years. “Perhaps three solutions will remain,” says Bryan. “And some of those will serve a niche market.” He expects Profinet to continue leading Ethernet technology for automation applications. “A full range of Profinet products will be available from leading product and system suppliers.” He predicted that most of the available products will be based on Ethernet Controller ASICs, or application-specific integrated circuits, with Profinet enhancements built in, including IRT, or isochronous real-time. “The ASIC technology guarantees high-speed, real-time transmission, determinism, interoperability, redundancy and cost efficiency.” He also expects that each existing successful Profibus profile will be used with Profinet. “Profibus technology will be used unchanged within Profinet applications, so its installed based will continue to grow,” says Bryant.

Profibus Trade Organization
www.us.profibus.com

Profi Standardization Activities- To read the accompanying sidebar to this article, go to www.automationworld.com/webonly-4491