drive.web traveled to Nuremberg, Germany late November to represent drive.web at the SPS IPC Drives 28th International Exhibition for Electric Automation. 2017 marks the event’s largest year to date, with over 70k attendees and nearly 1700 exhibitors from all over the world.

The main focus of this year’s SPS IPC Drives was the topic of Industry 4.0, or “the smart factory”. Industry 4.0 is the term used to describe the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technology, including concepts such as cyber-physical systems, the IoT, cloud computing, and cognitive computing. drive.web truly exemplifies these ideas by using TCP/IP over Ethernet to provide robust connectivity between drives, remote i/o, PLCs, operator stations and SCADA systems.

This year, attendees and exhibitors filled 11 halls that were organized into content areas including Motion Control, Control Technology, Software and IT, Mechanical Infrastructure, Sensors, Human-Machine Interfaces, and Industrial Communications. drive.web technology proved to be very popular in the areas of motion control and industrial communications, though it was evident that our smarty and speedy devices are also well-suited to equipment and technology beyond motion control.