A group of technology companies from the CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) will be announcing what they are calling "a significant step toward the future of open industrial Ethernet" at SPS IPC Drives 2018.
Members of the CLPA including Analog Devices, Balluff, CKD, FESTO, Hilscher, Hirschmann, HMS, Mitsubishi Electric, Molex, Renesas and Security Matters will be announcing a new Ethernet technology that the group predicts will fundamentally change the landscape for Industrial Ethernet.
"The implementation of Industry 4.0 (IIoT) concepts is occurring faster than most experts have predicted," said John Wozniak, manager of the CLPA in the Americas. "The IIoT and ‘smart factories’ now have many real-world applications, and these trends rely on efficient high-bandwidth networking solutions. The amount of data generated by these manufacturing processes is expected to undergo an 'explosion' of exponential growth. Hence networks that address this trend towards “big data” are vital. Moreover, these networks need to be connected seamlessly to company IT systems and the internet. A high bandwidth, open network technology such as gigabit Ethernet CC-Link IE has provided a significant tool to help end users and system integrators move forward, but our latest development involves fulfilling further aims expressed by many of our partners and the market in general. It is safe to say that we are anticipating a positive reaction to the announcement about the future of open industrial Ethernet at SPS IPC Drives 2018.”