The industry as a whole has moved toward more progressive technologies in the past year, in large part due to the global pandemic. But over the last couple of years, input/output (I/O) cabinets have become more modern and streamlined, too. There is movement toward a standardized I/O is turning traditional I/O—which had fixed functionality and was supplier-specific—into a plug-and-play part that’s quickly configurable, as well as smart.
Whether it’s called universal I/O, flexible I/O, intelligent I/O, configurable I/O, electronic marshalling, etc., the concept of smart I/O placed in standard cabinets is enabling more flexibility for I/O changes without having to reengineer everything. The push for I/O standardization has come from large corporations, like ExxonMobil, who were asking for help in easing commissioning and enabling changes to a control system without impacting the build out. The idea behind universal I/O is to reduce customization and complexity, which helps large oil and gas companies and small machine builders, alike.
