With unit shipments expected to more than treble between 2006 and 2011, DIN rail PCs with incorporated I/O will have a lasting impact on the worldwide industrial PC market, according to a new report from IMS Research.

The number of suppliers offering this product type is likely to increase significantly in the near future. Machine builders and end users will welcome the benefits of ruggedness, flexibility and functionality. Already, even with very few suppliers, shipment growth will far exceed that of any other IPC type, to more than 10,000 by 2011.

In particular, the EMEA market has shown great confidence in this relatively new type of control system and is projected to represent more than 60 per cent of revenues and shipments between now and 2011.

Report author Mark Watson comments: “These products, which have only been available on the market for just over two years, have met customer demand for compact bundled solutions. They are extremely rugged and can be used universally in all machine cabinets on the market today. Together with the flexibility and functionality that they offer, it is no surprise that shipments are projected to have an annual growth rate of over 20 per cent between 2006 and 2011.”

Being aimed at control applications, DIN-rail PCs with I/O will also replace other automation control solutions such as PLCs. Their high reliability, coupled with extensive processing power (provided by multi-core processors) could lead to this product shaping the future market for PC-based controls.

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