NEWBURYPORT, MA – Softing, the world leader in providing conformant protocol stacks for industrial automation, has announced that Cisco Systems has selected Softing’s PROFINET stack to enhance Cisco’s IE 3000 Series Switch family with PROFINET IO capabilities.

Softing’s extensive experience in writing highly portable yet, high-performance protocol software helped tip-the-scale when Cisco was deciding on a reliable supplier. After testing PROFINET IO implementations from multiple vendors Softing’s software was the only viable solution left that was flexible enough for being embedded into Cisco’s demanding runtime environment while, at the same time, satisfying Cisco’s stringent quality and performance requirements.

Softing’s PROFINET protocol stack has a unique design feature that merges all hardware and operating system dependencies into one easy-to-modify, yet extremely flexible porting layer. Typically, it takes only days and not weeks to adjust the porting layer to a given hardware/OS combination! Software engineers do not need to touch the actual PROFINET implementation, as it is completely independent from the porting layer. The main benefit of this “clean” separation is that future firmware maintenance (e.g. a change in the PROFINET specification) is easy and straightforward.

The Cisco® Industrial Ethernet 3000 (IE3000) Series Switches are a family of switches that provide a rugged, easy-to-use, secure switching infrastructure for harsh environments. The Cisco® IE 3000 Series Switches are PROFINET V2 certified, with PNO conformance class B compliance. PROFINET IO in the Cisco® IE 3000 Series Switches allows seamless integration with factory management tools and enables real-time automation in modular and distributed systems. PROFINET IO in the Cisco IE 3000 offers a unified solution for configuration, management, and control. The Cisco solution enhances the collaboration between the IT and the control networks by delivering a wire speed secure switching solution provide ease of use in deployment and manageability with the SIMATIC automation tools.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in emerging markets is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

About Softing

In industrial automation, Softing is a specialist for fieldbus technology and has established itself as a world-leading partner for networking automation systems and control solutions. Softing provides customers the key technology to connect devices, controls and systems with the leading communication technologies. In fieldbus technology, Softing is a world-class expert for FOUNDATION fieldbus, PROFIBUS, and CAN/CANopen/DeviceNet. The company’s wide range of expertise includes solutions for OPC, FDT, and Real-Time-Ethernet protocols such as, PROFINET IO, EtherNet/IP, or Modbus/TCP. Many of the products and services developed by Softing since the company was founded in 1979 have become reference standards throughout the world. In addition, Softing has established itself as a provider of sophisticated diagnostic tools for fieldbus systems.

For more information: www.softing.us or Tel: (978) 499-9650, Fax: (978) 499-9654, Email: ken.hoover@softing.com.