Austrian software company celebrates 30 years

What began as a small start-up is now a company which boasts international success, with subsidiaries, distributors, partners and customers based all around the globe.

The company has a dedication to technology.

“Right from the start, our aim was to develop automation software which was to be better and simpler than any other system on the market,” explains CEO, Thomas Punzenberger. “At that time, many advised us against establishing our system on the basis of Microsoft Windows, because this was not common practice in the industry. Our concept of “setting parameters instead of programming” was also met with a great deal of scepticism at the beginning. But our success proved us right. Both decisions have contributed significantly to our growth over the last 30 years.”

As a privately owned Austrian family business, COPA-DATA is independent of external investors and stock markets and has the freedom to act with flexibility, agility, and autonomy.

Although more than 90 percent of the turnover is generated through exports, the zenon software is developed exclusively at the company's headquarters in Salzburg.

From here, the product is distributed via 11 subsidiaries, 16 distributors, and around 200 partner companies around the world.

With the 30-year anniversary fast approaching, it is fitting that COPA-DATA recently appointed a larger management team of three people at the beginning of the year.

This will prepare the company well for the future. Turnover is 31.4m euros (2016), and the company employs 230 worldwide. COPA-DATA has set itself an ambitious course for growth over the next five years.

With its high-performance software systems, zenon and straton, and a growing network of professional partner companies, COPA-DATA now supports companies in the automotive, energy & infrastructure, food & beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors as they undergo a digital transformation to the Smart Factory.

This extends from traditional automation projects for visualising, monitoring, and controlling machines and equipment, right up to cloud-based Industrial Internet of Things solutions for cross-location data analyses or predictive maintenance.

“As the industry becomes increasingly digitalised and the previously separate worlds of OT and IT begin to merge, application scenarios which include entirely new elements are emerging for zenon. This allows us to make inroads into additional business sectors such as smart cities. Our software is best equipped for the new challenges faced by the industry and we have many more innovations in the pipeline for our customers over the coming years,” explains Punzenberger.