GE And Cisco Go for launch

GE Industrial Systems and Cisco Systems have formed a new company, GE Cisco Industrial Networks. GE Cisco Industrial Networks will assess, design and build network infrastructures for manufacturing plant floor and industrial environments that will enable enterprise-wide communication - an essential component of real-time decision making, e-business and higher productivity.

GE Cisco Industrial Networks will use the Ethernet open standard network infrastructure. Traditionally, Ethernet has been used to network offices, while plant floor information has been exchanged over proprietary networks. Although fast and reliable when used for plant floor communication, proprietary networks often cannot communicate with office networks. The many benefits that Ethernet has brought to office networks - including low installation and maintenance costs as well as integration with the Internet - will now be available to the factory without compromising manufacturing productivity.

'The benefits of communicating real-time plant floor data over Ethernet and uniting it with the office over one enterprise-wide backbone are enormous,' said Jeff Pompeo, president and CEO of GE Cisco Industrial Networks. 'Users have rapid access to data and can better exploit applications such as ERP (enterprise resource planning), remote monitoring and VMI (vendor managed inventory) via a standard Internet browser, an easy-to-use tool that is familiar to nearly everyone. Additionally, machining and manufacturing cells - each with multiple control devices - can be connected via one open infrastructure rather than several islands of proprietary networks - which allows factory floor communication and improves resource management.

'Installing, maintaining, and managing one type of network throughout the enterprise is also substantially less expensive than supporting several different networks,' Pompeo added. 'As a result, ROI is realized more quickly. The enterprise-wide Ethernet network helps make companies more productive by virtually eliminating network downtime, bottlenecks and crashes for guaranteed data availability.'

Find out more at www.gecisco.com