Engineers expect industrial automation installations to deliver long, stable product lifecycles, stretching into decades of service for equipment. Cybersecurity expectations now need to be factored into these long product lifecycles.
Industrial communication enabling technology providers are shifting from simple connectivity components and stacks to critical path strategic suppliers of cybersecurity, maintainability and regulatory compliance. The European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) further accelerates this important shift by requiring products that include digital elements to remain secure and upgradeable throughout their lifecycle — pressures that extend globally and so U.S. manufacturers and devices aren’t excluded. Further complicating the component selection, the industrial Ethernet protocols are embedding security directly into their specifications — PROFINET with protection classes, EtherCAT with emerging security extensions, and EtherNet/IP with CIP Security — making secure communication a built in requirement.
Communication Modules can centralize complexity, streamline updates and provide a foundation for secure architectures. OEM design criteria now includes secure design, secure update mechanisms, long term maintainability and compliance readiness.
Manufacturers must deploy product integration strategies that balance control, complexity and compliance. Embedded modules offer a middle path: faster development, reduced risk and scalable security without building every protocol stack from scratch. Hilscher’s comX 90 presents and exmple of this evolution, providing multiprotocol connectivity alongside structured security and update capabilities. As the industry moves toward deeper integration of communication, control and security, modules like comX 90 are becoming foundational to building secure, future ready industrial devices.
