The industrial control networking, automotive, and consumer data link markets are converging at data rates of 100Mbps and higher. From 10Mbps to 400Mbps, plastic optical fiber (POF) and polymer clad silica (PCS) solutions for high-speed short- and moderate-distance data links are cost competitive with copper cable. POF is superior to copper cable in providing low data errors in electrically noisy environments. The convergence is being driven by three major forces:

1. The integration of Ethernet with the field bus standards for industrial control networks in factory automation applications;
   
   
2. The hardening of components for automotive applications makes them suitable for use in industrial applications;
   
   
3. The extension of IEEE-1394 (FireWire) to higher data rates and longer distances in the consumer electronics market.

The worldwide total POF market was estimated at $1,336 million for 2007, growing to over $3.2 billion in 2011 and $4.7 billion by 2015.

POF and PCS cable have been used in industrial control networks for over 15 years, Many proprietary networks were configured on the factory floor to connect controllers to devices and sensors to monitor data and provide simple control feedback to production lines. Growth accelerated when standards organizations such as ControlNet, Interbus, Profibus, and SERCOS adopted POF and PCS as low-cost link media for electrically noisy and performance-critical applications. The next generation of industrial control networks has moved to 10/100Mbps Industrial Ethernet, operating over extended temperature ranges and harsher environments. Organizations such as ODVA, ControlNet International, ProfiNet, and Interbus Club are defining interface specifications to integrate Ethernet with the widely deployed DeviceNet, ControlNet, Profibus, Interbus, and other field bus standards. In addition to the move to higher data rate use of Ethernet, the all-fiber-optic standard of SERCOS has doubled its data rate to 16Mbps from 8Mbps .