What challenges did Rockwell Automation face before AI implementation?

Traditional on-premises software imposed collaboration and delivery constraints. Manufacturing industry requires faster, more agile development and frequent updates. Customers and developers needed globally accessible, secure solutions for automation lifecycle management. Rising complexity in deployment, security, and maintenance of automation software.

Source

MicrosoftEvidence: Low40/100

Rockwell Automation accelerates industrial design with cloud-native development suite

Use case typeProductivity platformUpdated Jun 13, 2026

Rockwell Automation developed FactoryTalk Design Studio, a cloud-native, containerized application for the manufacturing sector, in partnership with Microsoft. The company transformed traditional on-premises industrial automation software into a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering running entirely on Microsoft Azure. This new platform enables geographically distributed development teams to collaborate efficiently and streamlines the automation project lifecycle from design to deployment. Technologies utilized include Azure Kubernetes Service for orchestration, Azure Cosmos DB for high-performance data storage, Azure Application Gateway for security, Azure Blob Storage, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Terraform, and development integration with Visual Studio Code and GitHub. The technical architecture relies on containerized microservices, Kubernetes clusters, and strict security measures implemented through Azure Defender and Application Gateway. This approach provides scalable, resilient, and secure access for customers developing automation solutions. Business impacts include faster software release cycles, improved developer productivity, easier collaboration for complex global projects, and positioning for the introduction of generative AI (via Azure OpenAI Service) in future automation projects.

Organization: Rockwell Automation
Industry: Manufacturing
Location: United States

Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks

Customer: Rockwell Automation
Provider: Microsoft
Maturity: Unknown
Linked source: microsoft.com

No explicit deployment-stage evidence found.

Customer identity supportedSource describes one deploymentMaturity evidence evaluated

Primary read

Use case focus

Showing 3 of 3

1Cloud-native Industrial Automation Design Suite
2Scalable SaaS Automation Lifecycle Management
3Collaborative Engineering Platform for Distributed Teams

Developed FactoryTalk Design Studio as a fully cloud-native SaaS on Azure.
Implemented containerized microservices architecture managed with Azure Kubernetes Service.
Integrated high-security best practices using Azure Application Gateway and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Leveraged Visual Studio Code and GitHub for agile development and collaboration.
Used Terraform for infrastructure-as-code and automation.

Technologies

Azure Visual Studio GitHub Azure Kubernetes Service Azure Cosmos DB Microsoft Defender for Cloud Terraform

Positioned the platform to incorporate generative AI in future releases for even greater productivity.

Architecture

FactoryTalk Design Studio is a Kubernetes-based, browser-accessible SaaS hosted on Azure, using microservices stored in Azure Container Registry and orchestrated by Azure Kubernetes Service. Azure Application Gateway manages ingress and security, with data stored in Azure Blob Storage and Cosmos DB. CI/CD is managed through GitHub and Terraform, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides comprehensive monitoring and security scanning.

Sources & evidence1

Evidence: Low40/100Evidence strength