Thank you for your trust and cooperation
 

I had the privilege of celebrating my 25th anniversary with PNO at the end of December 2025. By then, PNO had been operating for just over 36 years. Our goal was to develop the results of a research project with the support of manufacturers and translate them into products and applications for all manufacturing and process industries. I believe long-term success hinges on providing applicable open technologies, modern and targeted marketing, and establishing a global network of regional organizations and centers of excellence that can best serve their regions' specific needs. Internationalization began in Europe, but the organization's founding in the U.S. in 1994 laid the foundation for a global network. Subsequently, we covered the important Asian region, including China and Japan.

Looking back, I see four phases in PNO’s technological development. The first phase revolved around PROFIBUS for ten years, during which the first profiles, such as PROFIdrive, PA Devices, and PROFIsafe, emerged.
 

The second phase was marked by the introduction of PROFINET and IO-Link. With PROFINET, the PNO took a major step into the world of Ethernet, laying the groundwork for Industry 4.0 and the digitization of production. PROFINET-specific profiles, such as PROFIenergy, also emerged during this phase. With IO-Link, the PNO established open communication for basic sensors and actuators, a technology that remains unrivaled to this day.

The third phase focuses on collaboration-based technology development. It began with the FDI project. This was soon followed by others, most notably APL—the intrinsically safe physical layer for Ethernet. Until then, technologies had been developed in internal working groups based on internal regulatory documents. From then on, contracts—including those with technological competitors—had to be concluded before the activities began, and the content and rules had to be defined. This was a completely new task for me.

The fourth phase has two parts. The first is expanding the scope of automation to include digitalizing production. In this regard, the PNO has incorporated topics such as OMX, SRCI, MTP, and NOA. The second aspect concerns security. Although security has been a PROFINET priority for years, new challenges have emerged in recent years due to various regulations that need to be addressed.

The foundation of this success, in my opinion, is the strong trust that manufacturers and users place in our technologies, as well as the commitment of the many participants in the working groups, committees, and other bodies.

I have greatly enjoyed our many years of focused collaboration, and it has continually motivated me. For this, I would like to thank you sincerely for your trust and wish the PNO, its members, and you continued success.

Dr. Peter Wenzel, Managing Director

PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) anticipates a noticeable upturn in the global automation market in 2025. The economic recovery in many regions is clearly reflected in the current node figures and marks a significant improvement over 2024. The broad technological portfolio—ranging from motion control to factory and process automation—has a stabilizing effect and effectively buffers regional and industry-specific fluctuations. At the same time, this diversity provides users and manufacturers with additional flexibility and creates robust, internationally viable market opportunities. Overall, PI technologies have once again proven highly successful and continue to record steady growth.

IO-Link maintains its strong market position and remains a key growth driver at the sensor and actuator level. In 2025, approximately 9.7 million new IO-Link devices and master ports were installed worldwide. This brings the total number of IO-Link nodes installed globally to 71 million. This development once again underscores the high level of industrial acceptance and the continuous spread of the standard across all industries. Following the particularly high volumes of previous years, the market is now entering a phase of normalization at a still very high level.

IO-Link benefits from its key role in end-to-end digitalization, from the sensor all the way to higher-level IT and cloud structures. Topics such as transparency at the field level, easy integration, standardized data models, and seamless integration into higher-level systems like PROFINET make IO-Link an indispensable enabler for data-driven automation, condition monitoring, and AI-supported applications. With new extensions such as IO-Link Safety, wireless approaches, and further-developed profiles, the range of applications is continuously expanding and creating additional momentum for future growth.

PROFINET continues its growth trend and is clearly benefiting from the general market recovery. With 10.4 million newly installed nodes, the total installed base has risen to 89.2 million. This steadily increasing adoption demonstrates how firmly PROFINET is established in a wide variety of industrial scenarios. At the same time, this broad installed base provides a stable foundation for upcoming digitalization steps: from end-to-end data communication with IO-Link integration to increasing security requirements and the transition to Gigabit network technologies. As a result, PROFINET is increasingly becoming a key enabler for AI-supported automation and remains a central building block of modern, scalable production systems.

More information can be found here.

Further development of the PN certification environment (ART and ETS).

The PROFINET certification environment is continuously evolving to ensure the highest quality, reproducibility, and efficiency of future test results. With this in mind, we are pleased to announce the introduction of a new ETS test platform. This platform will be an integral part of the official PN certification environment, which comprises ART and ETS.
 

Motivation and Objectives

Our goal is to ensure reproducible tests, even as technical requirements increase, while maintaining the long-term availability of the used hardware and ensuring the most cost-effective implementation possible for test laboratories.

Research and experience from ongoing development and testing environments show that the ETS hardware platform (TI-IDK), which has been used to date, has physical limits in terms of performance and temporal accuracy. These limits are particularly relevant in new test scenarios, such as:

• very short cycle times,
• high network loads (gigabit and above),
• and precise IRT tests.

Evaluation Results: New PC-Based ETS Platform

The search for a long-term, stable, and future-proof solution revealed that a PC-based platform with a direct, high-performance PCI connection and multiple dedicated network interface cards (NICs) meets the necessary requirements.
 

The SIMATIC IPC RW-545A was selected as the reference hardware and features:

•  Direct PCIe connection to the CPU
• Three Intel i226 network interfaces
• High, reproducible real-time and network performance
• Long-term industrial availability
   

The PCI connection and resulting performance were the defining factors in the search. Several manufacturers and configurations were tested and evaluated by experts. A qualification/evaluation tool for alternative high-performance PC platforms is currently being developed and will be made available at a later date.
 

Parallel Operation and Transition Phase

The ETS system is being developed further in parallel on both platforms:

• The existing TI-IDK platform and the new PC-based ETS platform.

• The new PC-based ETS platform.

The following applies:

•  All currently available tests on the IDK will remain usable.
• Where possible, new tests can be run on both the PC-ETS and the IDK-ETS platforms.
• However, certain performance-intensive tests can only be executed on the PC-ETS platform. These include:

        - Network load tests of 1 Gbit/s or higher

        - Faulty load scenarios

• Selected IRT tests with cycle times of up to 1 ms
   

The exact assignment of the tests will be published via the established information channels.

A series of webinars on the new features of the PROFINET V2.5 specification is scheduled for June.
 

The series is intended for various audiences, including users and developers. During four coordinated sessions, we will examine the topics of security, the new features introduced by the PROFINET Specification V2.5, technical aspects, and certification according to V2.5 in a practical manner.
 

The dates at a glance:

• June 2: PROFINET Specification 2.5 — Insights
• June 9: PROFINET Technology: Device Development Based on the New 2.5 Specification
• June 16: PROFINET Certification Webinar

You can find all details about the webinars and the registration link in the event calendar.

Despite challenging conditions marked by declining visitor and exhibitor numbers, HANNOVER MESSE 2026 proved its status as the world’s leading industrial trade fair. Around 3,000 exhibitors and approximately 110,000 visitors from around the world gathered to present solutions for a competitive and sustainable industry. The focus was on automation, digitalization, and artificial intelligence.
 

Our presence also benefited from the new hall layout. For the first time, we were located in Hall 27, Booth D37, where we presented a completely redesigned booth concept. Visitors and fellow exhibitors received the open, modern design and clear organization of the technology areas very positively, and they significantly facilitated professional exchange.
 

Alongside over 60 co-exhibitors, we presented practical innovations ranging from PROFINET, IO-Link, PROFIsafe, and PROFIdrive to newer technologies such as OMlox, SRCI, MTP, and NOA. Of course, we also addressed the critical topic of cybersecurity. Our live demonstrations, daily PI tours, and technical presentations on topics such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act and end-to-end data integration also received an excellent response.
 

Another item on our Hannover agenda was the Industrial Security Harmonization Group's (ISHG) hybrid conference. In its white paper on risk-based cybersecurity, the ISHG emphasizes the importance of coordinated security concepts for industrial communication protocols. Click here to download the white paper.
 

Conclusion: With our new trade show concept and our strong partner network, we were able to solidify our position further as the central platform for automation standards.
 

The next HANNOVER MESSE will take place from April 5 to 8, 2027, as the trade show has been shortened by one day. Spain is the partner country. Join us and take advantage of the opportunities offered by our partner booth.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all co-exhibitors, booth staff, and visitors!

PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) is presenting a new joint technical position paper on the secure use of industrial communication protocols. The document was developed as part of an international collaboration with the FieldComm Group, the ODVA, and the OPC Foundation.

The white paper “Secure Deployment of Industrial Communication Protocols – A Risk Management Based Approach” describes a practical, risk-based approach for the secure deployment of industrial protocols - including PROFINET, IO-Link, PROFIBUS, and other established technologies - in automation architectures.

Among other things, the document demonstrates how integrated security functions, e.g., from PROFINET, in combination with zones and conduit concepts, network segmentation, and organizational measures, make a significant contribution to the cyber resilience of industrial plants.
 

Find out more right here.

On the first day of the Hannover Messe (April 20, 2026), the annual general meeting of the PROFIBUS User Organization e.V. (PNO) took place. In addition to the Executive Board’s report, the focus was on the elections for the Board of Directors and Advisory Board, which are held every three years.

The Board of Directors reported on the continued highly successful adoption of PI technologies based on node counts for the year 2025, current topics in technology development and organizational development, as well as completed and planned marketing activities. In addition, the financial figures for 2025 and the financial plan for 2026 were presented.

Particular emphasis was placed on the interaction between the various PI technologies as well as current developments. These included, among other things, an update on PROFINET and the new Version 2.5, an overview of IO-Link, and results from the security working groups and the APL/SPE project. Furthermore, progress on the omlox, SRCI, MTP, and NOA technologies was shared.

Changes to the bylaws and other association documents were also presented.
 

Find out more right here.

The PROFINET community continues to drive progress toward secure industrial communication: At the third PROFINET Security Plugfest on March 24–25, 2026, at the technical university of applied sciences OTH Amberg-Weiden, organized by PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) and aia automations institut GmbH, leading automation providers tested the latest security features.

The central focus was the Service eXchange Protocol (SXP), the foundation of PROFINET Security. Early SXP implementations at Layer 2 and Layer 3 demonstrated how the protocol enables secure and interoperable communication across various automation environments.

The Plugfest confirmed the high level of maturity of the new security technologies. This demonstrated stable AR establishment as well as device access via SXP across multiple manufacturers. Multi-controller scenarios, as well as Layer 2 and Layer 3 scenarios, also functioned reliably. Robust operation was also evident in shared-device and parallel-protocol configurations. Furthermore, immediately actionable technical insights were gained that contribute to further optimization.
 

Find out more right here.

The Industrial Security Harmonization Group (ISHG) has released a joint industry perspective highlighting a critical truth in industrial cybersecurity: secure communication is not determined by protocols alone, but by how they are deployed and managed in real-world environments.

The ISHG—comprising leading industry organizations including the FieldComm Group, ODVA, OPC Foundation, and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International—collaborates regularly to align security concepts across Ethernet and non-Ethernet communication protocol technologies. Their shared mission is to reduce complexity for end users and promote consistent, effective cybersecurity practices in industrial automation systems.

Industrial communication protocols serve as the backbone of modern automation, enabling seamless connectivity between devices, systems, and applications across both process and factory environments. However, many widely used protocols were originally developed without cybersecurity as a primary design consideration [...]
 

Find out more right here.