The standards battle between WirelessHART and ISA100.11a is driving innovation that will ultimately benefit industrial companies, according to a recently published report by ON World.

With the potential to save industry billions of dollars in increased efficiencies and avoided downtime, industrial companies are early adopters of wireless sensor network (WSN) technology and active standards participants. As hundreds of participants embark on an ambitious goal for a single converged wireless standard, end users are calling for solutions that mitigate investment risk.

“Although the standards competition for wireless process automation has slowed adoption and complicated product development, it provides an opportunity for new entrants as well as emerging technologies such as IP sensor networking,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.

ON World’s recent survey with 105 industrial end users found that 14% have installed over 100 wireless field devices so far. Fifty-nine percent are planning to investigate WSN applications within the next 18 months.

More here.