About ProtoNexus

Next-Gen Industrial Data Broker with Dynamic Transformation Logic

Coming Soon - Follow my blog for development updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and early access opportunities

Why I’m Building This

Having worked with industrial systems, I’ve experienced firsthand the frustration of expensive, inflexible data brokers that force you to compromise your control systems. I’m building ProtoNexus to solve the real problems I’ve encountered in the field.

Born Out of Frustration

There I was, using the industry-standard, best in class software for interfacing with PLCs. We often relied on the customer to provide our data in the exact format we needed, but this customer didn’t have the in-house automation experts necessary, and even if they did, they might not have made it a priority to help us with the data collection.

I had a string of characters in which the last 3 numbers needed to be extracted and stored in a different tag, as a string. For a programmer, this is a simple task. Give me the string, and I will copy it and truncate it to the characters I need. In this tool, there was no such ability. String manipulation was woefully missing.

After going around in circles, my chosen method was to convert the string to a double, divide it by 1000, take the remainder (modulo operator) and then convert it back to string. This only worked because the underlying data the string represented was a number. Holy smokes, how convoluted is this? How could the state of the art software be this limited? How are they so successfull? Their software was neither functional, intuitive, and definitely not beautiful. They have the market beat on reliability and resiliency though, I’ll give them that.

The Challenge We’re Solving

Industrial systems today face a critical gap: existing data brokers are expensive, proprietary, and lack the ability to transform data effectively. Legacy solutions force you to modify critical control systems just to accommodate downstream consumers, creating unnecessary risks in 24/7 industrial operations.

What I’m Building

ProtoNexus will bridge this gap with cutting-edge technology built in Zig for maximum performance and reliability. Here’s what I’m creating:

• Python-Powered Transformations: Write custom data transformations in Python using a simple component pattern - no complex APIs to learn
• Visual Flow Designer: Drag-and-drop interface where you can chain Python scripts together to create sophisticated data pipelines
• Multi-Protocol Support: Native support for OPC UA, MQTT, Modbus, and more
• Cloud-Native Architecture: Containerized deployment with built-in security
• Low Memory Footprint: Designed for resource-constrained industrial environments
• True Extensibility: Add new protocols and transform modules with ease

The Python scripting capability is the game-changer - imagine writing a simple moving average function and dropping it into your data flow visually. No more rigid, proprietary transformation tools.

Why This Matters to You

Unlike proprietary solutions that lock you in, ProtoNexus will give you the flexibility to adapt to your unique requirements without compromising your control systems. Transform, route, and secure your industrial data with the power of Python scripting and modern architecture.

I’m building the industrial data broker I wish I’d had. Follow my blog for development updates, technical deep-dives, and early access opportunities.