Industrial Ethernet – Using Ethernet Switches

Over the past 15 to 20-years there are been a dramatic increase in the use of Ethernet networks in industry. The automation processes within industry are usually made up of autonomous control systems, each carrying out their ‘black-box’ tasks to ensure a piece of plant works efficiently and reliably as possible. In the early days of industrial ethernet communication, most systems were patched together using off-the-shelf unmanaged ethernet switches or even hubs! These were generally manufactured for the home environment and were not designed to be robust enough to cope with the industrial ethernet needs.