Articles and News

To best meet the rising demand for official EtherCAT Conformance Tests, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) has expanded the EtherCAT testing services.

At the SPS IPC Drives show in Nuremberg, Sercos International displayed twelve demo points from different manufacturing companies as well as exhibits from more than twenty companies.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Four North American members presented why they support PI standards and are members of the board. User presentations further highlighted that existing plants have many types of networks that can benefit from efficient gateways and proxies to further enhance automation with new controls and instruments.

By Bill Lydon, Editor I recently had the opportunity to discuss Ocean Data Systems – a little company you likely have never heard of - with Roy Kok, their VP of Sales and Marketing. Their product, Dream Report, is OEMed by a number of well-known software providers. Here is a synopsis of my interview with Kok.

It has now been 10 years since the organization first began its activities at the 2003 SPS IPC Drives show with 33 official founding members.

Festo Corporation of Hauppauge, New York joined Sercos N.A., the North American promotional alliance for the Sercos interface, as an associate member.

The test tool offers the possibility to automatically test the full CIP Safety on Sercos protocol functionality of a device in order to prove the compliance with The CIP Safety specification.

With CIP Safety, users will be able to deploy networked motion control systems using EtherNet/IP and Sercos III in applications requiring safe motion functions.

The MTConnect Institute and the OPC Foundation announce the MTConnect-OPC UA (Unified Architecture) Companion specification.

As cyberattacks and threats to network security continue to rise, so does the need for securing industrial control systems for water and wastewater systems.

Founded in 2004, Ocean Data Systems (ODS) develops software solutions for industrial analytics and reporting.

By Bill Lydon, Editor While industrial Ethernet is being adopted at a high rate, the majority of connected nodes (73%) are still traditional networks like DeviceNet, PROFIBUS, Modbus, SERCOS, Foundation Fieldbus, ASi, and others. In order to gain a clearer understanding of the trends, I spoke with Tom Moore, Research Analyst at IHS's Electronics and Media Group.

The convergence strategy starts with standardization on open systems across the platforms to provide customers with interoperability, secure communications and an optimal user experience. OPC-UA is first.

The two-day event took place at the Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing (ISW) at the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Cisco, Panduit, Rockwell Automation and ODVA are sponsoring a new online community that extends the Industrial IP Advantage website.

With IXXAT Safe, HMS offers a product family under the IXXAT brand for fast, cost-effective implementation of safe communications solutions for Profinet and Ethernet/IP.

By Bill Lydon, Editor This new initiative, supported by CISCO, Rockwell Automation, Panduit and ODVA, supports IP network convergence between the enterprise and plant floor. The Industrial IP Advantage website and activities are an agnostic way to share best practices, information, and educate the industry to accelerate adoption of IP technology.

The PROFI Interface Center (PIC) built a display wall of PROFINET devices they have tested and certified.

The 80-page guide lists 125 providers of Sercos-enabled products and serves as a guide for all who use the high-performance Sercos automation bus or intend to do so.

By Bill Lydon, Editor As Industrial Ethernet protocols have proliferated on the factory floor, IP devices have become vulnerable to cyber threats. Ironically, while the importance of cyber security protection is being emphasized, the industrial Ethernet protocol associations have no firm plans to migrate to new Ethernet standards that offer higher cyber security protection.