What's FDT good for???

From Larry O’Brien at ARC:
Apparently something.
Hey Walt —
How’s your FDT research going? I read Dick Caro’s article. Speaking as someone who has gone through the meat grinder on this topic from both sides, there are some interesting resources out there I can point you to. One is a book published by Vogel and Praxis that was handed out at the last Hanover fair that outlines some end user applications for FDT that are pretty impressive. One user from DSM pretty succinctly describes the root problems between EDDL and FDT (which are not, in my opinion, competing technologies). If you get in touch with Scott Bump of Invensys (who is their FDT person), perhaps he can send you a copy or you can order one online here:
http://www.elektronikpraxis.de/publikation/ep_publikation_en_19145.html
There is one particularly good case study from BASF, which is where, incidentally, FDT got its start back in the mid-90s in Ludwigshafen I think. It was originally specified by BASF so they could have a single interface to devices across multiple networks! I think this is the original plant included in an ABB case study here (see copyright 2002, I think the project actually started in 1998).
http://library.abb.com/GLOBAL/SCOT/scot267.nsf/VerityDisplay/42BE96A1FDB17CB385256F35006B4399/$File/BASF_Polymer.pdf

So, what do you all think? Is this controversy manufactured?
Walt