Ethernet has been serving network operators well for nearly three decades, and while it has certainly developed a great deal over the years, its most “revolutionary” evolutionary jump is emerging right this minute. The new technology enhancement is called “Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN).” Although its strong value-adding functions are still being proved out (very successfully!) in testbed and demo networks, real-world network operators can begin benefitting from the technology right away.

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) is a global organization working to accelerate the successful adoption of the tools of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) within organizations of all kinds. It was founded in March 2014 by an agreement among AT&T, Cisco, General Electric, IBM and Intel, and currently has more than 260 members located in 30 countries, with hundreds more non-members beneficially tapping into its resources.

IT Ethernet networks were first put to use in the office environment long before the advent of OT Ethernet networks carrying data to and from equipment in the harsher industrial environment of the factory floor. Perhaps that’s one reason why so many organizations, when building their vital latter-day factory OT networks, simply went back automatically to specifying what they knew—the same familiar cable that served them well on their enterprise side—without taking into account the added challenges of the industrial environment.

Wireless Ethernet technology can be an extremely powerful tool for both the IT and OT environments—it makes it possible to successfully incorporate areas into the network that would otherwise remain silent. Whether it’s linking remote locations such as depots or offshore rigs; pulling in data from vehicles or field people carrying handheld sensors; or flexibly integrating other applications where cabling is just not possible, wireless can give you instant, reliable connectivity nearly anywhere.

As industry readers well know, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an authority of critical importance for any organization operating or manufacturing electrical equipment and related accessories. The creator and maintainer of the ubiquitous National Electric Code (also known as NFPA 70), originally founded in 1896, is devoted to eliminating “death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards.” The NFPA currently maintains some 300 standards, which often form defacto regulations in their product categories for states and municipalities in the United States, and, in many cases, adopted as such in localities around the world.