Birkerød, Denmark and Morrow, OH (USA)-- Industrial Ethernet is the name given to the use of the Ethernet network protocol in an industrial environment, for motion control, automation, and process control.

A number of techniques are used to adapt the Ethernet protocol for the needs of industrial processes, which must provide real time behavior.

By using non-proprietary protocols, automation systems from different manufacturers can be interconnected throughout a process plant.

Industrial Ethernet takes advantage of the relatively larger marketplace for computer interconnections to reduce cost and improve performance of communications between industrial controllers.

Industrial Ethernet (IE) components used in plant process areas must be designed to work in harsh environments of temperature extremes, humidity, and vibration that exceed the ranges for IT equipment intended for installation in controlled environments.

	EtherCAT	EtherNet/IP	PROFINET IO	SERCOS III	Modbus TCP	Powerlink
Hardware	MAC00-EC4 MAC00-EC41	MAC00-EI4 MAC00-EI41	MAC00-EP4	MAC00-ES4	MAC00-EM4	MAC00-EL4
Available	Yes Q4 2010	Yes Q4 2010	Planned Q4 2011	Planned Q4 2011	Planned Q4 2011	Planned Q2 2011
Serial	CANopen	DeviceNet	Profibus	SERCOS I/II	Modbus-RTU	CANopen
Company	Beckhoff	Rockwell	Siemens			B&R
Protocol	EtherCAT EtherCAT/UDP	TCP/IP, UDP/IP	Real Time protocol (RT)		TCP/IP
Network Minimum cycle time	<50 µs	1-2 ms	1 ms	250 µs	1-2 ms	<200 µs
Module Minimum cycle time	260µs at 1/1 *) 500µs at 5/5	260µs at 1/1 *) 500µs at 5/5				260µs at 1/1 500µs at 5/5
Address Range	65535	65535	65535	65535	256	240
Max. Baudrate	Ethernet 100Mbit/s	Ethernet 100Mbit/s	Ethernet 100Mbit/s	Ethernet 100Mbit/s	Ethernet 100Mbit/s	Ethernet 100Mbit/s
Forwarding delay	1 µs	10-130 µs				0,5 µs
Network	Line, Ring	Switches, routers, wireless	Switches, routers, wireless	Line, Ring	Switches, routers, wireless	Line, Ring
Standards	IEC 61158, IEC/PAS 62407 IEC 61784-3 ISO 15745-4	IEC 61158/ IEC 61784/ ODVA Ethernet/IP standard	IEC 61158/ IEC 61784	IEC 61491 merged into IEC 61158	IEC 61158/ IEC 61784	IEC 61158, EPSG (Ethernet Powerlink Standarization Group)
User org.	ETG	ODVA	Profibus int.		Modbus Org.	EPSG