Networking's Future

Katherine Bonfante is senior digital editor for Control and ControlDesign. You can email her at [email protected] or check out her Google+ profile.I'm not a mind reader and I cannot predict the future at all. Yet when I make plans for my future I like to think that I have everything under control and whatever I plan will become a reality, just as I imagine it.

Take, for example, my dog: For months I planned the dog breed to adopt and I dreamt about the perfect life I would have with my animal companion. However, I did not calculate that the dog somehow would dislike certain family members and would attempt to bite them every chance he got. I also did not predict the dog jumping on my bed during cold nights. I should have prepared for this, but I didn't. Now I'm reading every type of dog behavior book, and I'm in my own house trying to predict the dog's next move.

Here in the industrial network world, our industry experts and leaders do a better job at predicting industry-related issues and providing solutions for these. Having the right skills and knowledge for the job does come in handy.

Take for example our contributing editor and blog celebrity Ian Verhappen. In his article "The Industrial Network Forecast," Verhappen goes out on a limb to predict where industrial network solutions are going, along with the hurdles that must be overcome to make these visions a reality. Read his to see the predictions that Verhappen made more than four years ago, and see whether they have become a reality.

You can also read Verhappen's ongoing blog "The Great Kanduski," to get his perspective and experience.

Continuing with industrial network predictions, VDC Research Group recently highlighted what it expects to be the top trends this year for industrial networking solutions. You can read about these trends in our news item "Wireless Industrial Networking Expected to Take Off in 2011." One of the trends VDC reported was a significant growth of wireless networking.

Few of us are mind readers, and most of us can't pull rabbits out of a hat. But when we are knowledgeable in our areas of expertise, foreseeing the future or giving advice that results in the expected outcome can make us look clairvoyant. If you are not a mind reader, you might as well hone your skills.

When it comes to troubleshooting an industrial network, knowing just what to do is difficult. Ethernet is rapidly spreading across a wide range of industrial environments and this standardized, plug-and-play technology can be easy to install. It works 90% of the time, but when it doesn't, it is not so easy to understand why. Download the white paper "Troubleshooting Your Industrial Network" and explore some of the key troubleshooting causes and issues for industrial networks.