Interoperability specification for IIoT launched

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) and Profibus & Profinet International (PI) announced an interoperability specification between CC-Link IE and Profinet.

By CC-Link Partner Association December 10, 2016

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) and Profibus & Profinet International (PI) announced an interoperability specification between CC-Link IE and Profinet. CC-Link IE is used in the Asian Market, while Profinet is most prevalent in Europe, therefore the new specification will greatly simplify integration and increase freedom of choice for end users who source production machinery globally. After less than a year of work, the specification will be made available to members of both organizations, which will allow them to develop hardware products to support the new specification.

Promoting transparency and ease of integration is one of the primary concerns for achieving concepts such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Many end users will source production machinery from across the world, which may result in machines in the same plant that communicate via differing protocols. This can lead to increased engineering work to achieve integration as users are combining heterogeneous architectures that may not necessarily communicate as standard. End users of both networks flagged these challenges to both the CLPA and PI, who worked together via their cooperation to find solutions.

The specification centers on the functionality of a ‘coupler’ device, which allows transparent communication between CC-Link IE and Profinet. As a result, both networks can seamlessly share information. This can effectively achieve communication between differing parts of a line on separate networks, hugely increasing transparency and integration.

Both the CLPA and PI expect to see the first supported products coming to market sometime in 2017, with some partners already showing enthusiasm for the new collaboration. This will effectively mean that the original concerns of end users which sparked the collaboration will have been addressed in under two years, displaying both organizations’ commitment to addressing users’ needs.

Karsten Schneider, chairman of PI, said, "We are delighted to offer our users direct solutions to their requirements, in conjunction with the CLPA, whose aims are synchronous with our own."

"The CLPA is pleased to be working with PI and our partners to offer support to end users who need this interoperability. The cooperation between CLPA and PI will directly help to make concepts such as Industrie 4.0 a reality," said Naomi Nakamura, global director of the CLPA. "Increased openness and accessibility is what our end users demanded, so we are pleased to be able to support them fully with this new specification."

CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA)

CC-Link Partner Association, CLPA: CC-Link – Open-architecture, high speed, high performance Integrated Automation Networks for Industrial Automation 

Profibus & Profinet (PI)

profibus.com – www.profibus.com 

– Edited from a CLPA press release by CFE Media. See more Control Engineering  IIoT and Industrie 4.0 stories.