The Industrial IoT Market Shift: What the PTC Divestment Means for Your Data Strategy

The news of PTC selling Kepware and ThingWorx to TPG for $600 million has caused a significant impact across the industrial automation sector. For anyone working in manufacturing, OT data integration, or industrial IoT, this divestment raises important questions about the future direction of these widely-used platforms, and what it means for organizations relying on them.

But here's the thing: this isn't an isolated event. Back in July 2024, there were rumors that Autodesk might acquire PTC for $20+ billion. Those talks ultimately fell through when Autodesk walked away from the deal. Now, just months later, PTC has decided to divest two of its major industrial IoT assets. The pattern is clear: PTC is refocusing its strategy.

A Strategic Realignment, Not a Surprise

PTC has been under strategic pressure for some time. The company operates across multiple domains: CAD and PLM (with Creo and Windchill), Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) with Codebeamer, and Industrial IoT with Kepware and ThingWorx. While this portfolio diversity has value, it also creates complexity, and when Autodesk considered acquiring PTC earlier this year, that complexity likely played a role in their decision to walk away.

Now, PTC is taking action on its own. By divesting Kepware and ThingWorx to TPG, the company is narrowing its focus to what it calls its "Intelligent Product Lifecycle" vision, concentrating on CAD, PLM, ALM, SLM (Service Lifecycle Management), and the integration of AI and SaaS across these core areas.

For PTC, this makes sense. Kepware and ThingWorx solve different problems than the rest of their portfolio. They're about OT data connectivity and IIoT application development (areas that don't naturally integrate with product design and lifecycle management). By selling these assets to TPG, PTC can focus resources on its core business while TPG invests in growing the connectivity and IoT platforms.

But for customers, this introduces uncertainty: What does life under TPG ownership look like?

The Customer Reality: Uncertainty and Opportunity

For organizations using Kepware or ThingWorx, this transition will bring uncertainty. Product roadmaps may shift. Pricing structures could change. Integration strategies may no longer make sense in the same way. Even if TPG commits to investing in these platforms, the reality is that customers are now operating in a period of transition (and transitions often, if not always, bring risk).

This is precisely why, back in July when the Autodesk acquisition rumors started, we launched our migration landing page at flowfuse.com/vs/kepware. To leave things clear. To make a clear statement. We saw what was coming. Organizations that had built their OT data strategies on these platforms would soon be re-evaluating their options. And for many, this is the perfect moment to ask a more fundamental question: what should a modern industrial data integration platform actually look like?

The Open-Source Alternative: Built by Node-RED's Founder

At FlowFuse, we take a fundamentally different approach to industrial data integration. We're not a closed, proprietary platform tied to a single vendor's roadmap or business priorities. Instead, we're built on Node-RED, the truly open-source, low-code programming tool created by Nick O'Leary, who is also the founder of FlowFuse.

This isn't just a technical detail but it's a strategic advantage. Here's why:

FlowFuse vs. Kepware: A Clear Comparison

For organizations evaluating their options, the differences between FlowFuse and traditional platforms like Kepware become clear when you compare them side by side:

• Open-source foundation: FlowFuse is built on Node-RED and the open-source ecosystem, giving you full transparency and control. Kepware, by contrast, is a proprietary stack with limited visibility into how it works.

• Zero vendor lock-in: With FlowFuse, your flows are portable. You can run them anywhere (cloud, on-premises, or at the edge). Kepware ties you to their licensing model and roadmap.

• Integration flexibility: Node-RED's 5,000+ community-contributed nodes mean you can connect to virtually anything (MQTT, OPC-UA, REST APIs, SQL databases, cloud services, and more). Kepware's integrations are often limited to proprietary or custom connectors.

• Transparent pricing: FlowFuse offers use-based, transparent pricing that scales with your needs. Kepware's licensing model is tiered, often creating cost barriers as you grow.

• Active community: Node-RED has one of the largest and most active open-source communities in industrial automation. You're not dependent on a single vendor for support, innovation, or problem-solving. Kepware operates in a closed ecosystem.

• Future-proof architecture: FlowFuse is cloud-ready, portable, and designed to evolve with your infrastructure. After multiple ownership transitions, Kepware's future direction under TPG remains uncertain.

You can explore these differences in detail at https://flowfuse.com/vs/kepware.

Connect to Anything, Collect Everything

Node-RED has over 5,000 community-contributed nodes, covering virtually every industrial protocol, database, cloud service, and API you can imagine. Whether you need to pull data from a Siemens S7 PLC, a Modbus device, an OPC UA server, push it to AWS IoT Core, Azure, or your own database, transform it in real-time, and visualize it on a custom dashboard. Node-RED can do it all.

And because it's open source, if a connector doesn't exist, you or the community can build it. This level of connectivity is unmatched. Kepware is powerful for protocol translation, sure, but it's primarily focused on moving data from OT systems to IT systems. Node-RED, by contrast, is a full data orchestration platform. You're not just collecting data, you're transforming, routing, analyzing, and acting on it, all in one place.

No Vendor Lock-In, Ever

With proprietary platforms, your data integration strategy is tied to the vendor's business decisions. Pricing changes? You adapt. Features deprecated? You work around it. Company gets acquired? You hope for the best.

With Node-RED and FlowFuse, you're in control. The core technology is open source, maintained by a thriving global community. FlowFuse adds the enterprise-grade management, security, and scalability that industrial organizations need, but you're never locked in. If you ever decide FlowFuse isn't the right fit, your Node-RED flows are yours to take and run elsewhere. That's the power of true open source.

Enterprise-Ready from Day One

One of the challenges with open-source tools is that they often require significant effort to operationalize at scale. That's where FlowFuse comes in. We provide:

• Centralized management of Node-RED instances across multiple sites and edge devices
• DevOps-ready workflows with version control, CI/CD integration, and team collaboration features
• Enterprise security with role-based access control, audit logs, and compliance-ready deployment options
• Scalability to manage thousands of edge devices or cloud-based instances from a single platform

In short, FlowFuse gives you the flexibility and openness of Node-RED with the operational rigor that enterprise IT and OT teams require.

To learn more take a quick look at this video and learn about these 5 reasons you should migrate to FlowFuse. https://youtu.be/fUqfA521Iqg

Simple, Visual, and Incredibly Powerful

Node-RED's low-code, visual programming interface makes it accessible to engineers who aren't developers, while still being powerful enough for complex industrial applications. You wire together nodes to create data flows, connecting sources, transforming data, triggering actions, and building dashboards. It's intuitive, fast to prototype, and easy to maintain.

This means faster time-to-value. Instead of waiting months for vendor implementations or custom development, your team can build and deploy solutions in days or weeks. And because everything is visual, it's easier to document, troubleshoot, and hand off to other team members.

What This Means for You

If you're currently using Kepware or ThingWorx, this transaction isn't necessarily bad news. TPG may very well invest in these platforms and accelerate their development. But it's also a reminder of a fundamental truth in enterprise software: when you build on proprietary platforms, you are always subject to the strategic priorities of the company that owns them.

This is a good time to ask some strategic questions:

• Is your data integration platform aligned with your long-term strategy?Or are you constantly adapting to vendor-driven changes?
• Can you extend and customize your platform to meet your unique needs? Or are you constrained by what the vendor offers?
• Do you have flexibility in how and where you deploy? Cloud, on-premises, edge, hybrid, can your platform handle all of these?
• What happens if your vendor’s priorities shift again? Are you prepared for another transition?

For organizations re-evaluating their options, open-source platforms like Node-RED and FlowFuse offer a compelling alternative. You get the connectivity, flexibility, and control to build exactly the data strategy you need, without being tied to a single vendor’s roadmap or business model.

The Path Forward

The industrial automation market is evolving rapidly. As companies like PTC realign their portfolios, the organizations that thrive will be the ones that build on flexible, future-proof foundations.

At FlowFuse, we believe that foundation is open source. It's why we've built our platform on Node-RED, created by our founder Nick O'Leary. And it's why we're committed to giving industrial organizations the tools they need to take control of their data strategies, with the flexibility to adapt, the power to innovate, and the freedom to choose their own path.

Ready to Explore Your Options?

If you're evaluating your options, whether you're currently on Kepware, ThingWorx, or another platform, we'd love to talk.

See how we stack up against Kepware to learn more about how FlowFuse compares to traditional industrial connectivity platforms, or contact our team to speak with one of our Migration Experts. We can help you understand your options, plan a migration strategy, and show you how open-source industrial data integration can transform your operations.

The industrial IoT market is shifting. Make sure your data strategy is built to adapt.