Product category:
Engineering Industry Reports and Surveys
News Release from: IMS Research
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 24 October 2003
Contrasting global routes to industrial
networking
A recent market study estimates that Profibus has the lion's share of the European industrial protocol market with an estimated installed base at the end of 2002 of 5.5 million nodes.
A recent market study from IMS Research estimates that Profibus has the lion's share of the European industrial protocol market with an estimated installed base at the end of 2002 of 5.5 million nodes However, this is not the case in North America where Modbus has been established for many years and had an estimated 4.0 million installed and active nodes
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 28 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The market study has concluded that the industrial networking market is poised for big changes.
The growth of Ethernet in industrial applications is predicted to be substantial but steady in progress, rather than meteoric.
However, there are applications where Ethernet will have a greater impact.
IMS Research's survey of users found that over two-thirds of those who responded in Europe expect to be using Ethernet in PLC-to-PLC applications by 2006, whereas less than a third do so now.
This is in contrast to North America where half the respondents claimed to be already using Ethernet in PLC-to-PLC applications.
Again around two-thirds planned to do so by 2006.
Senior Market Analyst John Morse commented: "With Profibus strong in Europe and DeviceNet and ControlNet strong in North America, it was essential that this survey was conducted as two volumes.
Of course there are similarities but the results have shown that there are also major differences, not only in the position today but in the likely direction the markets will take.
This is shown in the report to be particularly relevant to the industrialised forms of Ethernet which are gaining ground over the more traditional Ethernet TCP/IP.
In Europe, ProfiNet and Ethernet-Powerlink are strong contenders while in North America, GM's recent announcement that it will standardise on Ethernet/IP will help to further its success.
One indicator of the future is the current protocol preferences.
In Europe, where Profibus is strong, users expressed the desire to use ProfiNet.
In North America, Ethernet/IP is well supported by ODVA, who also administer DeviceNet.
However, it is important to remember many of the industrialised variants of Ethernet are relatively new to the market and so it is difficult to predict the winners and losers at this early stage.
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