One of the most important elements to the success of the Internet even from its earliest days nearly 40 years ago is Ethernet. Bob Metcalfe, known as the Father of Ethernet, came together with peers to invent and develop the Ethernet local-area network (LAN) technology and its system of packet protocols. This allowed personal computers to efficiently share files and printers, a major advancement for its time.
Industry standards such as Ethernet and USB help ensure the interoperability of the computers, peripherals, and networks we depend on every day. Compliance testing is essential because any level of incompatibility can be costly in time and money for vendors and end-users. Here’s a big surprise: if you peruse the compliance criteria, plug-and-play may be less robust than we might imagine. The underlying issue is the cascade of incompatibility percentages. When the interoperability numbers from connected devices are multiplied, the result is low enough to introduce significant risk. This is especially true for automated test systems.
Industrial Ethernet is very sensitive to delays caused by dropped or damaged data frames (sometimes called packets). Just a few dropped or damaged packets can cause a machine to shut down. These problems are often intermittent and can be caused by harsh industrial environments.
The IoT Community and the IEEE IoT Initiative are collaborating on activities to help accelerate the digital transformation of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and to speed the development of IoT for broader adoption across enterprise and industrial sectors. They seek to create a common industry language and framework in the areas of: Industrial IoT and Manufacturing; Smart Cities; Precision Agriculture; Healthcare; Security and Privacy; Computing and Information Processing; Communications and Connectivity, and other areas.
Selecting appropriate media for a robust and reliable industrial Ethernet network is imperative. Three viable media types can be used: optical fiber, balanced twisted pair and wireless. This article addresses the different characteristics of each medium and helps to identify the correct choice for the industrial environment and its specific applications.
High speed and low latency of the cable, high reliability and low-security threats, and features like easy installation and connectivity have boosted the growth of the global ethernet cable market. However, high installation cost and limited physical availability of devices hamper the market. On the contrary, rise in demand for power over Ethernet in industries is expected to create lucrative opportunities in the near future.
The Ethernet Alliance has named Peter Jones of Cisco Systems, as their new Chairman. The former chair of the NBASE-T Alliance, which merged with the Ethernet Alliance in 2019, and an active member of multiple Ethernet Alliance committees, Jones assumed his new role in late 2019.
In a case involving an on-the-job injury, a lower court ruled that installing cable is not construction work. An appeals court overturned that ruling, saying that installing new cable is an alteration, not routine maintenance.
Corning Optical Communications has released it’s updated Bill-of-Materials Tool. The Excel-based LANscape Solutions Bill-of-Materials Tool serves as a fast and easy resource for identifying the fiber-optic products needed for any given local area network or data center project.
The bidding war between WESCO and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC (CD&R) to acquire Anixter International Inc. has reached a $100-per-share offer by WESCO. That offer comprises $70 per share in cash, 0.2397 shares of WESCO common stock, and $15.89 per share in face amount of WESCO perpetual preferred stock. In an announcement on January 9, Anixter said its board of directors determined this $100-per-share offer by WESCO is a “superior company proposal”—a term previously defined in the course of the bidding competition.
