Flying high with EtherCAT
February 2016
News
Even 12 years after its introduction, the worldwide expansion of EtherCAT continues. One indicator for its success is the increasing number of members of the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG), which is at almost 3500. Thus raising an EtherCAT flag at the Thorong La pass in the Himalayas recently is symbolic of the development of the technology.
Since its introduction at the SPS IPC Drives 2003 in Nuremberg, Germany, the technology has practically circumnavigated the whole world and made its way into numerous industries and companies. Even if raising the EtherCAT flag at the Thorong La pass in the Himalayas does not automatically mean that the technology is used in this remote area of the world, it is still symbolic of the widespread expansion of EtherCAT.
EtherCAT’s success is based not least on the active work of the EtherCAT Technology Group whose 25 team members at five locations promote, develop and support the technology all over the world. With almost 3500 member companies from 58 countries and six continents, the ETG is not only the world’s largest fieldbus user organisation but also truly globally active. Although a huge number of the members come from Europe, the figures in the rest of the world are also impressive. With 1200 members, more than a third of the ETG members come from Asia, the fastest growing member region. Growth has also been seen in the United States where the ETG recently crossed the 400 member mark. It is not only the number of members that shows the global growth of EtherCAT technology, but also the product variety, which has no equal in the Industrial Ethernet market. There are over 500 different drives with EtherCAT interfaces from 150 different manufacturers, 189 manufacturers offer controls with EtherCAT master functionality and more than 100 manufacturers offer around 1000 different EtherCAT I/O devices.
For more information contact EtherCAT Technology Group, +49 911 540 56 226, [email protected], www.ethercat.org
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