Product Updates (Hanover Fair 2009 Report 4)

In addition to the new PROFIsafe products I mentioned several posts ago, there were other new products as well.

First up, a Phoenix Contact PROFIBUS Proxy with built-in 4-port switch, highlighted in green here.

Shown among many other PROFINET devices from Phoenix Contact.

Siemens also introduced its new PLC, the S7-1200.  Karsten Schneider (former manager of the PROFI Interface Center) proudly showed off the new software which provides an integrated development environment with a common database between PLC and HMI.  For me, the presence of green cable as the native network connection was the attraction.  Purple cable will likely be supported in an add-on card in the future.

[Green = PROFINET; purple = PROFIBUS]

HMS, another PTO member, also had something new – an OPC server for their Anybus gateway.  It has a couple of nice benefits, price being the first one.  (It’s free with the gateway.)  It also allows the run from the gateway in the field to the control room to use standard Ethernet infrastructure.  And one server supports multiple gateways and therefore multiple buses.

And finally a new “product” from PI, a successor book to the popular Rapid Way to PROFINET by Manfred Popp.  The new book by the same author, Industrial Communication with PROFINET, goes beyond the bits and bytes to provide a good introduction to PROFINET.  I’ve skimmed it once and am now reading it in detail.  Definitely recommended.