A single network running through the enterprise and the factory floor, enabling seamless information exchange between enterprise and factory floor systems, providing real-time visibility into production data for use by other enterprise applications—is this a pipe dream?

Not if Ethernet has its way. In April, at the Hannover Fair in Germany, networking solutions leader Cisco and industrial automation biggie Rockwell Automation re-emphasized their existing partnership that aims to bring about ‘network integration across the factory floor and throughout the enterprise using standard Ethernet technology.’

How an office enterprise networking technology, not intended for the factory floor in the first place, overcame the derisive comments of ‘non-deterministic,’ ‘slow,’ and ‘weak’ to make its presence felt in the harsh factory floor environment is a story in itself.

Technological advances in Ethernet switching—like the introduction of high-speed switches and bridges, and the embedding of intelligent software in switches for priority routing of time-sensitive data, helped Ethernet’s push into the factory floor. The grouse of ‘non-determinism,’ for example, no longer holds good since enterprise Ethernet speeds have advanced to 1 Gbps (with 10 Gbps in sight) while traditional factory networks are yet to break out of Mbps speeds.

The ubiquity of Ethernet in the enterprise network and a huge market drove down the costs of products and systems in contrast to the high costs of traditional proprietary technologies of factory automation networks. Now organizations like Open DeviceNet Vendors Association (ODVA), ISA and Fieldbus Foundation are pushing the transition of proprietary or standalone factory automation protocols like Modbus, Profibus, ControlNet/DeviceNet, Foundation Fieldbus and CANopen to Ethernet.

Both Rockwell Automation and Cisco are members of ODVA, a proponent of EtherNet/IP, an industrial Ethernet protocol that uses standard Ethernet and CIP (Common Industrial Protocol) to integrate automation equipment and simplify the overall system architecture.

At Hannover, both companies announced their intention to jointly work on reference architectures to help stretch the Ethernet/IP envelope. Reference Architecture is generally a high-level system description that is free of implementation details. The validated, lab-tested architectures, part of Cisco’s ‘Ethernet to the Factory’ solution, will enable the successful deployment of Ethernet-based production networks and secure integration with the rest of the enterprise.

Despite all the heat and noise, taking Ethernet to the factory floor is easier said than done because existing reference architectures originate from enterprise networks, and this creates issues. For example, real time in the factory network is a different beast compared to real time in the enterprise network. Installing a patch in an enterprise computer may slow down that computer for a second, something enterprise users can live with. But in a similar scenario in a factory environment, a delay of even a second could mean not only data loss but also production loss, damage to equipment, and in the worst case, danger to human lives.

In working together on reference architectures, both companies will pool in their respective knowledge of production and IT cultures and establish a dialog between the two departments. According to Craig Resnick, Research Director, ARC Advisory Group, both companies will provide manufacturers with the guidance needed to facilitate plant floor and IT network integration in a manner that achieves secure connectivity through the use of EtherNet/IP technology.