Keywords: Industrial Ethernet Switches, Industrial Ethernet Infrastructure, Industrial and Infrastructure Automation, Industrial Internet of Things, Industrie 4.0, IT/OT Convergence
The industrial Ethernet switch has evolved from its origins as an industrially hardened, low-port-count, DIN-rail device for factory data acquisition. Today, these switches serve a continually broadening spectrum of applications and end user industries, due in part to the fact that industrial Ethernet has emerged as a key platform of choice in both automation and infrastructure architectures. Escalating use in these and other segments continues to drive new product configurations, new supplier entries, and overall market expansion beyond the traditional industrial base.
Customers in both industry and infrastructure increasingly recognize that industrial Ethernet can deliver concrete business benefits in areas such as reduced machine downtime. “Infrastructure applications in industries such as smart grid, intelligent rail and traffic, security and surveillance, and other utilities are driving increases in both market size and future growth prospects. At the same time, industrial customers continue to adopt industrial Ethernet as their network infrastructure and, increasingly, automation network platform of choice,” according to ARC Vice President Chantal Polsonetti, the principal author of ARC’s “Industrial Ethernet Switches Global Market Research Study”.
Industrial Ethernet’s Ongoing Value Proposition
Industrial customers are responding to today’s business challenges with initiatives to reduce machine downtime and achieve 100 percent system availability. These are primary drivers behind the Industrial Internet of Things, along with the more flexible and responsive production operations inherent in Industrie 4.0 and IT/OT convergence. Increasingly industrial Ethernet and industrial wireless are becoming the platforms of choice for building out the architectures necessary to support these emerging industry initiatives.
Continued Penetration at the Device Level
Industrial Ethernet continues to make inroads as a workhorse at lower levels of the hierarchy, displacing competitive alternatives such as dedicated serial networks. Along with support in the larger IT community and the new workforce’s familiarity with the technology, industrial Ethernet is now a proven option for logic control, motion control, security/surveillance, and similar applications.
Broadening Spectrum of Product Configurations
The spectrum of available industrial Ethernet switch products reflects a continual broadening of supplier offerings beyond the legacy eight-port DIN rail switch and service to specific applications. While infrastructure and vertical integration applications seek maximum bandwidth and throughput, factory automation applications may seek to limit network traffic and implement a daisy-chain or ring topology.
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