According to a new report from IMS Research, growth in the world market for industrial networking is being driven by a substantial increase in the use of Ethernet-based technologies. The report predicts an average annual growth of 13 per cent over the next five years, in terms of installed nodes. Over the same period, Ethernet-based protocols are forecast to grow at the substantially higher annual rate of 20.3 per cent.
Senior Market Analyst John Morse comments: "Of the three market regions covered in the report, Asia-Pacific is expected to experience even higher growth in the use of Ethernet. However, Ethernet does not meet the requirements of all users, so the more traditional fieldbus technologies will continue to prosper".
Morse continues: "Four product groups were analysed in detail for the report: PLCs, operator terminals, variable speed drives and motion controllers. Of these, variable speed drives are predicted to experience the highest growth of use within industrial networks".
