Dr Karl Weber, Expert in industrial communication at Beckhoff Automation is appointed as official representative of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) to the Government Engagement Program on Standards (GEPS). A program of IEEE SA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association). 

IEEE is the world's largest professional association of electrical and information technology engineers. The IEEE invites policy makers to participate in the IEEE GEPS to determine the direction and priorities of IEEE SA. As well as enables governments from all over the world to access and participate in its standardization processes. These standards are essential tools to support modern infrastructure, innovation, and international trade, protect consumers & address societal challenges as well as other public needs. 

Most of the market-determining IT groups, such as Microsoft, are headquartered in the USA. Although many IT standards are defined in IEEE working groups, in the future the association aims to involve European countries more. 

Dr Karl Weber is now the first representative from the European Union to join the GEPS. With Intensive exchange with international IT experts he has been dealing with fieldbus standardization since the end of the 1980s and is also involved in the international standardization organization IEC. Since May 2013, he has been working as an expert for industrial communication both for Beckhoff and in the EtherCAT Technology Group. He has also been active in IEEE for 18 years and is now a senior member of the organization. His goal is to advance IT integration in automation in a meaningful way with respect to standards. Common platform for the further development of automation Dr Karl Weber’s membership in the GEPS of the IEEE brings conclusive points of interest for both the BMWi and Beckhoff.

"We are now involved in developments in IEEE standards at an early stage and receive the necessary background information. We can take this into account both in Germany's technological orientation and in our Beckhoff products and solutions. As a member of GEPS, we naturally also have a certain amount of influence and can contribute our own ideas and the requirements of our industrial customers to IT standardization,” explained Dr Karl Weber. 

“With our colleague Dr Karl Weber, GEPS gains a very experienced automation expert who is both committed to consistent standardization as a sustainable basis for industrial communication and has a comprehensive understanding of the concerns of government, the IT industry and automation and brings them together in a focused way,” expressed Hans Beckhoff, Managing Owner, Beckhoff Automation and IEEE senior member, with great delight in the appointment of his colleague appreciating it as a great honor and recognition. 

He further added, “The work in the IEEE is very important for us as a company. We now play a central role in worldwide IEEE standardization projects and can contribute automation technology concerns. Only if we consistently exchange ideas with other companies from the IT and electrical industries can we drive technological innovations based on common standards, thus creating added value and consistency for users, i.e. also our customers, all over the world”.

For more information: www.beckhoff.com