New features for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software include a space-saving historian, easier license activations, more power reporting functions and smarter communication capabilities, explained at ScadaFest 2026, hosted by Trihedral, a Delta Group Co.
As VTScada software by Trihedral nears its 40th year, the company said more than 50 new incremental features were released over the last year and some significant ones are coming later this year, as told at ScadaFest 2026, hosted by Trihedral, a Delta Group Co. Among new features are a disk-space-saving historian, easier license activations, more powerful reporting functions and improved OPC UA communications, expected in release 12.3, perhaps in third-quarter 2026, according to Devraj Sen, Trihedral chief technology officer (Figure 1). Upcoming Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) include:
among new features for VTScada by Trihedral, explained at ScadaFest 2026, hosted by Trihedral.
Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering
- Historian data compression, compressing data up to 40% of its original size, logging the same trends at the same fidelity with less diskspace. This can be applied to new and existing data so that it’s all accessible across multiple servers without separation. (Figure 2)
- Better OPC UA communications for granular security across systems. (Figure 3)
- Easier reporting (Report Studio full release, Figure 4)
- IEC 61850 MMS Drive (manufacturing message specification) help with data center (Figure 5) communications, renewables, power and utilities and the smart grid.
- Ability to separate and secure data from different customers on one server, in Realm Page menus.
- A DNP3 driver, FloBoss, for enhancements for oil and gas applications.
History of SCADA backward compatibility
Glenn Wadden, Trihedral president (Figure 6), described the first VTScada installation in a video and on stage, before the software was called VTScada. The water/wastewater application, nearly four decades old (and updated since), has had backward compatibility along the way. That longevity, Wadden said, is “the brand promise we’re bringing to you” and to others, many in mission-critical applications.
Mission critical SCADA software, services
Barry Baker, president U.S. operations, Trihedral (Figure 7), said even when customers aren’t daily users, software should be easy to understand, with immersive visualization, interactive design and intuitive controls.
Baker discussed a 1994 Coast Guard application for VTScada, where he helped fix an issue over the phone. (The problem resulted from another application added afterward, Baker said.) It was considered mission-critical because the ship would not deploy without the SCADA monitoring system in place. Baker later learned that the ship rescued a solo kayaker from freezing waters the next day.
Largest event: Year 40 for VTScada by Trihedral
Sen, Wadden, Baker and other team members helped customers in the largest ScadaFest event, with 442 attendees. Nine people attending had been to every ScadaFest, Wadden said.
Four retiring team members were recognized and three came on stage (Figure 8). Wadden said Trihedral staff retention is very high, and customers benefit with the company’s investments in people.
- Steve Pomeroy (Pom), managing director of Trihedral UK, served for 28 years from the UK; work during the show include a session on the new OPC UA capabilities.
- Doug Spurrell, VTScada support first responder, has been with Trihedral 21 years and is retiring July 10. He has a friendly way with customers and staff.
- Chris Little, media relations, with the company since 2007 and retiring end of March, brought technical expertise to ads, brochures, marketing and related messaging.
- Graham Bloice, VTScada software developer and Wireshark core developer (not attending), was the original author in 1998 of DNP3, and one of the original four company employees of the UK subsidiary in 1995.
“Thanks for doing a great job for so many decades,” Wadden said, also praising the “big crowd” of talent coming in behind these people: “Continuity has always been part of the plan.”
Product development, backward compatibility
Wadden praised work on more than 4 million lines of code in the current product, adding that it’s a more logical value proposition for customers to share in that body of knowledge than develop something themselves.
“You pay a small fraction of cost of it compared to developing the software yourself. It’s like cost sharing. In last 20 years, we’ve made over 13,000 changes to product, and 100% uptime is the aim,” Wadden said. The Trihedral software development lifecycle includes the right workflow processes so as not to miss things. Once or twice a year, Wadden said, a critical call comes in where staff won’t sleep until it’s resolved. The product has been backward compatible in every version so the next version doesn’t break anything that customers rely on, which is not a trivial task, he said. Code is built with technical debt in mind, debt that will have to paid in the future if it is unnecessarily complex.
“We make it as straightforward as possible with business and technical decisions in mind. We solve the right problems with systems to try to make it right,” Wadden said.
“We’re here to build you up; when you’re more productive, it’s better for the community of users.
Support is a big part of what we do.” As part of Delta Electronics for the last 5 years, Trihedral has doubled in size, he said.
Being productive with VTScada by Trihedral, Wadden said, makes the world a better place, saves energy, increases reliability … and helps avoid getting called out in the middle of the night.
Mark T. Hoske is editor-in-chief, Control Engineering, WTWH Media, [email protected].
Keywords
Supervisory control and data acquisition, SCADA, SCADA features
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