But the euphoria quickly turns to despair when looking at the practical side of implementing these new networking designs. Dealing with an already installed equipment base and sorting through a myriad of vendor claims can leave even the most savvy control engineer wishing for the days of electro-mechanical relays and islands of automation. Otherwise, what looks promising in a vendor brochure could actually cause more headaches when installed than your existing system. Open networks make integration a reality Open communication networks have been a key factor in the progress toward integrated factories. Open network standards enable multiple devices from multiple vendors to communicate effectively over the same wire.
Many companies capitalize on the vast number of vendors that support open networks.
For example, Corning Consumer Products Co. Inc. has integrated products from multiple vendors on a single wire. The interoperability of devices on an open standard network is definitely an added bonus. Before trying to integrate multiple networks, answer these three questions and understand the correlating objectives. Diagnostics, flexibility, interoperability, and the ability to add devices without shutting down the system are important considerations for device-level networks. Depending on the application, there are two different types of device-level networks.