Published by Daniel Sukowski
Last updated on April 30, 2026
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12 minute read
How a strategic ecosystem partnership and a real-world Smart Factory deployment redefine convergent industrial monitoring.
IT and OT convergence isn't coming. It's here. Most industrial organizations still run separate tools for network monitoring and machine monitoring, creating blind spots, duplication of effort, and a widening attack surface.
Paessler PRTG and Bosch Rexroth have joined forces inside the ctrlX World ecosystem to close that gap. Together they deliver a vendor-agnostic, unified monitoring layer that sits natively inside the ctrlX OS environment. No additional hardware required, no proprietary lock-in, and full alignment with the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and IEC 62443.
A Partnership Built on Open Automation
Paessler is a proud member of the Bosch Rexroth ctrlX World Ecosystem. ctrlX World is Bosch Rexroth's open industrial automation platform that brings together hardware, software, and a curated marketplace of third-party apps, all based on open standards and Linux-based ctrlX OS.
By joining ctrlX World, Paessler can offer PRTG monitoring capabilities (including the upcoming PRTG Multiplatform Probe Edge App) directly through the ctrlX World Store, making professional IT/OT monitoring accessible to every ctrlX customer and machine builder with just a few clicks.
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Paessler PRTG
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Bosch Rexroth ctrlX World
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In Action: Convergent IT/OT Monitoring at the CU.BE, Ulm
The CU.BE is Bosch Rexroth's state-of-the-art Smart Factory demonstration centre in Ulm, Germany. This is where the partnership between Paessler and Bosch Rexroth comes to life. The CU.BE is a fully operational production environment built around ctrlX OS and ctrlX World, designed to show how open automation works in real production environments.
PRTG is deployed inside the CU.BE to deliver unified, real-time visibility across every layer of the facility, from shop-floor PLCs and drives to enterprise IT infrastructure. Visitors can walk the floor and see, on live dashboards, exactly how converged IT/OT monitoring simplifies operations, accelerates incident response, and provides the audit trail demanded by modern compliance frameworks.
The Bosch Rexroth CU.BE Smart Factory in Ulm — a live reference environment for open automation and the ctrlX World ecosystem.
🏭 What is the CU.BE?
The CU.BE ("Cube") in Ulm is Bosch Rexroth's reference Smart Factory — a working production cell and innovation showroom demonstrating the full ctrlX World ecosystem in a live manufacturing context. Partners like Paessler integrate their solutions directly into the CU.BE so customers get a hands-on experience of ecosystem interoperability. Learn more: ctrlx-automation.com/cube
PRTG Dashboards — Live at the CU.BE
The following screenshots show the PRTG monitoring dashboards as deployed at the Bosch Rexroth CU.BE Smart Factory, illustrating unified IT/OT visibility in a live production environment.
Figure 1: PRTG unified IT/OT dashboard: interactive factory-floor map showing real-time device states and energy consumption across all production cells at the CU.BE.
Figure 2: PRTG device-detail dashboard: ctrlX CORE temperature, energy data, OPC UA certificate status, and live sensor readings for the Mixed Box production cell.
Figure 3: PRTG Device Template for Bosch Rexroth ctrlX OS — pre-configured sensor tree for Factory IT, Manufacturing, and Logistics layers (Battery Line, Powercube, Tightening Control, and more). Available now at: gitlab.com/PRTG/Device-Templates/bosch-rexroth-ctrlx
▶️ Watch: PRTG at the Bosch Rexroth CU.BE a live walk-through of the Paessler PRTG integration at the Bosch Rexroth CU.BE Smart Factory: unified IT/OT monitoring in action.
The Solution: Vendor-Agnostic Convergent Monitoring with PRTG
Paessler PRTG is one of the world's most widely used network and infrastructure monitoring platforms. PRTG bridges IT and OT monitoring in one platform, acting as a single pane of glass for teams that can no longer afford to operate two separate toolsets.
PRTG integrates seamlessly with ctrlX OS devices through native protocol support and a dedicated PRTG Device Template. This template, developed in collaboration with Bosch Rexroth, allows PRTG users to discover and monitor ctrlX-based hardware faster with pre-configured sensors, without custom scripting or vendor-specific expertise.
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Edge-Based Monitoring — No Extra Hardware Deploy the PRTG Multiplatform Probe directly on existing ctrlX OS edge devices. Monitoring starts immediately, with zero additional hardware investment and minimal deployment effort. |
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OT Data Sovereignty — Secure by Design Sensitive OT data stays at the edge. The probe processes and filters monitoring data locally, transmitting only the required metric summaries to the PRTG server, keeping your OT environment air-gapped and compliant. |
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Single Pane of Glass for IT and OT Unify enterprise IT infrastructure monitoring and shop-floor OT monitoring under one roof. Monitor IT and OT in one place to see the full picture when troubleshooting. PRTG collects data from both domains so you can correlate events faster and reduce your MTTR. |
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Flexible Industrial Protocol Support PRTG supports SNMP, OPC UA, MQTT, Modbus, REST/JSON, and custom sensors out of the box. Monitor everything from managed switches and firewalls to PLCs, drives, and IoT sensors without protocol compromise. |
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Remote Monitoring & Proactive Maintenance Monitor performance remotely, catch issues early with threshold-based alerts, and get the diagnostics you need without an on-site visit. Reduce field-service costs and improve SLA adherence. |
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PRTG Device Template for ctrlX OS A ready-made PRTG Device Template for Bosch Rexroth ctrlX devices is available now on GitLab. Pre-configured sensors for ctrlX hardware dramatically shorten on-boarding time for machine builders and MSPs. |
Coming Soon: PRTG Multiplatform Probe Edge App for ctrlX OS
🚧 In active development — available soon via the ctrlX World Store
Paessler and Bosch Rexroth are jointly developing a native PRTG Multiplatform Probe Edge App that will run directly on ctrlX OS devices. This App will be distributed through the ctrlX World Store, enabling one-click deployment into any ctrlX-based automation environment. It's as easy and familiar as installing any other ctrlX World App.
What makes the Edge App different?
- Native ctrlX OS App, packaged as a Snap, fully signed, and compliant with ctrlX security policies
- Easy deployment via ctrlX World Store. No manual configuration, no SSH, no custom scripts
- Secure by default. The probe runs in an isolated container, communicating outbound-only to the PRTG server
- Network device discovery. Network-connected devices can be discovered automatically; PRTG's Device Template includes pre-configured sensors for ctrlX hardware to speed up setup
- Supports all PRTG sensor types. OPC UA, MQTT, Modbus, SNMP, REST, and custom sensors all work out of the box
- Zero-touch update management. Probe updates roll out via the ctrlX World Store, consistent with ctrlX OS lifecycle management
💡 Why this matters
Today, deploying a remote monitoring probe at a machine or production cell requires infrastructure effort; a dedicated probe server, VPN configuration, or reverse-proxy setup. The ctrlX OS Edge App eliminates all of that. Monitoring becomes a native capability of the machine itself, deployable in the same workflow as any other ctrlX World App. This is the simplest and most secure path to edge-native IT/OT monitoring available in industrial automation today.
Who Benefits, and How
This partnership helps three groups:
| Audience | Key Benefits | Value Delivered |
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| Machine Builders & OEMs | Deploy monitoring without extra hardware; reduce field-service costs; offer monitoring-as-a-service to end customers | Faster commissioning, fewer on-site visits, new recurring-revenue service model |
| Industrial End Customers | Single pane of glass for IT and OT; proactive maintenance; regulatory compliance (CRA, IEC 62443) | Reduced unplanned downtime, simplified compliance reporting, lower total cost of ownership |
| MSPs & System Integrators | Vendor-agnostic platform; scalable multi-tenant architecture; PRTG Device Templates for rapid on-boarding | Expand IIoT service portfolio, differentiate with IT/OT convergence offering, shorten deployment cycles |
Key Monitoring Use Cases
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🔐 Security Monitoring
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📈 Performance Monitoring
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👀 Availability Monitoring
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Resources & Further Reading
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Paessler |
Bosch Rexroth & ctrlX World |
Start monitoring today
Whether you're a machine builder, an industrial end customer, or an MSP looking to expand your IIoT portfolio, PRTG and ctrlX World give you the fastest path to unified IT/OT monitoring.
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This document contains references to the Bosch Rexroth ctrlX World Ecosystem Program. Paessler is a member of the ctrlX World Ecosystem. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
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