Fieldbus Foundation and HART Communication Foundation set to create a new organisation

29 July 2014

The Boards of Directors of the Fieldbus Foundation and the HART Communication Foundation have announced their approval to unify the two Foundations into a new industry organisation dedicated to the needs of intelligent devices and their integration in the world of process automation.

The combined power of the organisations will ensure thatend-users investment in both HART and FOUNDATION-based communication technologyfor process automation is protected.

The FOUNDATION fieldbus and HART specifications willcontinue to exist individually, and to evolve into the future. Each protocolwill retain its own brand name, trademarks, patents, and copyrights. 

The mission of the combined organisation will be to develop,manage, and promote global standards for integrating devices intoautomation-system architectures, providing functional solutions for processautomation suppliers and end users. Suppliers will also profit from theincreased efficiencies in resource utilisation, procedure consistency, andmember service and support improvements.

The Fieldbus Foundation and HART Communication Foundation alreadyhave a long history of cooperation. The two organisations worked together todevelop common international standards, such as Electronic Device DescriptionLanguage (EDDL) specifications and Field Device Integration (FDI) technology. Combiningthe organisations will offer further potential for harmonising the proceduresand efforts supporting the two protocols, as well as simplifying eachtechnology's implementation and better delivering their full benefits in plantoperation and maintenance. 

The new organisation will continue development, support, andpromotion of the two existing protocols, and will direct the development,incorporation, and implementation of new and overlapping technologies. Eventuallyit is expected to serve as the single source for FDI, the sole integration toolfor HART and FOUNDATION fieldbus technologies.


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