Posted to News on 22nd May 2019, 13:30
Profinet and Profibus node count tops 87 million in 2018
Profinet and Profibus International (PI) has concluded its annual notarised count of the installed base of devices with interfaces using communication technologies from PI. As in previous years, the numbers from 2018 indicate a very positive trend.
In the case of Profinet, the 5.1 million devices delivered in 2018 represent an increase of 0.6 million over the previous year's record. By the end of 2018, a total of 26 million Profinet devices were working to automate production. Even the number of Profibus devices installed during the year - 2.4 million - represented a rise compared with the previous year. Reaching nearly 61 million, the overall number passed yet another threshold. The total of the two annual figures of 7.5 million also represents an all-time high.
PROFIBUS's trend in process automation also remains stable. Though the actual number delivered in 2018 - 0.8 million - was slightly less than the previous year, a total of 12.3 million PROFIBUS devices (i.e. 20 per cent of the overall total of 61 million) are now being used in process systems.
With 2.2 million PROFIsafe nodes brought to market in 2018, corresponding to growth of nearly 25 per cent as compared with the previous year, PROFIsafe also saw its highest annual gain ever. In total, PROFIsafe passed the 10-million hurdle by a considerable margin with its 11 million nodes.
As in the previous years, IO-Link likewise achieved two landmark achievements in 2018. On the one hand, 3.3 million IO-Link nodes were delivered, which amounts to growth of more than 40 per cent year-on-year. And the overall count of 11.4 million IO-Link nodes means that the 10-million hurdle was passed by a considerable margin.
For Karsten Schneider, Chairman of Profinet and Profibus International (PI), these figures confirm the validity of decisions made over the past few years with regard to the development direction of PI technologies: "This motivates us to continue with resolve and to implement step by step the strategy presented at the PI Konferenz in Frankfurt (March 2019). Record-setting PI Konferenz attendance also confirms the broad acceptance of our technologies today and the trust in our organisation to make the right decisions in the future as well, which in turn will be a crucial element for the economic success of our member companies."
Learn more at www.profibusgroup.com.
