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 markets. In November 2010, FDT gave 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.
Steve Jones, European General Manager of the CLPA says, “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 states, “We are pleased to have formalized this excellent 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.
About the FDT Group AISBL™
The FDT Group AISBL is an international non-profit corporation consisting of over 80 leading worldwide companies active in process and factory automation. The major purpose of the FDT Group is to provide an open and non proprietary interface for the integration of field devices with engineering, automation and asset management systems. In this environment, end users, manufacturers, universities, and research organizations are working together to develop the technology, provide development tools, support and training, coordinate field trials and demonstrations, and enable product interoperability.
About CC-Link and CLPA
CC-Link is the dominant open networking technology in Asia and is increasingly sought after in North America and Europe with 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. CC-Link is also the only open automation network that offers gigabit Ethernet performance at both the control and field level. In terms of global standardization CC-Link has attained international standards including SEMI E54.12, ISO15745-5, IEC61158 and IEC61784 as well as many national standards including China, Korea and Taiwan. The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) is the international organization of manufacturers formed in 2000 to oversee and develop the technology, promote its integration into automation products and foster its worldwide adoption. The CLPA has offices and conformance testing centers in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
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