RE: ELON competition
I would disagree with the comment that Group Schneider is not an "open system" Modbus (from Modicon that Group Schneider purchased some years ago), is probably the most open industrial protocol there is and currently the most popular. It has been adopted by a huge range of industrial products and many building automation products as well. Modicon developed this protocol and then made it available to anyone who wanted it at no charge. It really is the Linux of the industrial automation industry. It was originally developed as a serial protocol but is now also available as a TCP protocol.
In the building automation industry alone, you will find products using Modicon from Square D, Liebert, ABB, Siemens, Andover Controls and a wide range of lighting controls, variable speed drives, fume hood controls, and many more.
Modbus is marketed quite differently from Lonworks. As an open protocol there really is no one in charge, no marketing associations such as LonMark, but it is relatively easy to use and incorporate and very popular in industrial controls. It also has deficiencies compared to Lonworks. It is not a "chip based" protocol like Lonworks, it is a software-based protocol.
Also, Siemens Building Automation Division is not really a competitor to Lonworks. They do not have their own protocol, except in a few older products. They utilize BACnet, Modbus, and I through the Staefa division even Lonworks. Landis and Staefa, acquired by Siemens about 18 months ago uses Lonworks in some of their products.
Allen-Bradley's protocols, particularly DF1, DH+, DeviceNet etc are very powerful and wide spread in the industrial controls market but not in the building or home automation. |
