Tom Moore of IMS Research Clarifies their Position on Ethernet vs Fieldbus

IMS Research, now part of IHS, recently published a market forecast report that looked at the future of various fieldbus protocols and the growing role of Ethernet in industrial networks.  That report caused quite a stir in the industry because it seemed to predict the imminent downfall of fieldbus, which would in the future be replaced with "Ethernet".  Of course, the terms "Ethernet" and "fieldbus" are not mutually exclusive, and I had some commentary and analysis of my own that you can read in this blog post.

Now, IMS research analyst Tom Moore and author of the report, has some clarifications about the IMS research findings and states the following in a recent blog post that you can read here:

"Although the research findings questioned the long-term sustainability of fieldbus in certain applications, we certainly haven’t forecast the impending doom of the technology.  In fact, new fieldbus node connections will continue to grow healthily to 2016.  From a recent IHS press release, “The future is strong for fieldbus, with new connections still increasing year-on-year.  The growth rate for new fieldbus nodes is forecast to be just over 9 percent to 2016.” 

Personally, I do not think it was the intention of IMS Research to foretell the doom of fieldbus, and if you look at the actual numbers presented in the report it does show continued growth for fieldbus over the next several  years.  The problem in my opinion is that people tend to latch onto the term "Ethernet" and view it as a panacea for everyone's network requirements.  Yes, many plant networks today, even FOUNDATION fieldbus HSE, are  based on Ethernet.  So, the discussion is not one of "fieldbus versus Ethernet".  It is rather a discussion of Ethernet and standard IP-based networks in automation versus other networks.

IMS Research Analyst Blog: Ethernet vs. Fieldbus - What does IHS really see happening?

New Article on ControlGlobal: "Swimming in the Alphabet Soup of Device Management"

Nancy Bartels, managing editor of Control magazine, has written a very good article about Field Device Integration (FDI).  FDI Cooperation, as you may have read about here in this blog, is committed to developing a single technology for the management of information from all intelligent devices by rationalizing both EDDL and FDT technology.  You can also read more about FDI in this informative white paper published by the Fieldbus Foundation.

Swimming in the Alphabet Soup of Device Management

Field Device Integration: Making Device Management Easier

FDI Cooperation Web Site

Report from the Edmonton Seminar

The Fieldbus Foundation held its first North American seminar of 2013 in Canada at the Radisson Edmonton South hotel from June 5-6.  The end user seminar on June 5 attracted close to 75 attendees.  Presentations included Lifecycle Benefits of FOUNDATION technology by Fieldbus Foundation global marketing manager Larry O’Brien, Successful Project Design by Mike Clark of BusCorp, Segment Design by Talon Petty, and Reducing Cost and Effort in Installation and Commissioning by End User Council Chairman John Rezabek. Several successful demonstrations of the technology were given on our demo units and included Steve Tiller from Invensys demonstrating installation and commissioning of fieldbus devices, Ray Azizian from Yokogawa demonstrating device diagnostics, and Al Dewey from Emerson Process management demonstrating control in the field.  Ed Williamson, lead instructor from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) was also on hand to talk about the value of investing in training and the Fieldbus Foundation Certified Training Program (FCTP).  On Thursday June 6, we held our sales force training where we had about ten sales professionals show up.

Our purpose at these seminars to take the mystery out of fieldbus and show people in a hands on way just how easy the technology can be.  Our thanks go out to the supplier and user volunteers that made this seminar happen and to all those that showed up.  Our next North American seminars will take place in Chicago at the Marriott O'Hare on September 18 and at Lee College in Baytown, Texas on November 6.  You can register and view the agendas here.  We have also posted several of the presentations from the seminar at our Slideshare account.  Hope to see you at the next seminar!

NEW Brochure Released on the Basics of FOUNDATION Fieldbus

What is FOUNDATION fieldbus? How does it differ from 4-20mA? What are the advantages of our all-digital FOUNDATION fieldbus network? These are just a few great questions users find themselves looking to understand before retrofitting their existing plants. The Fieldbus Foundation has put together a new brochure addressing just these types of questions. The new literature is a 'back-to-basics' style brochure focusing on the core of what FOUNDATION fieldbus is at its roots. This guide provides a simple explanation to new users, potential users, marketing professionals etc looking to understand what value FOUNDATION delivers.

Get back to the basics with the new FOUNDATION fieldbus brochure

Click on the link above to download the brochure and understand how this real-time digital communication network designed specifically for process control can help you gain the competitive edge through reduced hardware footprint, reduced device count, faster commissioning, tighter control, better signal quality and advanced diagnostics.

The Fieldbus Foundation also has many alternative resources available to help understand the value of FOUNDATION technology on an ongoing daily basis. Below are a few;

Social Media/Forums

• YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/FieldbusFoundation
• LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Fieldbus-Foundation
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/FOUNDATIONField
• Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net/Fieldbus-Foundation
• Fieldbus Forums - http://forums.fieldbus.org

Official FOUNDATION Fieldbus News Outlets

• Fieldbus Flash (enewsletter)
• Fieldbus Reports
• Press Releases
• ControlGlobal FOUNDATION Knowledge Center

White Papers/Technical Guides/Design Tools

• Technical References

Successful FOUNDATION Technology Seminars in Saudi Arabia and Qatar

The Fieldbus Foundation Middle East Marketing Committee (FFMEMC) is delighted with the success of its recent FOUNDATION fieldbus technology roadshows held on 4 June, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and on 5 June, in Doha, Qatar.

The objective of the 2012/2013 roadshow series was to offer an agenda to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of users – from new potential prospects for FOUNDATION technology as well as supporting the existing FOUNDATION fieldbus user base from the oil & gas industries in the Middle East region.

The agenda included various topics from the basics to advanced technology topics including:

·         FOUNDATION Fieldbus is Easy!

·         Putting a FOUNDATION System Together

·         Lifecycle Management of FOUNDATION Systems

·         FOUNDATION Fieldbus Technology Update

·         End User experience

Over 50 delegates, including end users, designers, engineers, manufacturers, system integrators, EPCs and PMCs, attended the event in Al Khobar, and over 80 participated in the over-subscribed Doha event. The interactive question and answer sessions at each event proved to be valuable and informative with active participation by attendees including end users sharing their FOUNDATION technology experiences with the rest of the audience. Further opportunities for discussion and networking were available during the breaks and the complimentary dinner for all attendees.

FFMEMC vice-chairman Mehul Vaiyda thanked members of the FFMEMC, speakers, sponsors, the FFEUC-ME and the ISA sections of Saudi and Qatar for their efforts and active support of the events. “Once again we have successfully achieved our aim to reach out to current and potential end users with vendor-neutral information about FOUNDATION technology and its role in lifecycle management in today’s plants. We want delegates to understand the benefits that the technology offers but also understand that the maximum benefits of a FOUNDATION project can only be realised if the project team is suitably trained at the outset of the project.” He continued, “We value end user feedback and would like to encourage this through the Fieldbus Foundation end user councils, Fieldbus Foundation social media channels or at end user events”.

Sponsors of the 2012/2013 roadshow series include: ABB, Azbil, Emerson Process Management, Endress+Hauser, Honeywell, Metso Automation, MTL, Pepperl+Fuchs, Rockwell Automation, R.Stahl, Samson, Siemens, Turck and Yokogawa.

The FFMEMC enjoys a close working relationship with several ISA groups across the region and appreciated the support offered by the ISA Chapters in Saudi and Qatar in their active promotion of the events.

The presentations from the seminars are available to view and download from the Middle East ‘News’ page of the Fieldbus Foundation website: http://www.fieldbus.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1208&Itemid=428

Further information about the FFMEMC and FFEUC-ME and their activities can be found on the Middle East ‘About Us’ page of the Fieldbus Foundation website: http://www.fieldbus.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=487&Itemid=427

The New Fieldbus Report Is Here!

The Spring 2013 Fieldbus Report is here and available for download from our web site.  This issue was a little later than usual because we had a lot of new content to add, like a full write-up of our first ever live field demonstration of FOUNDATION for ROM at Petrobras, our General Assembly in Shanghai, and our recent seminars around the world.  You can also read about our launch of Project Gemstone, which is designed to make fieldbus easier for end users.  With all the talk about the new generation of smarter marshaling solutions for process control, Fieldbus Foundation has now joined the discussion and you can read about the benefits of VirtualMarshallingTM in the new report as well.

Another new and ongoing feature is "People in Fieldbus".  Our spring issue profiles fieldbus pioneer Terry Blevins.  We are truly grateful to have so many dedicated people that have worked hard to make fieldbus a success and we look forward to profiling new people in every issue.

Spring 2013 Fieldbus Report

The When, Where and Why of Ethernet

The somewhat manufactured controversy over "Ethernet" versus "Fieldbus" continues to rage on, albeit in a slightly weaker form.  Some months ago analyst firm IMS published a report that seemingly foretold the death of "fieldbus" networks in favor of Ethernet-based protocols.   The issue of fieldbus and Ethernet being mutually exclusive is tenuous at best.  The FOUNDATION fieldbus specification, for example, includes H1 FOUNDATION fieldbus that operates over twisted pair wire and is designed specifically for use with process sensors and actuators.  We also have HSE, which is a high speed Ethernet based network that shares the same fundamental block-based structure of H1.  

A closer look at the data from IMS actually shows greater than average growth in Ethernet-based network node counts over the next several years, while node counts for "fieldbus"-based devices will still represent the majority at the end of the forecast period.  You can read my analysis of the IMS research here.  

This recent article from Control Engineering provides a refreshing perspective to this issue as well, and discusses how application requirements dictate the type of protocol and network infrastructure you should use in your plant.  It's worth a read.