FDT Group and CC-Link enter into 'a working relationship'

15 November 2010

Following the recent announcement that Emerson Process Management has joined the FDT Group, on its Executive Committee and Board of Directors, Control Engineering Europe has received more exciting news from FDT Group...

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) has signed a cooperation agreement with the FDT Group to promote the use of the FDT as an international standard. Under the agreement CLPA will support the development of an annex of the protocol for the FDT standard to support the CC-Link family of networks including its CC-Link IE Field Gigabit Industrial Ethernet.

CLPA’s participation is significant for the growth of FDT technology because of its pre-eminence in the Asian market . It currently has a global installed base of over 7,000,000 nodes. It offers a full architecture of open network technologies, including control, device, bit level and safety networks, which are supported by over 1,000 products. FDT will soon make a presentation to a selected audience of members, users and the press at the CLPA 10th anniversary celebrations in Tokyo.

FDT standardizes the communication and configuration interface between all field devices and host systems. It provides a common environment for accessing the devices’ most sophisticated features. Any device can be configured, operated, and maintained over the CC-Link networks through the standardized user interface – regardless of supplier or type.
Commenting on the announcement, Steve Jones, European General Manager of the CLPA, said: “We find increasingly that users are demanding common tools to enable them to access and integrate intelligent field devices. Implementing the common environment provided by FDT provides this, but also gives us the potential to add new functionality for users of CC-Link networks.”

Glenn Schulz, Managing Director of the FDT Group said: ” We are pleased to have formalised this working relationship with CLPA. Their broad acceptance in the automation market place is a compliment to the core goals and objectives of the FDT standard.”

In addition to CC-Link, FDT supports more than 13 network protocols including Hart, Profibus, Foundation Fieldbus, DeviceNet, Interbus, AS-Interface, and others.


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