The real and effective ground of all new concepts dedicated to the current advanced factories, as well as to the future digital ones, is close cooperativity of scattered applications in highly heterogeneous systems. Communication is the key enabling component, and all new approaches are inspired in practice to the demanding characteristics of industrial networks. These kinds of computer networks, together with new technologies derived from distant application fields, are the main technological means to accelerate the fast evolution of modern factory systems. Due to various communication requirements coming from the plurality of structures, components and application contexts, communication subsystems must be increasingly heterogeneous. Let us say clearly: this evolution cannot be stopped at this stage, no special universal solution is possible, and thinking about monogamous networking is a kind of dreamland. This paper is an analysis of the state of the art in the matter of heterogeneous networking in industry. It deeply investigates both wired and wireless technologies from the point of view of technological aspects and relevant key performance indicators, such as those related to dependability, and it contains a prospective estimation of future trends.

致力于当前先进工厂以及未来数字工厂的所有新概念的真正有效基础是高度异构系统中分散应用程序的紧密协作性。通讯是关键的使能组件，所有新方法在实践中均受到工业网络苛刻特性的启发。这些类型的计算机网络以及源自遥远应用领域的新技术，是加速现代工厂系统快速发展的主要技术手段。由于来自多个结构，组件和应用程序上下文的各种通信需求，通信子系统必须越来越异构。让我们清楚地说：这一发展不能在这个阶段停止，没有特殊的通用解决方案是可能的，一夫一妻制网络的思考是一种梦想。本文是对行业异构网络方面的最新技术的分析。它从技术方面和相关的关键性能指标（例如与可靠性相关的指标）的角度深入研究了有线和无线技术，并且对未来趋势进行了前瞻性估计。