ODVA pushing the cause

InTech visited the ODVA (Open Device Vendors Association) annual meeting last week – 21-23 February. The feeling there is one of optimism and expansion.
These folks are hard at work – technical work. Technical groups, working groups, joint interest groups, and standard bodies abound. ODVA displays the technology worldwide with events in Korea, Germany, and Illinois over the next two months.
So what’s going on? It appears to us that we have another major networking entity evolving a la Profibus and Foundation fieldbus.
ODVA is ControlNet, DeviceNet, and EtherNet/IP running on the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP). They’ve now introduced a CIP-based networking project designed for sensor and actuator applications.
And so with that, there’s transparency from sensors to the enterprise software.
· Profibus is German and strong in Europe.
· FF is ISA and North American based.
· CIP has a strong North American base what with its Rockwell heritage. However, there’s a strong Asian influence with the Omron presence and technical contributions. It’s growing in Europe with General Motors switching all its manufacturing facilities to the technology.
The technologies all push for world markets … of course.
It’s certainly not a two-horse race and InTech sees competition in the making as never before. The end-user always benefits from competition.