The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) has signed an agreement with the FDT Group to promote the use of the FDT as an international standard. Under the agreement, CLPA will support the development of an annex to the FDT standard supporting the CC-Link family of networks, including its CC-Link IE Field Gigabit industrial Ethernet

The move is said to be significant for the growth of FDT technology because of CLPA’s dominance of the Asian market for open industrial networks. CC-Link has a global installed base of more than seven million nodes and is supported by more than 1,000 products.

FDT standardises the communication and configuration interface between field devices and host systems. It provides a common environment for accessing the devices’ most sophisticated features. The new agreement will allow any device to be configured, operated, and maintained over CC-Link networks via a standard user interface – regardless of the supplier or type of device.

“We find increasingly that users are demanding common tools to enable them to access and integrate intelligent field devices,” says Steve Jones, European general manager of the CLPA. “Implementing the common environment provided by FDT provides this, but also gives us the potential to add new functionality for users of CC-Link networks.”

“We are pleased to have formalised this excellent working relationship with CLPA,” adds Glenn Schulz, managing director of the FDT Group. “Their broad acceptance in the automation marketplace is a complement to the core goals and objectives of the FDT standard.”

As well as CC-Link, FDT supports more than 13 other network protocols including Hart, Profibus, Foundation Fieldbus, DeviceNet, Interbus and AS-Interface.