Industrial networking global growth—who’s slow to adopt?

7/11/2012 4:48 AM EDT

Here’s an interesting tidbit—Frost & Sullivan unveiled a new research report European Industrial Networking/Communications Market and projects that the market which includes Ethernet, Fieldbus and wireless device technology will move from euro 854.1 million in 2010 to euro 1,596 million in 2015. Behind the growth is the trend towards interconnected systems, equipment, machinery and devices via networking. The goal is improved performance, quality and production based on the availability of real-time data and information behind better decision-making, control, and management.

What I found interesting in particular is that based on the conservative attitudes of such end-user industries as pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, chemicals, and oil and gas towards implementing new technologies based on faith they will eventually benefit the user, is a major restraint in industrial networking penetration. That conservative stance really doesn’t hold up across the board given other industries. There’s a lot of resorting to workshops, and education regarding the advantages of integrating industrial networking into the manufacturing process—so in Europe, the move hasn’t happened here to any great extent.

In comparison, IMS Research reported in a March 9, 2012 report, The World Market for Industrial Networking – 2011 Edition stated that an estimated 31 million new fieldbus and Ethernet nodes were installed worldwide in 2011, and that the number will grow an average of 10%/year to 45 million new connected nodes in 2014.

Where is the growth the strongest? Asia Pacific, partly because of increased greenfield projects. The expected rate of growth is 15% compared with 10% globally.

Even looking at 10% growth annually, that’s not too bad. The companies within the  industries mentioned in the Frost & Sullivan report I would imagine have been around for a long time. I don’t see anything inconsistent with their conservatism.