The technology permitting drives to be networked with controllers is often built directly into the drive. The benefits for the customer are simplified wiring, increased reliability and lower total installation costs. Although fieldbuses have been around for more than ten years, recent years have seen an increase in focus on application of this technology for drives. One of the problems that has impeded the rapid adoption of fieldbus technology has been the lack of standardization. In the early days, many companies offered proprietary solutions. As these proprietary solutions fimidet flexibility, many customers expressed a need for a standard fieidbus. Several competing alliances were created that all strived to develop an open fieldbus that would establish itself as standard. The result is that today there exists a plethora of standards for open fieldbuses. Manufacturers such as ABB have responded by investing in such technology. In this context, ABB uses the concept of universal connectivity. To understand what this concept implies, a closer look should be taken at fieldbus technology.
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