One of the main reasons for using industrial Ethernet is the transparency achieved when transferring data to standard applications such as databases, process control systems, ERP systems, etc. System accessibility over the Internet also offers new possibilities for maintenance and service. However, this transparency also offers potential drawbacks.
For this reason, POWERLINK provides clear dividing lines and access controls at the machine level from the very beginning. While it is important to guarantee external access to the machine network for authorized persons, the timing of the real-time domain must not be influenced by malicious attacks on the higher-level network. Separation between real-time and non-real-time domains in POWERLINK ensures security in all aspects.