## 1 Introduction  
This paper addresses a literature review combined with a case study, comprising five cases, where service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based platforms supporting microservices, i.e., automation software platforms, are used to develop and operate automation solutions in value-chains pertaining to manufacturing and process industry contexts all over the European Union. The underlying reason to conduct the literature review combined with the case study is that today's problems related to development and operation of automation software, using traditional development and 1-to-1 integrations is not a viable option. The current set of problems can be summarized as follows: new functionality with a lot more data available is based on architectures which were not intended for this; high effort/cost is required; solutions are sensitive due to lack of error handling, logging and monitoring; it is hard to make integrations and changes; solutions are hard-coded instead of configurable; there are interoperability and protocol version issues, and it is hard to wrap security around solutions, as most do not have any inherent security level [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Thus, it seems more and more of a dead-end to pursue the path with traditional development of legacy automation solutions with 1-to-1 integrations [3, 4, 9, 10]. In addition, the aforementioned often also causes hard vendor lock-ins for the whole lifecycle of an automation solution. Thus, what is needed is a way to get away from: hard-coding to configuration; having many potential services to dynamically select among instead of one static function; grow organically instead of having a \"big bang\"; prototype/test/learn and move quickly instead of long preparations, and only test where there are dependencies instead of testing it all. One potential way out of this, according to the literature review, is to investigate the use of SOA-based platforms supporting microservices for development and operation of automation solutions. Hence, the research question posed in the case study addresses how many improvements have been made using an SOA-based platform, compared to traditional development, and where in the lifecycle are the improvements embodied? Another enabler and source of requirements for platform thinking is that IT environments at manufacturing and process industry companies and organizations are increasingly becoming connected with the OT (Operational Technology) environments where the production and distribution processes are operated using automation solutions. This IT/OT convergence, in the sense that the environments are connected and integrated with more IT-equipment also used in OT-environments, is led by the Industry 4.0 concept with system-of-systems interoperability and vertical and horizontal integrations in value-chains spurred by an increased wish to use data for decision-making and optimization of processes and businesses. Unfortunately, in the light of recent advanced cyberattacks, this poses higher requirements on cybersecurity for IT/OT-environments as well as the cybersecurity hygiene at the partners in the value-chains and providers of software, cloud services and remote or on-site services. A proficient level of cybersecurity is no longer something merely desirable, but a harsh requirement to stay in business ([[https://www.nytimes.com/20](https://www.nytimes.com/20)]([https://www.nytimes.com/20](https://www.nytimes.com/20)) 21/05/08/us/politics/cyberattack-colonial-pipeline.html accessed on 9 December 2021) ([[https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/06/tech/kaseya-ransomware-what-we-know/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/06/tech/kaseya-ransomware-what-we-know/index.html)]([https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/06/tech/kaseya-ransomware-what-we-know/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/06/tech/kaseya-ransomware-what-we-know/index.html)), accessed on 9 December 2021).