Yesterday was the official start of spring (because that’s when pitchers and catchers reported for baseball’s Spring Training).
There are a lot of similarities between baseball and PROFINET:
Green. They are both associated with the color green. Green grass on which to play baseball; green cable over which to send PROFINET.
Pitch speed. Some pitchers’ fastballs top 100mph; their out pitch, be it changeup, curve ball, or whatever, is much slower. PROFINET can also use different speeds depending on the application. Hundreds of milliseconds for slow-moving process signals down to 31.25 microseconds when needed.
Umpire. Someone has to decide if everything is proceeding as it should. The umpire let’s everyone know if the pitcher successfully threw a strike. With PROFINET, diagnostics let the user know if there are problems that could cause downtime… even before they happen. (Corrective action can be scheduled instead of being forced to react to a shutdown.)
Popularity. Baseball is America’s most popular sport. (Yeah, football is a big deal too.) PROFINET is the world’s most popular Industrial Ethernet. (Yeah, EtherNet/IP is a big deal too.)
Longevity. Baseball in some form or other has been around in one form or another for over one hundred years, according to the book Baseball in the Garden of Eden. Ok, PROFINET cannot match that yet, but like baseball, it will be around for a long time.
Not a baseball fan? Then Happy Valentine’s Day – Love PROFINET.
–Carl Henning