FDT Group approves FITS specification for final member review

The executive committee of FDT Group has approved the FDT IIoT Server (FITS) specification for release to the FDT membership for final review.

The emerging FITS standard, set to be released at the end of the year, will provide control system and device vendors with the opportunity to advance their intelligent automation solution offerings with FDT’s standards-based, platform-independent, information-driven business models meeting the demands of the process and discrete markets.

FDT Group was founded in the 1990s by a group of leading automation vendors to alleviate the stress of system and device incompatibility due to proprietary approaches. The foundational goal of the organisation’s standard was to fix interoperability issues for end users by empowering them with open access to device intelligence with the freedom to choose systems and devices that best fit their application, and seamlessly connect and communicate independent of the chosen vendor or network. Over the years, the standard has evolved from a single-user, desktop environment to a distributed, multi-user client/server approach with OPC UA compatibility for enterprise-wide integration and asset management. FDT has gained global, industry-wide acceptance and today is known as the de-facto integration and information-sharing standard across the automation sector, with millions of FDT device type managers (FDT/DTMs) and FDT/FRAME-enabled systems deployed.

“Soon, control system and device suppliers will be able to take a well-established standard they are familiar with and expand their portfolio offerings to meet requirements for next-generation applications,” said Glenn Schulz, Managing Director of the FDT Group. “FDT/FITS-based solutions, including FITS servers and FITS DTMs, will meet the demands of today’s rapidly advancing smart plants and factories.”

Approval by the FDT executive committee to release the FITS specification to the membership brings the standard one step closer to its official launch to the public later this year. A modernised integration development environment (IDE) and test tools will simultaneously release with the FITS specification, allowing automation suppliers to jump-start development of FDT-based universal solutions meeting market demands.

For more information, visit www.fdtgroup.org.

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