Scottsdale, Ariz.; Austin, Tex. —Often at odds over IEC 61158 in the past, both the Fieldbus Foundation (FF, Austin, Tex.) and the Profibus Trade Organization (PTO, Scottsdale, Ariz.) in January applauded SC65C's vote to approve the amended, eight-part proposed fieldbus standard.

"The IEC's decision to widen the application scope of IEC 61158, as requested by the Committee of Action last year, was clearly supported by the majority of IEC member countries. Adoption of IEC 61158 is clearly in the best interest of end-users, who have made major investments in existing fieldbus installations," says Michael Bryant, PTO's executive director. "At last, we have made a decision that represents the best interests of the majority of end-users worldwide. Doing anything less would have created hardship and a huge disservice to our collective customer bases. We now look forward to support the fieldbus community in the adoption of IEC 61158 as the fieldbus of the 21^st century."

John Pittman, FF's president, added that, "The Fieldbus Foundation is pleased that IEC 61158—after a long and arduous process—is finally on its way to becoming the recognized international fieldbus standard. We believe that suppliers and end-users of controls and instrumentation are ready to move forward with full implementation of compliant technologies, such as FOUNDATION fieldbus."

Mr. Pittman believes the market will ultimately decide which of the compliant protocols provides the most effective solution for process control and manufacturing automation applications. "End-users now recognize FOUNDATION fieldbus is working worldwide and that it is interoperable, accepted, and growing. Manufacturers can install FOUNDATION fieldbus-based systems with the confidence their investment is based on the international fieldbus standard."