COMSOFT & KUNBUS Differences in PROFINET & PROFIBUS Hardware & Drivers

Issue Details

• I previously purchased PROFINET or PROFIBUS hardware from NI. When installing drivers for LabVIEW 2016 or earlier, it is named COMSOFT. However, the hardware that I received is branded KUNBUS.

Or
 

• I previously purchased PROFINET or PROFIBUS hardware before summer 2017 from NI that is branded as COMSOFT, however, the new drivers are named KUNBUS.

Solution

• While the brand of the drivers and product may seem different, NI anticipates that there should be no impact on product functionality or performance.
• You can use a KUNBUS-branded driver with existing COMSOFT-branded hardware. You can also use COMSOFT-branded driver with KUNBUS-branded hardware.
• There is no change to the API structure, and existing applications would not need to be updated. However, the name palette in LabVIEW will be updated to reflect the new module name.

Additional Information

KUNBUS GmbH acquired the Industrial Communication product lines of COMSOFT GmbH, which required changes to manufacturing operations of NI's PROFINET and PROFIBUS products.

This ownership change is reflecting in the updated branding of the PROFINET and PROFIBUS hardware, reflected below:

Old NI Part No.	Updated NI Part No.	Description
198983A-01	198983B-01	PCI PROFIBUS Master/Slave Interface, 1-Port
198984A-01	198984B-01	PXI PROFIBUS Master/Slave Interface, 1-Port
150252A-01	150252B-01	CompactRIO PROFIBUS DP Slave Module, 1-Port
150251A-01	150251B-01	CompactRIO PROFIBUS DP Master/Slave Module, 1-Port
152846A-01	152846B-01	CompactRIO PROFINET Slave Module

Note: These items are no longer available for purchase through NI.