Industrial Ethernet Networks

With industrial ethernet now heavily dominating manufacturing scenery at the control level and now starting to be the standard in device level as well, it is extremely important to have a well-designed, resilient, robust and secure ethernet network. 

This trend is predicted to carry on growing for the next few years and is fueled in particular by the trend towards the SMART infrastructure markets which are predominately based around Ethernet TCP/IP technology. So having a solid infrastructure in place is vital for the performance and security of your network as  ethernet standardisation grows further.

With the security debate already well under way in automation and a hot topic at the moment, many customers are using this as a reason to re-evaluate their industrial networks and infrastructure. If you fit into this category, security should be a key consideration when looking at your infrastructure at the initial concept. Retrofitting security can still be achieved but it is usually better to design it in where possible as this can be easier and unobtrusive to your company.

When creating a networking infrastructure there are also a number of other factors to consider such as using the correct typologies  ensuring communications are split up into logical groups for creating networking zones and also redundancy will feature high on the agenda of a lot of manufacturers as networking availability is key in industrial IT.

Along with good network design, it’s important to work with established companies such as Belden who offer high level industrial networking equipment and networking security that offer customers piece of mind when it comes to putting in the most suitable equipment into their network so it can withstand the various manufacturing environments out there. 

Written by Wayne Ashworth,
Product Manager, Industrial Communications
SolutionsPT

This is key to any automation strategy as equipment failure and poor design can often lead to substantial costs further down the road. Getting the right advice and help early on from industry experts will always save you a lot of time and potential pain that a poorly designed networking infrastructure and unsuitable equipment could bring. 

If you would like more information please visit industrialit.co.uk.