BACK to Newsletter 29

By Geoff Hodgkinson, Editor PROFINEWS

The universe as we know it began in 1989 ... the networking universe that is! For that’s the date when PROFIBUS was established as a communications solution (= fieldbus) for the exciting new world of digital instrumentation and systems.

In those far off days the world was a much bigger place, with less contact between users, vendors, universities, standards-making bodies and even countries than today. Around the world there were many projects aimed at meeting the fieldbus need, with various organizations working at the same time on similar solutions. Some focused on process automation, some on factory automation and some on specific industries such as mining and aviation.

It was early days and many lessons were learned as vested interests struggled to bring their solutions to market hoping to beat their competitors for market share.

In Europe, PROFIBUS DP was among the first to gain international recognition, becoming standardized under EN 50170 in 1996. At the same time, the North American ISA organization was trying to formalize a USA-originated solution that eventually led to Foundation Fieldbus. This was oriented towards high end process automation, a market sector characterized by high system engineering and device values and relatively slow automation cycle times. By contrast, other solutions including PROFIBUS recognized that digital communications were going to lean more towards the needs of factory automation - a market where high volumes, high speeds and short cycle times dominate.

Thus was created a cultural conflict that became known as the ‘fieldbus wars’, the result of which led to the ‘wisdom of Solomon’ decision by the IEC in 1998 to accept ‘at least two solutions’. Eight were eventually adopted ... and the number has risen since!

While frustrating for users who preferred a single technology to be dictated (that was never going to happen given the diverse domains and interests), this opened the future to end user choice. ‘Let the market decide’ became the war cry and the time was ripe for PROFIBUS International (PI as it is called today) to get to work.

An embryonic PI was already in existence, with Switzerland having taken the honor of hosting the first Regional PROFIBUS Association (RPA) outside of Germany. More countries soon followed as the push to have PROFIBUS accepted globally gathered speed.

The successful growth of the PI network (today there are 25 RPAs, of which PTO is the largest outside of Europe) is a key reason for the success of PROFIBUS. Out of it came a community of individuals and organizations with one common goal - to ensure PROFIBUS took the lion’s share of the world’s automation market.

PNO in Germany can take much of the credit because of its support for this effort - even if at times it had to accept different ways of doing business - especially the business of international marketing! A team of people, most of whom are still involved, came together to collectively drive things. Regular international meetings, the use of consistently powerful marketing tools (such as this newsletter) and unique ideas contributed by members of the community, ensured that diversity became a positive force. Critical mass came in 1997 by when more than 1 million nodes were in use.

A major step forward came when the Chinese automation market opened up to PROFIBUS. Standardization ws the key to marketplace acceptance.

In some regions, particularly Europe, market development was straightforward. In others - notably North America - serious competition was faced and it has taken considerable effort to achieve success there. In key Far Eastern markets acceptance relied on other factors such as standardization. Each challenge has been successfully met so that today, even in the most competitive markets, PROFIBUS has become a dominant technology in industrial automation.

It’s been interesting watching how success occurs. Initially, the major international vendors act as evangelists. Then come other signs of success in a country or region, for example when local vendors introduce PROFIBUS products. Then, the PI marketing effort is strengthened by their efforts, adding market confidence until critical mass is achieved.

A third level is also important - that of education, training and support. Again it’s been interesting to watch certain organizations and individuals establishing new projects and even companies to reinforce the activities of device vendors. This has certainly proved critical at times for PROFIBUS and may even be important for automation as a whole because some may become the automation majors of the future. (Perhaps there’s a fourth level too ... when companies supporting competing technologies launch their own PROFIBUS products, but we’ll leave that for others to cover!)

The latest region to join the PI community is India. An RPA there is still in formation but the indicators described above are emerging faster than usual. Expect some interesting developments there, particularly on the device front.

How far can the success of PROFIBUS extend? Well, expert sources reckon that 70-80% of automation users still do NOT employ digital networks, in which case there are many years of growth ahead. On the other hand, Industrial Ethernet is growing in importance and it’s likely that PROFIBUS will be impacted sooner or later. PI has introduced PROFINET to take account of this trend. It can easily be used with PROFIBUS so PI members can benefit whatever market preferences prevail.

It’s also fair to say that PROFIBUS has reached a level of market acceptance - and has such widespread support - that market growth will continue for years. This ‘momentum’, reinforced by the conservatism of automation (how many 4-20mA instruments are still being used?), will probably ensure that PROFIBUS remains popular for decades - a truly remarkable achievement.

So what factor has been the most important for PROFIBUS success? Well it's clear that 'community’ plays a big role. PI has the support of companies large and small, but the difference has been the people, And they’ve done an excellent job of educating the marketplace via that world-wide community infrastructure.

Recognition must also be given to the efforts of PI Technical Committees and Working Groups to optimize PROFIBUS technologies. Early examples include the PROFIBUS DP solution (for distributed IO) and the IEC61158-2 compliant PROFIBUS PA (for process). Being easily integrated for dual use the two act as an elegant solution to the twin application domain issue. PROFIsafe and PROFIdrive are other examples, together with the international collaborations such as the EDDL and Wireless Cooperation Teams which include third party automation organizations. Here, size has mattered because of the manpower and experience the PI organization is able to muster.

But I think the real secret of success is more subtle, and without it no amount of technology or ‘community effort’ could have been possible (witness the efforts of competitors to catch up). And that’s a leader with the ability to inspire, drive, support, persuade, involve, listen and even coerce in the right proportions. Plus the vision to see where things have to go of course.

These are ingredients that few people possess. But PI has been lucky enough to have felt the touch of some who have been able to lead from the front while allowing room for the community to respond in its own ways. Who are they? I won’t name them here but most readers will understand my thinking. Perhaps then you can join me in paying tribute, even if their names do stay hidden!

BACK to Newsletter 29