DeviceNet was developed by the American company Allen-Bradley (now owned by Rockwell Automation) and the ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendor Association) as an open fieldbus standard based on the CAN protocol. DeviceNet is standardised in the European standard EN 50325. Specification and maintenance of the DeviceNet standard is the responsibility of ODVA. Like ControlNet and EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet belongs to the family of CIP-based networks. CIP (Common Industrial Protocol) forms the common application layer of these three industrial networks. DeviceNet, ControlNet and Ethernet/IP are therefore well coordinated and provide the user with a graded communication system for the management level (EtherNet/IP), cell level (ControlNet) and field level (DeviceNet). DeviceNet is an object-oriented bus system and operates according to the producer/consumer method. DeviceNet devices can be client (master) or server (slave) or both. Clients and servers can be Producer, Consumer or both.