The EtherNet/IP protocol is heavily used in industrial automation and was developed by Rockwell Automation specifically for industrial applications. EtherNet/IP stands for EtherNet Industrial Protocol (not internet protocol) through it is built on the TCP/IP protocols. EtherNet/IP is built on the Ethernet physical layer and this Ethernet physical layer is one of the great advantages of the protocol that allows it excellent expandability and growth possibilities.
The EtherNet/IP protocol can be implemented without special hardware, either directly through the processor or via software alone. EtherNet/IP was at once time promoted as an open technology — like the popular Modbus protocol — but the sourcecode has only been made available through a site that requires users to be registered with a vendor ID, and thus is no considered truly open or free.
EtherNet/IP Applications
The EtherNet/IP protocol is used primarily for industrial automation in very large industrial plants and factories including:
- Water processing plants
- Power & power distribution plants
- Industrial manufacturing factories
- Industrial processing plants
One of the main commercial pushes to the EtherNet/IP protocol is that it is standard with Rockwell Automation’s control systems and devices. Facilities that make heavy use of Rockwell’s products find it much easier to adopt EtherNet/IP for their network protocol since their control systems and devices already make use of the protocol.
Another advantage of EtherNet/IP lies in the fact that is is built on the Ethernet physical layer. Ethernet is poised to dramatically increase in communication speeds in the near-future (and even present) while at the same time substantially decreasing in cost. This means that any network communications protocol built on the Ethernet physical layer (like EtherNet/IP) will directly benefit from the speed and cost benefits of these technological improvements.
The Gateway 