Profinet, Profibus and Profisafe performance in 2009

Profinet, the Industrial Ethernet protocol, continued its growth during 2009, with 500,000 newly purchased devices - compared to 460,000 devices in 2008. As a result, the installed basis has now climbed to 2.1million devices. The trend shows that the sales of Profinet has not been adversely affected by the recession; on the contrary, the trend is in the opposite direction. PI views this as a great success. Joerg Freitag, PI Chairman, also sees a large growth potential in the future: "In this difficult economic climate, to achieve almost 10 per cent greater sales compared to 2008 is a sign of the overwhelming acceptance of Profinet. Our Ethernet-based solution offers the user a significant added value that is increased even further by the new energy savings profile PROFIenergy. There is no doubt that Profinet has a strong future."

The number of Profibus devices sold worldwide rose by 3.1million to a current total of 31.4million. Freitag explains: "The automation industry has been hit hard by the 2009 recession. Nevertheless, the installed base of Profibus devices has increased by 11 per cent compared to the previous year of 2008. This is another major success for PI and its established fieldbus technology." Of the total 31.4million devices, 5.4million are being used in process automation plants. As a result, Profibus is taking on an important role in this industry as well. PI believes that the PA Profile V3.02 will significantly accelerate the dissemination of Profibus in the process automation industry, since it contains a set of important features called for by end users.

220,000 PROFIsafe devices were purchased in 2009, equalling the number purchased the previous year. With its current installed base of 850,000 devices, PROFIsafe has posted striking evidence of its role in fieldbus-based safe communication systems.