July 9, 2020 — The Modbus Organization Board of Trustees announces that it is in the process of removing all inappropriate terminology from the query and response paradigm of Modbus communication. For ongoing projects, all companies and individuals with the ability to make positive changes should do so. As the holder of the standard for an industrial network with one of the largest installed bases in the world, it is important to complete the replacement of the current terminology with more thoughtful references. All instances of "master-slave" in the organization's literature and on its website will be removed. Current electronic content is being updated as of this announcement.
PRESS RELEASE
Modbus Organization Replaces Master-Slave with Client-Server
July 9, 2020 — The Modbus Organization Board of Trustees announces that it is expunging all occurrences of inappropriate language of the query and response paradigm of Modbus communications. With recent events, all companies and individuals with the ability to make positive changes should do so. As the holder of the standard for an industrial network with one of the largest installed bases in the world, it is important to complete the replacement of the current terminology with more thoughtful references. All instances of "master-slave" in the organization's literature and on its website will be removed. Current electronic content is being updated as of this announcement.
Board Chair Todd Snide commented, "The time is overdue for these words to be removed. The terms are unnecessary and insensitive to the people who experience racism in this country and around the world. We urge our member companies and all those who use the Modbus protocol to take similar action to rid their documentation and communications of these terms."
The organization is using "client-server" to describe Modbus communication, characterized by communication between client devices (s), which initiates communication and makes requests of server device(s), which process requests and return an appropriate response (or error message).
About Modbus-Organization, Inc.
Headquartered in Massachusetts, the Modbus Organization is an association of users and suppliers of control and automation devices. The organization works to support the Modbus protocol, provide information and tools for individuals and companies using Modbus. It maintains the authoritative website for Modbus information. Additional information about the Modbus Organization can be found on the organization's website, www.modbus.org
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