A new industrial control system and method are disclosed allowing for
communication between multiple control devices of the system and remote
devices via the Internet. The system includes a web access interface that
is capable of being coupled to the remote devices via the Internet, and
is coupled to the control devices by way of a network. A program executed
by the interface receives an Internet signal having socket API data and
formatted in accordance with the TCP/IP protocol, and extracts the data
from the Internet signal. Another program executed by the interface
receives the data and transmits a network signal, which includes the data
but is not formatted in accordance with the TCP/IP protocol, to an
appropriate one of the control devices, each of which has a respective
web server program. The data is processed by the server program at the
appropriate control device.