The article describes some of the features of the servo amplifier, developed in the NRU "MPEI" for use in multi-axis high-precision materials processing. Simplified structure of servo amplifier and some of the key components of servo drive digital control system are presented. Two ways of multi-axes control are compared: using the RS-232 interface and digital inputs/outputs, and using the CANopen standard based digital CAN protocol. The benefits of multi-axis control with the CANopen protocol are high-speed exchanges, reliability of data transmission, standardization and simple communication topology.