Sales Guide

7 / 43
Product Overview
u About Modbus
Modbus is a serial communications protocol originally published by Modicon (now Schneider
Electric) in 1979 for use with its programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Simple and robust,
it has since become a de facto standard communication protocol and is now a commonly
available means of connecting industrial electronic devices.
The main reasons for the use of Modbus in the industrial environment are:
1: Developed with industrial applications in mind.
2: Openly published and royalty-free.
3: Easy to deploy and maintain.
4: Moves raw bits or words without placing many restrictions on vendors.

Modbus enables communication among many devices connected to the same network, for
example, a system that measures temperature and humidity, and communicates the results
to a computer. Modbus is often used to connect a supervisory computer with a remote
terminal unit (RTU) in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.
The development and update of Modbus protocols has been managed by the Modbus
Organization since April 2004 when Schneider Electric transferred rights to that organization.
The Modbus Organization is an association of users and suppliers of Modbus-compliant
devices that seek to drive the adoption and evolution of Modbus.
