Hannover, Germany – April 21, 2008

ODVA today announced that ControlNet™, one of the family of CIP Networks, is now wholly under the management of ODVA. This action, unanimously endorsed by ControlNet International, the organization that established ControlNet as an open standard for automation networks, puts ODVA in the position of being the single standards development organization responsible for developing, managing and promoting the adoption of the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP™) and the family of CIP Networks. This family currently includes EtherNet/IP™, DeviceNet™, CompoNet™ and ControlNet. This consolidation of CIP Networks under ODVA will provide users of CIP Networks with added assurance that CIP will continue to deliver the best-in-class network protocol for automation applications on a variety of hardware platforms optimized to meet the unique requirements of the industrial marketplace.

ODVA’s support of ControlNet reflects the organization’s commitment to technologies incorporating CIP and the networks built on the Common Industrial Protocol. These technologies share a common set of advantages for automation users that: 

• provides a comprehensive suite of messages and services needed for control, configuration, information, safety, synchronization and motion;
• supports efficient use of network bandwidth resulting from producer-consumer network architectures;
• offers topology options for network architectures, without having to program or configure intermediate devices, due to seamless bridging and routing capability;
• incorporates a common application interface via a family of standard device profiles;
• helps to ensure interoperable, multi-vendor systems through ODVA’s conformance testing practice and device certification; and
• promotes stable, open, and expanding network technologies as a result of ODVA’s specification development and management process and policies.
  

This action, by one of the world’s leading standards development organizations for communication networks, will mean that users can look forward to cohesive management, promotion and evolution of CIP Networks under the leadership of a single organization.

"Both the vendor and user communities of CIP Networks want one strong, unified organization for the management and promotion of the Common Industrial Protocol and the family of CIP Networks,” said Katherine Voss, Executive Director of ODVA. “ODVA is proud to include ControlNet now as one of its own, and looks forward to supporting the entire community of ControlNet adopters.”

Since 2001, ODVA and ControlNet International have also operated under a joint technology cooperation agreement to develop and promote the adoption of EtherNet/IP™. Together, the two organizations have made the Common Industrial Protocol into the world’s leading media-independent network protocol for industrial automation and its industrial Ethernet adaptation, EtherNet/IP, into the world’s number one industrial Ethernet network. As a result of the decision to add ControlNet to the family of ODVA technologies, going forward ODVA will also assume sole responsibility for EtherNet/IP, bringing a successful conclusion to the long-standing technology cooperation agreement.

“ControlNet International decided that the combination of ControlNet into the ODVA family of technologies, together with complete responsibility for EtherNet/IP, was the logical step for the management of the CIP Network standards and to promote their adoption,” stated Scot Tutkovics, who served as Chief Technology Officer of ControlNet International during the Technology Cooperation Agreement. “Vendors and users of ControlNet and EtherNet/IP, as well as all CIP Networks, will reap increased benefits from the full backing and support of CI’s long-term partner, ODVA.”

ODVA will integrate the ControlNet technology seamlessly into its standards development process and organization activities. ODVA will provide an overview of the impact of its assuming full responsibility for ControlNet and EtherNet/IP at its next press conference scheduled for Monday, April 21, 2008 at 15:00 hr in the Dresden Room of the Convention Center at the Hannover Fairgrounds in Hannover, Germany.

About ControlNet
ControlNet technology provides real-time control over the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP™) — the same upper-layer protocol and object model found in EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet and CompoNet. A ControlNet communication network provides high-speed transport of both time-critical I/O and messaging data, including upload/download of programming and configuration data and peer-to-peer messaging on single or redundant physical media.

About ODVA
ODVA, founded in 1995, is an international association comprised of members from the world's leading automation companies. Collectively, ODVA and its members support network technologies based on the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP™). These currently include the network adaptations of CIP—EtherNet/IP™, ControlNet™, DeviceNet™ and CompoNet™—and major application extensions to CIP—CIP Safety™, CIP Motion™ and CIP Sync™. ODVA manages the development of these open technologies, and assists manufacturers and users of CIP Networks through tools, training and marketing activities. In addition, ODVA offers conformance testing to help ensure that products built to its specifications operate in multi-vendor systems. ODVA also is active in other standards development organizations and industry consortia to drive the growth of open communication standards. For more information, visit its web site at www.odva.org.  

For more information, contact:

Adrienne Meyer
Manager, Marketing Communications
ODVA
4220 Varsity Drive, Suite A, Ann Arbor, MI 48108-5006 USA
tel +1 734 975 8840; fax +1 734 922 0027; email ameyer@odva.org

or

John Jackson
ODVA Communication Officer EMEA
43 Quarry Bank, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 2QZ UK
tel: +44 (0) 1732 352 371; email jjackson@odva.org

CIP, CIP Motion, CIP Safety, CIP Sync, CompoNet, ControlNet, DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP are trademarks of ODVA. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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