ISA Expo 2003: Modbus Organization, IDA Group merging

Houston, TX—Following a year of successful cooperation, the Modbus Organization (Hopkinton, MA) and IDA Group reported at ISA Expo 2003 that their members have agreed to merge ino one organization, Modbus-IDA.

By Control Engineering Staff October 28, 2003

Houston, TX— Following a year of successful cooperation, the Modbus Organization (Hop-kinton, MA) and IDA Group reported at ISA Expo 2003 that their members have agreed to merge. They say the new organization, Modbus-IDA , recognizes the alignment of their goals and their visions of the future of industrial communication and automation.

Modbus Organization is a U.S. non-profit trade group, and is a membership organization of users and suppliers of Modbus-based devices. The organization reports that Modbus protocol is the most common Ethernet protocol in automation, and is used in field devices for a variety of control and automation applications.

IDA Group was formed in Germany, and has been developing a multi-vendor standard for dis-tributed intelligence using Ethernet TCP/IP as its universal communications standard. As an ele-ment of the IDA standard, Modbus is fundamental to this vision for the future of distributed automation solutions.

Modbus-IDA will continue both organizations’ work in the use of Internet technologies to integrate communications services, web functions, interoperability and safety.

‘The combination of the organizations into Modbus-IDA opens up a variety of important opportunities that capitalize on the ubiquitous Modbus protocol and further expand the power of integrated, compatible communications for industrial control,” says Ken Crater, Modbus Organization’s president.

Martin Jetter, IDA’s president, adds that, ‘The merger will give Modbus-IDA a strong position in the international market. Bundling the two organizations’ technical and marketing resources will further the mission more effectively and efficiently. With a vision that includes a seamless interconnection from the simplest field applications up to highly complex automation architectures, Modbus-IDA will be attractive for users and suppliers of Ethernet-based automation solutions.’

Modbus-IDA will be headquartered in the U.S. Two members of IDA will be nominated for seats on

Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jim Montague, news editor
jmontague@reedbusiness.com