Wireless network technology is the next big thing to hit the factory floor. However, depending upon how the communication standards play out, it could be the greatest productivity enhancer or the biggest bottleneck. Remember the fieldbus wars, when multiple standards emerged and confused the market? Well, there is by no means a wireless war at this point, industry observers say, but there are two organizations -- HART Communication Foundation and ISA -- with two different wireless specifications. And now, the pair needs to figure out how to live together in peace. The HCF released its HART 7.0 specification in September, which includes a wireless communications protocol for transmitting data to device and sensor networks. ISA, on the other hand, is hammering out the details of its wireless standard, ISA SP100, set for release in 2008. SP100 will address control and I/O networks as well as device and sensor networks -- where HART currently plays. ISA says it will include HART as a subset, but the bits and bytes between the two are not entirely compatible, which has some companies wondering why there are two standards. The HCF camp says it has been working on this wireless specification since 2004 as a natural extension of its HART protocol for intelligent field devices. ISA, meanwhile, recently began working on its wireless initiative, which covers the same territory and more. "Our first analysis was that the two networks could co-exist in an orderly fashion," says Dick Caro, a member of the ISA SP100 committee. "But some users say that's not good enough. They don't want any confusion, and they are asking us to go through the effort to bring the two together." At the ISA show in October, the groups met to discuss how the two initiatives could evolve together. The initial discussions were about creating a dual-mode gateway that can accommodate both wireless HART and SP100. "It's a good start, but ultimately it is not where we need to be," says Ron Helson, executive director of HCF. Another suggestion was that ISA 100 carry the HART signal on its network. "We call it the tunneling approach," ISA's Caro says. The problem, though, is that such an approach has not been tested. "It seems like all of the necessary options are there to make it happen, but we haven't really proven it." The good news, for end users, is that these two groups are willing to work together. That, in and of itself, is a major accomplishment in an industry that has historically been divided. "Ultimately, we will get [wireless HART and ISA SP100] converged, but we have to work through the issues and give it time," Helson says. This article originally appeared in the November 2007 issue of Managing Automation.