What is industrial networking?

Industrial networking refers to communications running over wires or through the air used in manufacturing sites, such as factories or facilities. Standards govern the design of the physical medium (or physical layer) and the design of the protocol (software) that carries the messages with varying degrees of reliability targeting certain applications. Industrial networks can be analog or digital, and specific to device-level, controller-level, or enterprise-level or go across various levels. A deterministic network means that a message is guaranteed to arrive within a certain time. Proprietary networks can complicate communications among devices and systems, and proprietary changes to standards can complicate or halt interoperability. Security incorporates physical protection of facilities, property, people or processes, including networking, connected systems, and cybersecurity, protection of software and networks.