The Future of Industrial Networking

What is an industrial network driven on?   What will prepare a network for the future?  Microprocessors are the “Heart of the Network,” according to Jim Montague, executive editor at Putman Media.  “Heart of the Network,” featuring our own Mike Justice, is the featured publication in the fourth quarter 2011 edition of Industrial Networking.

Mike Justice stated, “Microprocessors might be on the lowest layer of the network, but they have a huge influence.”  Chips have evolved from simple standard microprocessors, to application-specific integrated circuits, field-programmable gate arrays, and so on.  Design flexibility is what allows industrial networking to move into the future.

Gigabit Ethernet will help industrial networks keep up with the bandwidth requirements for increased network traffic.  Many gigabit products have already hit the commercial network.  It will not be long before the industrial Ethernet networks will need to speed up.  With our new gridARM microprocessor, we are able to supply our customers with a cheap Gigabit Ethernet solution for adding fast Ethernet to their devices.

The gridARM microprocessor is designed for low cost products that require a fast Ethernet connection.  This system on a chip is most flexible because it includes an ARM7TDMI core, 10/100/1000 Ethernet MAC, CAN controller, up to 3 serial ports, I2C, SPI, on chip SRAM, USB device, A/D converters, and interfaces for SDRAM, Flash, Compact Flash, external SRAM, and NAND flash.

To understand why the microprocessor is the underlying technology driving advances in industrial networks and to understand how you can benefit from the evolution of microprocessors, download the full “Heart of the Network” article below.