PROFIblog

Nov 21 2009

Looking Back to Look Ahead

loading… With the PROFINET class in Seattle and the PROFIBUS class in Silicon Valley we concluded our one-day training classes for 2009 this past week.  This provided a good opportunity to consider the feedback we’ve had throughout 2009 in preparation for planning 2010. Almost everyone who attended in 2009 was already using a fieldbus, so…

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Nov 3 2009

PROFINET is not a Star

loading… PROFINET is not a star… but it can be when you want it to be – speaking of topologies, of course; in performance PROFINET is a star! I read the article “Network Behemoth” by Dan Hebert at Control Design which featured this section: Hard to Deal with Stars Dealing with stars can be difficult,…

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Oct 29 2009

Training Class Discount

loading… It doesn’t happen often, but the last two PROFItech classes of 2009 have some seats left.  We’d like to fill them.  If you are not a member of PTO, we’ll give you a 10% discount for these two classes only.  (If you are a member, you already get a discount!)  Register by November 4…

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Oct 26 2009

Developer Resources

loading… Again in Minneapolis last week, there were a large number of automation device manufacturers.  It’s clear that more manufacturers are adding PROFINET to their products.  On the Course Evaluations there were a number of requests to provide additional information specific to them in our free PROFINET one-day training classes.  Alas, there is little time…

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Oct 14 2009

Five Criteria for Choosing an Industrial Ethernet

loading… As Manny walked the exhibition floor at ISA he encountered device vendors who needed an Industrial Ethernet.  PROFINET would have fit the bill for them, but some were leaning toward something else and some had already chosen something else.  One of those device manufacturers encountered told Manny that Modbus/TCP was the most popular protocol….

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Oct 12 2009

Death of an EXPO – Life of Technology

loading… PROFIBUS and PROFINET news from the last ISA EXPO: Manny was our lone PTO attendee at the ISA show this year.  He compared its size to the ISA show in Edmonton.  Those of us who had attended in the (not-really-so-distant) past recall the glory years.  All the major companies were there.  All the trade…

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Oct 6 2009

Industrial Ethernet Market Shares

loading… I was asked at a recent PROFINET one-day training class why we didn’t compare PROFINET to SERCOS III.  I answered lamely that we just didn’t encounter it and besides it was a motion control-only bus while PROFINET is a very comprehensive bus of which motion control is only one part.  Today I stumbled upon…

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Sep 17 2009

Industrial Ethernet in Motion Control

loading… Today I viewed the Automation World webcast “Deterministic Ethernet for Distributed Motion Control” (sponsored by National Instruments).  It’s now available for viewing. It covers EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP, and PROFINET for motion control.  Irene Bearly of NI handled the PROFINET portion very well.  (She learned at one of our free training classes – you should attend…

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Sep 11 2009

The PROFIBUS Stops in Calgary

loading… One of our privileges as PTO staffers is speaking at PTO members’ events.  Manny recently returned from Calgary with this report: Last week in Calgary, Alberta Canada the PTO was a guest speaker at a Siemens event called “Catch the Process Fieldbus.”  The event was a huge success.  Registrations maxed out at 164 attendees…

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Sep 9 2009

PROFINET PROFIdrive

loading… I’m in Cincinnati for a PROFINET one-day training class tomorrow after last week in Toronto and the week before in Milwaukee with a stopover in Cleveland.  I have some reports from all these places coming up, but first… Having arrived in town early, I had a chance to visit PTO member Jacobs Automation.  I…

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