A test centre has opened in Germany to test the conformance of European-developed products with the CC-Link industrial networking technology. The centre, located in Düsseldorf, is being run by Mitsubishi Electric in cooperation with the 1,400-member CC-Link Partners Association (CLPA).

The new centre gives European manufacturers a convenient location for conformance testing, avoiding the need to send their products abroad as they have had to do in the past. John Browett of the CLPA describes the centre as a “testament to the increasing popularity of CC-Link in Europe”.

CC-Link was originally developed in Japan and has become the de facto standard for automation networking in Asia. The global installed base is now around eight million nodes, and there are more than 1,100 CC-Link-compatible products available from more than 240 manufacturers. Conformance testing ensures that devices will be fully interoperable with all other devices used on a CC-Link network.