Ruggedised PoE switch for industrial applications

It features eight 10/100M PoE ports and two gigabit (1000M) ports with combined RJ45 copper and small form-factor pluggable (SFP) slots for optional fibre connectivity.

PoE, a technology that is popular with enterprise IT, allows the transmission of both power and data to Ethernet devices over standard twisted-pair Cat5/5e/6 cables.

More formally known as IEEE 802.3af, this standard specifies an output capacity of 48VDC at up to 15.4W per port.

The EKI-7659CI's eight 10/100M Ethernet ports are capable of supplying a full 15.4W per port.

Combined with the managed features of this switch, PoE port status and power output may be monitored from a web browser.

Additionally, PoE functionality is independently configurable, including the ability to limit output power on a port-by-port basis.

Equipped with SFP fibre transceivers, or utilising the built-in gigabit (100Mbps) ports, multiple switches can be configured in a self-healing ring, providing a secondary communications path in the event that the primary is interrupted.

In addition to open-standard Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), the EKI-7000 family switches also support Advantech's ultra-fast X-ring, which is said to guarantee recovery in less than 10ms.

Using Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), a physical network can be subdivided in multiple logical networks, improving performance and enhanced security.

With the rising popularity of Ethernet/IP and other industrial protocols that use multicast messaging, IGMP Snooping can direct these messages to only participating devices, without flooding all of the other devices with unnecessary multicast traffic.

Managed switches also offer a variety of built-in diagnostics tools, for quick and easy troubleshooting and maintenance.

Port statistics allow remote monitoring of device connection status and data traffic throughput, and the switch can also proactively send an alert when a fault has been detected, minimising network downtime.

The switches support Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), for centralised remote management or integration with HMI and Scada systems.

Ideal for demanding environments, the ruggedised switch has been designed to withstand extreme shock and vibration, extended operating temperatures of -40C to +75C, and includes redundant 48VDC power inputs for resiliency.

It is packaged in a metal IP30 rated chassis, and includes DIN-rail and direct panel mounts for easy installation.