Industrial-strength Ethernet
 
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Ethernet has made its way into just about every kind of network, and one of its targets over the last couple of years has been industrial automation networks.
As for all good technological movements, there is a vendor organization dedicated to promoting the use of Ethernet in manufacturing equipment, called the Industrial Ethernet Association:
Other organizations supporting the movement are the Open DeviceNet Vendor Association, ControlNet International and the Industrial Automation Open Networking Alliance.
After many proprietary attempts to adapt Ethernet technology to the taxing industrial environment, the industry, through these groups, seems to have settled on EtherNet/IP. EtherNet/IP is an industry standard that specifies a combination of off-the-shelf Ethernet components; use of the TCP/IP and UDP/IP protocols; and the Control and Information Protocol, a standard from the industrial networking world.
It works at 10M bit/sec or 100M bit/sec, and the Open DeviceNet Vendor Association made the spec available on its site in April. Ethernet appears to be well on its way to conquering that new world.
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In addition to writing this newsletter, Jeff Caruso edits Network World's e-mail newsletters from his office on New York's Long Island. If you would like to make suggestions about newsletter format or content, or even just express your opinion on today's topic, you can reach Jeff at jcaruso@nww.com.
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