOps practices, containerization, and Kubernetes — is rapidly becoming standard equipment for industrial software engineers. The conversation moves from big-picture trends to ground-level practicality: What does a DevOps approach actually look like in an OT context? Why is Kubernetes the natural evolution after virtualization? And how do these technologies apply even if you're not operating at hyperscale?   BW Design Group is a premier Ignition integrator with deep expertise in the data center space. https://www.linkedin.com/company/barry-wehmiller-design-group/ https://github.com/design-group   Guests: Jason Rhodewalt — Managing Partner, Control System Integration  Keith Gamble — Director of Software Engineering, BW Design Group   Subscribe to Ignited on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.    

Data in Motion — MQTT, Sparkplug B, and Why the Edge Changes Everything What happens when you need to move data across an entire enterprise — reliably, efficiently, and at scale — without drowning in network traffic or proprietary middleware? That's where MQTT and Sparkplug B come in.   Travis and Tom sit down with Benson Houghland, VP of Products at Opto 22, and Arlen Nipper, co-inventor of MQTT, to trace the protocol's origins in satellite telemetry all the way to its role as the backbone of modern industrial data infrastructure. The conversation covers event-driven vs. polling architectures, what a real MQTT/Sparkplug deployment looks like, and why edge compute changes everything.   IN THIS EPISODE MQTT + Sparkplug B is the architecture for scalable industrial data movement. Data moves when it changes, not on a timer — and Sparkplug B gives that data a standardized structure enterprise systems can actually use. The Unified Namespace becomes real with MQTT and Sparkplug B. Together they provide the event-driven backbone for a true single source of truth across your operation, with Ignition at the center. Edge compute is now an architectural requirement. Resilience, millisecond decisions, and offline operation — Ignition Edge, MQTT, and Sparkplug B make it all possible without vendor lock-in. GUESTS Arlen Nipper — Co-inventor of MQTT; Sparkplug B specification contributor Benson Houghland — VP of Products, Opto 22

Before you can understand what makes Ignition powerful, you have to understand the standards it's built on. In this deep-dive fireside chat, Travis and Tom welcome Kevin Herron — one of the architects behind Ignition's OPC UA implementation — to decode the world of OPC and OPC UA from the ground up.   This isn't a marketing conversation. It's a technical one. Kevin walks through what OPC actually is, why OPC UA represented such a fundamental leap forward, and how OPC UA Part 5 and the Companion Specification Architecture give industrial software a shared language for describing data, behavior, and meaning — not just raw values. The conversation explores how Ignition was built with OPC UA at its core, what that means for interoperability, and why it matters whether you're a system integrator trying to simplify a deployment or an end user trying to achieve real digital transformation.   If you've ever heard "OPC UA" thrown around without a clear explanation of what it actually does — this is the episode that fills that gap.   Download a free trial of Ignition at inductiveautomation.com and connect to an OPC UA device or server on your own network — you'll see the data model in action within minutes. Then head to the OPC Foundation's website to explore Companion Specifications for your industry. And tune in for Episode 4, where we go beyond OPC to explore MQTT, Sparkplug B, and the edge compute revolution with two of the people who helped build those standards.

Great software only creates value when people know how to use it. And in industrial automation, where the stakes include uptime, safety, and production output, the difference between a successful deployment and a frustrating one often comes down to the resources behind the platform — not just the platform itself.   In this episode, Travis and Tom welcome Dave Fogle to explore something that doesn't get talked about enough: the full ecosystem of enablement that Inductive Automation has built around Ignition. From Inductive University — one of the most comprehensive free technical training platforms in the industrial software space — to the Ignition community forum, the Ignition Exchange, and world-class support, this conversation is about what it actually takes to empower integrators and end users to do their best work.   Dave brings a practitioner's perspective on how these resources are used in the real world: what new integrators lean on when they're getting started, what experienced engineers reach for when they hit a wall, and how organizations use Inductive University credentials to build team-wide Ignition competency. The conversation is honest about where the learning curve exists and how to navigate it — and genuinely excited about what becomes possible when an organization is fully invested in the Ignition ecosystem.   Tune in for Episode 3, where we go beyond OPC to explore MQTT, Sparkplug B, and the edge compute revolution with two of the people who helped build those standards.   Subscribe to Ignited for upcoming episodes featuring real-world case studies of digital transformations built on Ignition — the stories that show what's possible when great technology meets great enablement. In the next episode we're diving into OPC and OPC UA with a guest who helped build Ignition's standards foundation from the ground up.

Every great podcast starts with a question worth answering. For Travis Cox and Tom Burke, that question is simple: why does industrial automation need this conversation, right now?   In this inaugural episode, your hosts set the stage for everything Ignited is about. Travis and Tom share why they felt compelled to launch the show — the inflection point the industry is at, the gap between what's possible with Ignition and open standards and what most organizations are actually doing, and the role thought leadership plays in closing that gap. They walk through who the show is for, what kinds of guests and topics are coming, and why they're committed to going deeper than the surface-level content the industry already has.   This is a fireside chat — no guests, no slides, just two people who have spent their careers in this space being honest about where it's been, where it's going, and why they believe the next few years will define industrial automation for a generation.   Subscribe to Ignited on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube so you never miss an episode. And if this conversation resonates with you, share it with a colleague who's on the front lines of industrial automation — the more voices in this conversation, the better. Episode 2 is already queued up: we're diving into OPC and OPC UA with a guest who helped build Ignition's standards foundation from the ground up.