**** Availability Problems

MikeVT

Lifetime Supporting Member
Join Date
May 2008
Location
Holland, MI
Posts
83
We have several requests for adding ****'s into OEM machine control projects, lately. We are finding them to be scarce as hen's teeth, and with loooong lead times. (9 weeks +).


Has anyone used a alternative remote access router? What brands? How was your experience with those units?


I have been looking at TOSI-BOX. Looks pretty comparable to ****, in price and function.


Recommendations please.


Mike
 
OK. Are bran names not allowed? I was looking for alternatives to E W O N.

As I heard it, at some point someone was way too pushy about advertising them, such that not only was he get banned but the brand name was as well.
 
Rockwell is coming out with their own system, webinar here: https://www.rockwellautomation.com/...te-access-for-industrial-control-systems.html

Apparently it's going to be called 1783-
RA2TGB and 1783-RA5TGB :https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/ct/1783-ct144_-en-e.pdf


Since it's Rockwell Automation, I personally trust it as a VPN option far more that other options available at this moment(For remote operation currently, I only advocate company VPNs for PLC VLANs). Hopefully they can release this soon!
 
The availability (or lack of) is probably related to the components shortage that is happening right now. There are a lot of components, including ICU’s that simple aren’t available and/or available at a very limited amount. Ford and Chevy (and others) are not able to finish much of their products because they can’t complete the ECU’s. They have thousands of new trucks parked waiting for microchips that will allow them to finish the build. This is having an impact in almost all industries and isn’t going away anytime soon. Some estimates put the full recovery point in late 2023.
 
Side note:
E w o n is a spelling variation of an urban slang name (E w a n) for a character with a large male appendage and attitude to match. It's unfortunate for the company because a number of sites have filters that block their name because of that.
 
Side note:
E w o n is a spelling variation of an urban slang name (E w a n) for a character with a large male appendage and attitude to match. It's unfortunate for the company because a number of sites have filters that block their name because of that.

I'm fairly certain that is not why it is blocked here. I believe plvlce has it right.
 
Has anyone used a alternative remote access router? What brands? How was your experience with those units?

We use Remote Engineer on projects around the world, all continents except for Antarctica. As long as there is an internet connection to the WAN port of the device, we can access it for troubleshooting, support, programming, updating from behind a desk in the office. Or while working from home. Not sure if their devices are readily available in the US.

The devices can also be configured to connect to a wifi network if wired ethernet is not available. We have used this on commissioning jobs where power and internet where not ready yet. Machines running temporarily from generators. Internet through wifi hotspot on the cell phone of our service technician. Works for us.
 
It will be double the price with half the features.

Probably double the price, but for peace of mind, and the confidence management already has in Rockwell, I would pitch this to other people in my company compared to E w o n.

Also, According to that UL Compliance document, seems like it might be a ubiquity device badge built for Rockwell. They've done this before, for example the 9300ENA was also a badge built device from some other smaller brand(It was printed on the PCB inside), sorry I don't remember which.
Now it's Ubiquity, and they might have a lot more features integrated, as their networking range is really premium. If it doesn't have certain features, I would assume that just means that Rockwell wasn't able to vet them to endorse it yet.

Rockwell and Cisco (Who definitely are industry leaders in networking) have an alliance:https://www.ciscolive.com/c/dam/r/ciscolive/emea/docs/2020/pdf/BRKIOT-2600.pdf
I do trust Rockwell's design decisions for their end devices. Given this, as someone who's an engineer at a plant, I would not even think about endorsing smaller brands, at least not as a blanket technology, to other engineers at my plant.

As for remote access, this really isn't the only solution. Most plants/companies now have their own VPNs, why bother bypassing a companies VPN and going through some 3rd party which probably doesn't have a liability contract with the local plant, especially when it's a very targeted program.

My 2c.
-PreLC
 
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