Profibus Meeting Take 2
I'm currently in Phoenix at the Profibus Trade Organization's 10th annual General Assembly. And, yes, it's hot in Phoenix. But hotel rates are cheaper-and there is no temptation to hit the golf course outside. Michael Bryant, executive director, kicked off the shindig August 4 introducing more than 50 members in attendance. Profibus is an industrial network, or fieldbus, that is unique according to the organization in that it is strong both in discrete and in process manufacturing. PTO is the North American marketing arm for the international organization.
The key word for the week was "hybrid." According to speakers, most other fieldbuses specialize in either process manufacturing or factory automation. Profibus offers a solution incorporating a natural coordination of both types of manufacturing. Using analysis from the ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com), speakers pointed to the great market opportunities in the industry groups that fall into hybrid manufacturing.
Profibus International chairman, Edgar Kuester, reviewed the history of Profibus noting that in twelve years the international organization grew to 1,000 members by 2001 and reached 10 millions total installed nodes by the end of 2003. The first two quarters of 2004 witnessed growth by another 1.2 million nodes. Kuester challenged members to help Profibus reach 20 million nodes by the end of 2007. With the growth of Ethernet on the factory floor, reflected by the development of Profinet as the Profibus technology for Ethernet implementation, Kuester announced a Working Group of Profibus International was working on data security. The Group is due to release a first draft of a report by the end of 2004. There are eight working groups working on various aspects of process manufacturing, and twelve more whose charter includes both process and factory automation.
Look for increased visibility of Profibus in the next year.
3:17:03 PM 
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