Why Use Ethernet?
“I started looking up things like fieldbuses because the customer needed to have a fieldbus to collect information,” said Jacobs. After surveying all the literature, including Profibus, Modbus, Data Highway, and the like, Jacobs concluded that Ethernet was the way to go. “They needed something that was expandable and supportable something that gave them options and that they could use 10 years from now,” he said. Jacobs based his choice on his contention that Ethernet is a common platform that isn’t restricted to a certain vendor. “If you use a particular fieldbus from one company, you’re fairly well locked into that company’s components,” he said. Jacobs explained that there’s a lot of equipment on the market that you can connect to Ethernet. “With Ethernet, I can get into a system from anywhere in the world. Of course, you can do that with other fieldbuses, but you have to have fancy modems,” he said. The main advantage of the new system is that it ultimately increases productivity i
