Just as industrial automation systems in plants are migrating from fieldbus to Ethernet, so too are the networks that control modern transportation systems. Let’s think for a moment about railway systems, which include everything from subway or metro systems in cities to light rail networks in major urban areas to high-speed trains connecting states or countries.

Forecasters predict that the Internet of Things (IoT) will increase the number of machines, appliances and devices connected to the Internet from the current five billion to 80 billion by 2020. Greater connectivity means more knowledge, which means increased opportunities – and it all revolves around security.

As a reader of this blog you know that cybersecurity has been increasing in importance in industrial facilities since the discovery of Stuxnet in 2010. Now along comes the IIoT with its increased numbers of connected devices and links to the Internet and business systems.

How is industrial communication infrastructure evolving to provide the capabilities needed by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the Smart Factory of the Future? One example is the development of standardized infrastructure that can quickly and easily connect to modular production cells, creating very flexible manufacturing capabilities.

A proper network design can be the difference between a secure, rugged process that keeps running smoothly or a nightmare that is not reliable. In a manufacturing enterprise the industrial network is often unnoticed or unappreciated. Yet a poorly designed network can take away from the bottom line.