Abstract: An optically-connected system is disclosed for exchanging data among industrial automation devices, that is composed of a plurality of connection elements (7, 9′, 9″, . . . , 9N), each one equipped with one or more pairs of optical transmitting (30, 32) and receiving (28, 34) means, placed on their main sides in an opposite way with respect to the previous pair, in such a way as to place on each main side of the connection elements (7, 9′, 9″, . . . , 9N) one transmitting means (30, 32), one receiving means (28, 34) one transmitting means (30, 32) and so on, each one of the transmitting (30, 32) and receiving (28, 34) means being adapted to cooperate for exchanging data with a respective receiving (28, 34) and transmitting (30, 32) means of another adjacent of the connection elements (7, 9′, 9″, 9N).