The GE Fanuc IC697BEM742 Series 90-70 FIP Bus controller is an I/O bus controller that interfaces the GE IC697 PLCs to FIP or World FIP I/O serial bus devices. The IC697BEM742 Bus controller can also act as an I/O controller for the GE Series 90-30 I/O modules in Remote I/O nest and field control I/O modules in the FIP bus network. The IC697BEM742 FIP Bus controller also provides connected devices with high-level TCP/IP communication capabilities and generic messaging capabilities. The IC697BEM742 Bus controller offers software configuration which eliminates the need for DIP switches and jumper sets. It is configured with an MS-DOS or Windows-based programming software. The IC697BEM742 Bus controller comes with 6 LED status indicators on the front panel of the controller, and it also has a push-button located directly below the status LED.

There are two 9-pin bus connectors on the front of the IC697BEM742 Bus controller that provide connection points to 1 or 2 FIP Busses, and because the signals on these busses are identical, they offer a redundant bus capability. The IC697BEM742 Bus controller also has a 15-pin serial port that provides a connection point for a personal computer for firmware upgrades. The IC697BEM742 Bus controller scans I/O devices on the FIP Bus asynchronously, and it then transmits I/O data to the CPU module once per scan. During the Bus scan (macro-cycle), the IC697BEM742 FIP bus controller sends out CPU output data to connected devices, receives input data from each connected device, and receives and transmits faults and alarms reports to the PLC. The IC697BEM742 Bus controller has an operating voltage rating of 5 Volts DC and a maximum current draw of 1.3 Amps. It has a data transmission rate of 1 Megabit per second, and it comes with 2 MB of RAM and flash memory.