EW 2025: The Evolution of Industrial Ethernet Topologies

Jul 14 2025

Ethernet has been a remarkable success, evolving from its early multi-drop solutions in the 1970s to today’s high-speed, point-to-point bridged networks. Industrial Ethernet, the Automation Industry's adaptation of Ethernet, builds on these technologies and successes, incorporating topologies like line and ring. Why were these topologies so important? Why do they remain relevant? And how will topologies in Industrial Ethernet evolve with new technologies such as APL (Advanced Physical Layer), Single Pair Ethernet (SPE), Single Pair Power over Ethernet (SPoE) and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN)? This talk explores the use of line and ring topologies as well as the overall evolution of industrial Ethernet topologies.

EW 2025: The Evolution of Industrial Ethernet Topologies

Jul 14 2025

Ethernet has been a remarkable success, evolving from its early multi-drop solutions in the 1970s to today’s high-speed, point-to-point bridged networks. Industrial Ethernet, the Automation Industry's adaptation of Ethernet, builds on these technologies and successes, incorporating topologies like line and ring. Why were these topologies so important? Why do they remain relevant? And how will topologies in Industrial Ethernet evolve with new technologies such as APL (Advanced Physical Layer), Single Pair Ethernet (SPE), Single Pair Power over Ethernet (SPoE) and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN)? This talk explores the use of line and ring topologies as well as the overall evolution of industrial Ethernet topologies.