Industrial Routers / Switches...?

[kdcui]

Our company recently got some MOXA ethernet industrial switches. They are apparently pretty expensive. What so special about "industrial" versions of these types of hardware, besides the DIN mounting and power redundancy?

 

[jdbrandt]

Advantech has a 5-port 10/100 switch, DIN rail mount, dual powered for under 90 bucks. Its in an aluminum case, and look really tough. But, why even ask all these quesitons over a 90USD part?

 

[Paullys50]

Advantech has a 5-port 10/100 switch, DIN rail mount, dual powered for under 90 bucks. Its in an aluminum case, and look really tough. But, why even ask all these quesitons over a 90USD part?

Because he's not talking about a $90 part?????

OP -
You probably have a managed switch of some sort, which gives you/IT the power to configure your network in a variety of ways. What is the purpose of the switches? What is the desired impact of putting the switches in? Who made the decision? The OP didn't state the model number, so it's hard to tell what other features it may have to justify the high price tag.

Comparing it to a $90 switch is a joke at this point.

 

[kdcui]

It's a MOXA EDS-516A ($1800 USD a pop).

I've seen managed switches before but not industrail hardened. The "industrially hardened" label seems to me like a way to justify a large spike in price over non-industrially hardened switches, with minimal difference in functionality.

It feels as though they can take anything, put it in a metal casing, and jack up the price.

 

[Ken Roach]

Make sure you're comparing apples to apples. An unmanaged "industrialized" switch can be very inexpensive but it just doesn't compare when you need the management and diagnostic features of a managed switch.

When you get to comparing the Moxa, Phoenix, N-Tron, etc managed industrialized switches to their server-rack counterparts, the differences make a little more sense.

Are they still more expensive ? Sure. But I can't fit a 19" rackmount server switch with the indicators on the front and the RJ45 jacks on the back into a DIN-rail mount application. With the smaller volumes of products that an industrialized vendor can sell, you're necessarily going to see higher per unit prices.

When I know that a switch is going to go into a high temperature application, I won't endorse anything but N-Tron.

 

[ahackwor]

I use the Cisco catalyst 2955. Great for IT because Cisco is their standard. Great for me becase it's 24vdc, din rail mounted, no fan, high temp rating. Win-win.

 

[Paullys50]

What was the intent of the purchase?

If you have a system that is part of a Ethernet corporate network or Ethernet automation network, and has devices controlled using Ethernet such as VFDs/remote IO then this type of switch is needed to isolate ports/block traffic...yadda yadda yadda to prevent ANY problems with your Ethernet based control. The last thing you want is anything talking to the ethernet based control that shouldn't be. This type of switch does that for you along with alot more.

Now if it was purchased to go into a stand alone system, and the only thing on ethernet is the HMI, PLC and a programmer's laptop on occasion then it is completely unnecessary and a standard $100 unmanaged switch is all you would need.

 

[Mickey]

Our company recently got some MOXA ethernet industrial switches. They are apparently pretty expensive. What so special about "industrial" versions of these types of hardware, besides the DIN mounting and power redundancy?

See links below

http://www.controldesign.com/articles/2009/IndustrialQualityCommercialIN09Q1.html

http://www.moxa.com/zones/industrial_ethernet/IKS/tutorial.htm

 

[muusic_man]

I use only N-Tron 4, 8 and 16 port models and have never had one fail or give me the least bit of problem. We use the 16 port models as concentrators, and then it's connected to the rack mount switch in the IT closet. Now that switch has let me down a couple of times.

 

[icky812]

I'll take a stab at answering your question.

Industrial switches typically have the features you mention plus better surge protection at each input along with other features like packet storm protection.

Each switch is different, but the big thing is usually the surge protection. If your variable frequency drive happens to decide it's time to go on a smoke break, the switch has a better chance of not taking everything on the network out with the possible resultant surge.

 

[Greg Dake]

I use the Cisco catalyst 2955. Great for IT because Cisco is their standard. Great for me becase it's 24vdc, din rail mounted, no fan, high temp rating. Win-win.

I second the Cisco 2955....IT is familiar with the IOS, and they've been rock solid. We have 14+ installed now with no issues.

It will be interesting to see how much longer Cisco will offer the 2955 considering they co-branded with AB on the new line of managed switches put out by Rockwell recently.

Greg

 

[cookie]

I haven't used MOXA, but the industrial versions are typically rated for a far greater temperature range. I've been using SixNet managed switches recently, and have been very pleased.

 

[TConnolly]

The N-Tron switches have proven to be so reliable that our IT department has started using them where ever they need a smaller switch instead of using the little net-gear or Dlink switches. They seem to really like them.