How do I make the transition from traditional Industrial Ethernet to PROFINET?
PROFINET is based on Industrial Ethernet which has been used in plants for many years at cell levels and higher. PROFINET brings Industrial Ethernet down to the field level so that you can directly interconnect to field devices. So the same network infrastructure components (switches, cables, connectors) can still be used today with PROFINET. Many of the same network tools and techniques remain the same also. In PROFINET, many of the strategies and techniques common in the PROFIBUS world can be utilized. Migration is also very easy, with no need to obsolete existing equipment or skills. Anyone moving to a PROFINET future will find many similarities with the world of fieldbus.
