Universal Ethernet Solution

A monolithic integrated circuit that supports multiple industrial Ethernet protocols, fieldbus protocols, and industrial application processing, thereby providing a single hardware platform that may be used to build various automation devices/equipment implemented in an industrial network, such as controllers, field devices, network communication nodes, etc. The monolithic integrated circuit may comprise at least one application processor core operable to execute an industrial application and Ethernet connectivity/management code, including standard Ethernet connectivity/management code and industrial Ethernet connectivity/management code; a real time processing module configured to support a plurality of industrial Ethernet data link layers; an interface configured to be coupled to an external non volatile memory from which the at least one application processor is configured for execute in place processing; and on-chip RAM having a capacity sufficient to eliminate the need for external RAM in execution by the at least one application processor core of an operating system, the industrial application, and the Ethernet connectivity/management code.