Along with HART and Foundation Fieldbus, PROFIBUS is one of the most important communication protocols for digital field devices in the process industry. By supporting digital communication and manufacturer-independent device exchange, it offers the best conditions for controlling, monitoring, and streamlining production processes. But to make the communication architecture fit for the requirements of IIoT applications, faster data transmission is needed. For this purpose, modern Ethernet-based PLCs are available, which allow existing PROFIBUS networks in the process industry to be expanded with modern and highly functional segments.

When it comes to field device management, the process industry still seems to overlook the two key aspects of protocols and ‘accessibility’ – at least that’s the impression we get from the tools provided by instrument suppliers. Softing Industrial has filled this application gap with two mobile enterprise solutions, which are the first in the world to support the three major protocols of HART, FOUNDATION Fieldbus, and PROFIBUS PA in a single device for connection to intelligent field devices while also offering an interface for integration and data provisioning.

A conventional approach to diagnosing network problems is to use network monitoring tools and frame analyzers. However, in a lot of cases, these tools don't reveal the problem. For a complete picture of the health of your PROFIBUS network, it’s important to evaluate everything: the cables, connectors, topology, packets — and the signal itself.

Container applications open up new possibilities for use in automation technology with many advantages. edgeConnector products from Softing’s dataFEED family offer state-of-the-art access to process data in SIMATIC S7, SINUMERIK 840D and Modbus TCP controllers. They are using a Docker container technology, enabling customers to choose between a conventional hardware gateway, middleware or a Docker container application when implementing their Industry 4.0 and IIoT applications.

This blog post explores how Softing's tManager bridged the gap between the enterprise and controller levels in a robotic welding application.

Driven by the digitalization of field devices in the process industry, the growing importance of predictive maintenance and the increasing possibilities offered by centralized field device configuration, digital communication protocols like HART-IP are on the rise. In addition to providing access to a device’s process variables, the protocol also supports device parameter setting and advanced diagnostics. HART-IP will therefore play an important role in enabling the Industrial Internet of Things in process plants. Softing supports HART-IP technology and offers an NOA-compliant gateway with its smartLink DP product.

This blog post explores the ways Phoenix Digital communication modules unlocked remote I/O for a large, North American infrastructure company that uses Rockwell PLCs.

Field devices in modern plants in the process industry can give operators detailed information about the condition of the plant. The collected data helps in planning preventive maintenance work and in optimizing production processes. Together with the US company Emerson, Softing has developed connectivity solutions to help customers use this data to improve plant productivity and increase lifecycles

The worlds of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) are coming together in factories around the world, each with the same goal: use digitalization to improve productivity and other business objectives. But sometimes the two worlds require some translation and teamwork so that transactions between them flow as smoothly as possible.

While plants in discrete and process manufacturing often comprise both legacy and new equipment, they still need to be controlled and managed effectively. This requires a modern communication architecture that is able to aggregate their heterogeneous data. smartLink from Softing facilitates interface-neutral data integration in complex production systems.