What Is Happening To Third-Party I/O Suppliers?

Although, from a revenue perspective, traditional PLC system suppliers still hold a dominant position in the I/O modules market, they’ve been facing increasing competition from “non-traditional” PLC suppliers or “third-party” I/O suppliers, which took over one quarter of the world market for remote PLC I/O modules, according to the latest I/O module report published by IMS Research.  
Unlike large system suppliers, which sell I/O modules simply as part of their total solutions across a wide range of industry sectors, third-party I/O suppliers have been more successful in selling their I/O products to niche industries or specific applications. I/O modules have been sold as an extension of their existing product lines or to further strengthen their expertise in particular markets. This also explains why many I/O modules with advanced features or off-shore technology are very often first established by third-party I/O suppliers.