A lot has happened at PROFIBUS and PROFINET International over the past 35 years. Executive Director of the PNO, Dr. Peter Wenzel, takes a look back at this amazing journey.

Many of today’s problems can only be solved with automation and communication technology. Innovations that utilize suitable base technologies and fit concrete solutions are crucial. At the SPS trade fair and in our press conference, we were able to present these solutions based on our extensive and reliable technologies.

At the PI press conference at the SPS trade fair, a mating face for Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) connectors was announced. PI Working Groups have put forth a concept based on the hybrid IEC 63171-7 plug variant which will be adapted for IP20 and IP65 (M8 and M12).

The future keeps evolving and so does IO-Link, with several enhancements announced at this year's SPS trade fair. See what exciting features are being added to upcoming releases of IO-Link.

The PROFINET Product Finder on the PI website is being been updated in a big way. Starting in 2025, users and manufacturers will be able to find the PROFINET product they are looking for even faster and easier thanks to ECLASS.

Over the past few years, security has been integrated into the PROFINET specification through close cooperation between experienced PROFINET and security experts. The next steps are now on the agenda, such as certification. This has been completed for Security Class 1 since the last update, with the focus now shifting to Security Classes 2 and 3.

Interest in the "Get Together for Robotics" conference has been steadily growing. Lots of great topics were discussed at this year's event and it was capped off by an executive roundtable "Trends in Robotics." If you missed the conference, be sure to catch the next one planned for 2025.

10 years ago, an engineer had the idea of creating a standardized robot command interface that would allow PLC-programmers to program robots directly in the PLC. PI has been supporting this technology (SRCI) for three years and is driving its development, with great success: 28 companies are now on board. The companies iNexBot and Fairino are the latest to join.