The rapid adoption of Industrial Ethernet has led to significant changes and new demands in industrial networking applications requiring the introduction of industrialized communications systems. Fast (100 Mb/sec) and Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mb/sec) data rates demand higher bandwidth and real-time, low-latency communications. The increasing use of intelligent electronic devices, utility-grade rugged IP routers, and Ethernet switches is driving IP-based communications on the production floor.