Consortium Rules

Consortium Rules

This is a condensed version of our consortium rules.

Consortium rules

The consortium's goal is to develop and market IO-Link as a technology. The IO-Link Consortium works as a technical committee (TC6) organized within the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PNO). The IO-Link interface is in principle to be seen as being independent of the fieldbus systems of the PNO (PROFIBUS and PROFINET).

Membership in the IO-Link Consortium requires the submission of an application to the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PNO) and written acceptance of the supplementary rules. If desired, both membership and the associated contribution payment can be limited to the IO-Link Consortium (independent of PROFIBUS and PROFINET).

Integration into any co-existing bus systems is expressly desired by the IO-Link Consortium and is actively supported and can therefore be carried out directly through the initiative of the various user organizations.

The most important membership conditions:

  1. A requirement for membership in the IO-Link Consortium is membership in the PNO e.V. or an associated organization in another country. Annual dues are paid based on the size of the company. Additional information on membership can be found at http://www.profibus.com/community/members/
  2. A membership application is to be submitted to the PNO and is to include inquiries regarding the desired technologies and services (e.g. IO-Link, PROFIBUS, PROFINET).
  3. Written acceptance of the supplementary rules is required for membership (to be obtained from the IO-Link Consortium Support Center located at Haid-und-Neu-Str. 7, 76313 Karlsruhe, Germany).

Rights granted by membership:

  1. Full access to all IO-Link specifications, including work status, fieldbus integration etc.
  2. The right to world-wide marketing of products with the IO-Link figurative marks, as long as the products comply with the specification of IO-Link and are tested according to the test specification using the test tools released by the IO-Link Consortium (vendor self certification).
  3. The option of working together in technical organizations of the consortium and the introduction of requirements for expansion and modification of the specifications (via change request through the work server).
  4. Participation in decision making regarding the direction the technology takes (right to make recommendations).
  5. Participation in common marketing activities.
  6. Joint use of patents for IO-Link approved by the member companies.

This represents an excerpt of the supplementary rules. The entire contract text is available upon request from the support center of the IO-Link Consortium located at Haid-und-Neu-Str. 7, 76313 Karlsruhe, Germany.