ETG Celebrates 20 Years of Success and Technology

Summary

Oct. 18, 2023 - Nuremberg, Germany - After celebrating 20 years of EtherCAT in May, it is now time to mark another 2023 milestone for the industrial Ethernet system: 20 years of the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG). To commemorate the occasion, ETG charter member company Beckhoff invited guests to a gala dinner at the Grand Hotel Kaiserhof Victoria in Bad Kissingen, Germany.
 
The gala in the “Kaisersaal” (German for “Emperor’s Hall”) hosted numerous people who have made decisive contributions to the success of EtherCAT. These attendees included the ETG Board of Directors, members of the ETG Technical and Marketing committees, and the Beckhoff team working at the ETG headquarters in Nuremberg, who have been EtherCAT developers from the very beginning.
 
During the festive evening, several committee meetings took place as well: Both the Technical Committee and the Marketing Committee meet twice a year to discuss the results of the various technical working groups and to coordinate the worldwide marketing activities of the organization. Participants came from as far away as Japan and Korea.
 
In the photo above, Martin Rostan, executive director of the ETG, delivers the keynote speech during the gala dinner celebrating 20 years of EtherCAT and the organization. He noted just how far EtherCAT and EtherCAT Technology Group have come over 20 years in the keynote speech: from "Fast Lightbus" to EtherCAT, from the ETG’s beginning with 33 founding members to the world's largest fieldbus organization with almost 7,400 member companies from 73 countries, and from zero to 60 million EtherCAT devices. It was easy to draw numerous entertaining photos, anecdotes and experiences from the organization’s 213 trade show booths, 175 Roadshows in 51 countries, 59 Plugfests, countless working group and standardization meetings and, of course, the diverse work of the ETG teams.
 
Rostan thanked the Beckhoff developers for enabling the ETG to distribute and further develop what is regarded as the best fieldbus technology in the world. He recognized the ETG team for two decades of dedicated collaboration, as well as the ETG board and committee members for helping to shape the organization and technology. And he celebrated ETG honorary member Hans Beckhoff for consistently opening up EtherCAT to all developers and his comprehensive support of the ETG.

About EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG)

The EtherCAT Technology Group is an organization in which key user companies from various industries and leading automation suppliers join forces to support, promote and advance the EtherCAT technology. With over 7,300 members from 73 countries the EtherCAT Technology Group is the largest fieldbus organization in the world. Founded in November 2003, it is also the fastest growing fieldbus organization.
 

About EtherCAT

EtherCAT is the Industrial Ethernet technology which stands for high-performance, low-cost, easy to use with a flexible topology. It was introduced in 2003 and has been an international IEC standard and a SEMI standard since 2007. EtherCAT is an open technology: anyone can implement or use it.