What is an Industrial Network?

Fundamentally industrial networks are same as conventional office/enterprise networks and work on the IEEE802.3 standard, connecting endpoints via wireless, copper, or optical fiber connections to seamlessly transport data, based on an OSI model. However, at the same time there are some fundamental differences, underscoring a distinct identity for industrial networks as compared to a conventional office/enterprise network.

The key difference lies in the purpose of the network. Here is a summary of the points of divergence between an industrial {or Operation Technology (OT)} network and its conventional office/enterprise counterpart.

Environment: Typically, OT networks operate in harsh environments, which does not provide protection against temperature, dust, vibration, and extreme weather phenomena. Imagine a manufacturing floor, power substations, or an oil rig – none of them have a clean or airconditioned environment.

Network Life: The network refresh cycle in the industrial environment is over 10 years, which is quite a long period. This is unlike an office network, where typically network infrastructure gets updated every 2-3 years. This demands a robust and future proof infrastructure for the typical industrial network deployment.

Reliability: We have seen reliability as a key factor for both office and industrial networks, with down time resulting in significant financial losses in both environments. However, network outage in OT may lead to life threatening accidents, which is why an industrial network needs to be designed with multiple redundancy and failover systems in place.

Time Sensitive: One of the key objectives of the OT network is to transport ‘control instructions’, which by definition are time sensitive in microseconds. There are specific protocols and architecture employed to ensure data delivery within the accepted latency margins, with typical office IT networks accepting up to a few seconds of delays.

Connecting machines: Industrial networks are supposed to connect machines, controllers, and sensors as their primary end points, which usually do not have a standard user interface to configure or provision or a conventional operating system (OS). In addition, industrial networks operate with industrial protocols like Modbus/TCP, Profinet, etc. which are ethernet adapted versions of their legacy serial protocols.