ODVA Opens Technology and Training Center

March 1, 2003
ODVA has opened a Technology and Training Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The opening of the center marks an important milestone in ODVA's growth as its

ODVA has opened a Technology and Training Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The opening of the center marks an important milestone in ODVA's growth as its North American conformance testing and global conformance certification activities are now housed on ODVA property.

The Technology and Training Center includes a state-of-art conformance laboratory for testing DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP products. As a result, the new facility will help ODVA maintain best practices in conformance testing and reporting, and train test service providers around the world. This will allow ODVA to refine and expand conformance testing for DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP, as well as future technologies that share the Control and Information Protocol (CIP) on which these networks are based.

"To meet the requirement of users, ODVA is committed to continually raising the conformance benchmark," said Katherine Voss, ODVA executive director. "By advancing our processes and setting the gold standard for best practices in testing open networks, we reinforce our guarantee to the user community of interoperable multi-vendor systems."

Since ODVA established conformance testing of DeviceNet hardware in the 1990s, its conformance testing activities have grown to include EtherNet/IP products and specialized tests for DeviceNet power supplies, embedded technology products and semiconductor devices.

ODVA operates globally with offices in Europe and North America, and affiliates in China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Europe. The organization was formed in 1995 to support worldwide growth of DeviceNet, an open communications standard designed to connect factory floor devices, such as sensors, push buttons, motor starters and drives, to control systems. ODVA added EtherNet/IP -- which shares the Control and Information Protocol (CIP) with DeviceNet -- to its technology portfolio in 2000. The association assists vendors, distributors and end users of both networks through tools, training, conformance testing and marketing activities. It is also active in numerous industry standards bodies and consortia to promote the growth of communication standards based on open networks and protocols. For more information, visit www.odva.org.