A nodal communication network of a process control or factory automation system includes nodes that are highly versatile (HV) field devices storing respective tag identifications. A DHCP server assigns respective endpoint identifications to nodes that connect to the network. A network node manager manages a mapping database that stores associations of tag identifications of network nodes with the assigned endpoint identifications, and a state database that stores updated states of the network nodes. A DNS server responds, in conjunction with the network node manager, to requests for endpoint identifications to allow nodes to be discovered within the network. An HV device node is a data source that establishes and maintains (sometimes simultaneously) respective communication sessions over the network with one or more other nodes that are consumers of the data generated by the HV devices, and data delivered via the communication sessions may be used to control an industrial process.