A software for efficient asset, software and patch management in the manufacturing industry: ondeso’s journey from a regional IT start-up to an industrial player with DAX-30 clients

A requirement for successfully scaling up an IT business model is an innovative technology with a noticeable impact. In modern industrial enterprises, hundreds – if not thousands – of IT components such as controllers, computers, gateways and routers interconnect on the shop floor. Usually, these individual machines and systems come from different manufacturers and run with different operating systems, which makes efficient asset, software and patch management a difficult and complex task. This is precisely the challenge, which the Regensburg-based IT company ondeso tackles.

The digital toolbox for maintenance 4.0

With the ondeso products, maintenance and automation managers on both the plant engineering as well as the operation and maintenance service sides can independently manage and inventory existing and new IT components in production facilities on-site and without specialized IT know-how, regardless of the individual components’ manufacturer or the operating system they run on. Regular infrastructure analyses of the network continuously provide information about network component changes and aggregate and organize this data in a central asset management database. Security-relevant benchmarks can also be viewed and – if necessary – adjusted, as can data back-ups for the individual systems.

ondeso also provides a dashboard, which allows for the distribution, installation and maintenance of software as well as for operating system updates and patches. Due to a central inventory and asset management, industrial PCs can be maintained from one location, thus reducing travel times within the facility. At the same time, executing tasks can be managed flexibly, so that production processes are not disrupted, or patch installations can be aligned with facility downtimes to save time. Another highlight: The ondeso solutions can be installed and run without interfering with the client’s operating system or pre-installing runtime systems. This means that existing guarantee or liability claims towards equipment or hardware suppliers are not affected by software updates or maintenance.

Ten years after its creation, the growth potential of this innovative technological approach is becoming apparent: Today, the ondeso team comprises about 40 employees at four locations in Germany. The company’s tailor-made, market-leading software solutions are used by renowned DAX-30 enterprises and hidden champions from the mechanical and plant engineering sectors: Daimler AG, for example, has been using ondeso’s solutions at its German locations since 2014 and the ongoing worldwide roll-out has already advanced considerably – the software is in use in Daimler facilities on all continents. Other well-known clients from various branches of industry – Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG, August Storck KG, the kitchen manufacturer nobilia-Werke GmbH & Co. KG as well as Krones AG, a global market leader for beverage filling equipment and technology – also rely on ondeso. In total, the ondeso solutions are used every day in 23 countries and on more than 50,000 operational technology (OT) end devices.

So, what lies in the future for this IT champion for the industrial sector? Rolf‑Dieter Metka, Managing Director at ondeso, says: “From the very start, we have focused on a ‘blue ocean strategy’ to fill up a market gap that has formed as a result of IT and digital processes increasingly penetrating areas such as production, assembly and infrastructure. Today, ondeso is a market-leading software enterprise for IT management and OT infrastructure. Our mature products are based on industry 4.0, IoT and digitalization concepts of exponentially growing IT systems in OT infrastructures and are increasingly becoming a strategic must-have for facility operators as well as the mechanical and plant engineering industry. In addition, we benefit from favorable market trends such as increasing IT security requirements for businesses with a simultaneous lack of qualified IT specialists. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic seriously limits the possibilities of on-site technician assistance, which accelerates the need for implementing new maintenance and service strategies, which products such as ours support. Our growth strategy, which includes cooperating with large system partners in the facility operator market as well as leading machine and plant engineering enterprises worldwide, will enable us to become the leading European software provider in this market segment.”