Moxa Inc has announced its participation in the OPC Foundation's Field Level Communications (FLC) initiative as part of its commitment to developing Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) technologies.For this reason, Moxa has also become one of the initial promoters of the FLC Steering Committee, which includes a number of leading industrial automation companies such as ABB, Beckhoff, Bosch-Rexroth, B&R, Cisco, Hilscher, Hirschmann, Huawei, Intel, Kalycito, KUKA, Mitsubishi Electric, Molex, Omron, Phoenix Contact, Pilz, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, TTTech, Wago, and Yokogawa.
With the OPC UA FLC initiative, the OPC Foundation aims to build an open, unified, standards-based communication solution for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) by extending OPC UA from field-level sensors to IT systems and the cloud. This will provide manufacturers with end-to-end, independent interoperability of their field-level devices—including sensors, actuators, controllers, and cloud addresses—covering all the requirements of industrial automation.
“We are very proud to be part of the OPC Foundation’s new initiative. It is the first joint collaboration of key players in the industrial automation landscape under the auspices of the OPC Foundation to develop TSN technologies for future industrial automation systems based on a truly unified infrastructure,” says Andy Cheng, President of the Strategic Business Unit at Moxa Inc. “Moxa is committed to collaborating with customers and key industry players to drive innovation, industry standards, proof of concept, testing platforms, and the successful implementation of advanced technologies.”
Moxa has participated in all the testing platforms to demonstrate the interoperability of Moxa TSN switches with devices from other manufacturers in a standard Ethernet-based network infrastructure. This interoperability can be instrumental in the future of industrial automation, opening up new possibilities presented by the IIoT and Industry 4.0.
In addition to collaborating with major industry players to drive innovative connectivity technologies and industry standards, Moxa is uniquely positioned with its deep-rooted expertise in industrial networks and protocols and its extensive technical research in the field of TSN switching functions to publish the white paper How Time-Sensitive Networking Is Revolutionizing Industrial Automation, which provides a comprehensive overview of how all the benefits of TSN have been harnessed to meet the demands of smart manufacturing and how today's prevailing ecosystem can make TSN technology the future foundation of industrial networks.
