Abstract: In an industrial equipment network, each piece of equipment is provided a dedicated controller for providing control and identification information, and for being programmed to provide the interconnection and interaction of its associated piece of equipment with other equipment connected to the network, thereby permitting a SCADA system, via broadcasting from the controllers or polling the controllers, to self-configure itself to show a diagram of the entire equipment network and periodically update the diagram relative to changes thereto, and the status of the equipment on the network.