We’ve seen this before and have shown it in some of our training sessions in the past. Glad it was posted on the web. It shows an animated (yet educational) way of how the internet works.
Inter-networking aside, I like how it shows the data packets are padded, striped and formed back together again, and how the network components are broken down — a rudimentary way of what happens behind the scenes in a tradition Ethernet network. This is a must see for everyone trying to grasp the concept of Ethernet networking.
It is surprising to hear how many Automation Engineers (I’ve talked to) do not know about Cisco’s Industrial Ethernet range of switches.
“Cisco makes switches for Industrial Ethernet applications?” and “Cisco makes industrial switches?”, are what I hear commonly.
Yes, Cisco does make industrial switches (and I don’t mean the *old* Cisco Catalyst 2955). I am talking about the modular based IE3000 series switches. In fact, the press release for it was about a year ago (with a 2nd quarter ‘08 release). With the abundance of Industrial Ethernet switch products already in place, Cisco may have come into a crowded marketplace with some catching up to do with the established *players*.
When I think of Cisco nowadays, I think of Cisco’s Unified Communications — which includes IP telephony, unified messaging, customer contact, Web and video conferencing etc. That’s kind of edged in my mind as with the great simplistic (yet powerful) marketing they’ve done.
Cisco in industrial automation and the factory floor? Not so much. I can’t remember the time I have actually seen a Cisco IE3000 printed ad, or is there even one? They don’t even have a direct link in their main Cisco website. One will have trouble ever finding it (being buried several levels down); good thing I have got it bookmarked. For your reference, here is the direct link to their Ethernet to Factory floor solution.
Are they taking a step back because of their partnership with Rockwell Automation, letting Rockwell be the front player in marketing the Cisco switch range? Rockwell branded Cisco switches differ from the standard IE3000 models as they have inbuilt feature sets and reference architectures tailored to Rockwell’s Integrated Architecture™ applications. Cisco also has a partnership with Honeywell as well (that one we hear even less off).
The IE3000 series targets industrial automation (with the familiar PLC DIN-rail mounted form factor design and the bells & whistles of extended environmental rating, convection cooling, alarm relays, surge/ noice immunity, 24VDC power etc.), outdoor video and transportation systems control, substation automation specifications (incl. IEC61850 and IEEE1613), railway, military and other unique environmental situations. It comes in 4 ports and 8 port versions with expansions modules and SFP transceivers.
Here is a video of the IE3000 as demonstrated by their product manager.
How they will fair remains to be seen … this is relatively an early stage of them entering the already abundant industrial switch marketplace. However, with their track record, I’ll never count them out. I liken them to the Goliath of the network world with a silent but deadly presence.
TIA’s (Telecommunications Industry Association) TIA-1005, the draft standard to help the interoperability of voice and data communications cabling for industry has received its final approval to be published.
The Industrial Cabling Sub-committee received approval to publish ANSI/TIA 1005, Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Industrial Premises, at the October TIA TR-42 TR-42.9 meeting held in Vancouver, BC. TIA-1005 was created to address new structured cabling concepts for industrial installations. Specifically, it addresses the potential exposure of cable to hostile environments, and special cabling system requirements. (Source: Superior Essex)
The standard would be a huge step towards gaining further traction for the use of Ethernet in factory production and manufacturing environments. It will address several areas like the installation and requirements of cables within harsh environments, helping enable the installation of telecommunications infrastructure on the plant floor and between manufacturing/ industrial buildings.
TIA-1005 will introduce a 2 pair cabling installation allowance, a huge difference from the current TIA-568-B 8 pair standard. Also expect the inclusion of cabling concepts for automating outlets, Cat 6 allowance in automation islands; and the definition of the factory floor, work area and automating island using the MICE model/ table.
Using the MICE model, there will be a designation of four environmental areas of which the cable will be subjected to:
Ingress ratings (protection ratings for the environment e.g. NEMA and IP)
Climatic issues (e.g. temperature, humidity, chemical variance, thermal shock)
Electromagnetic issues (e.g. RF, magnetic fields, transient ground)
The industrial areas and mixed environments are then classified based on the limits of MICE to form the following levels: Mice 1 (commercial/ office environments), Mice 2 (Light industrial/ work areas), and Mice 3 (the automation island/ heavy industrial). The work area would typically be where the control level hardware resides and the automation island would be where the plant floor machines reside. Automation islands are where the harshest environments reside. Duly note that these classifications are concepts and not mandatory requirements.
The TIA-1005 is based on existing cabling standards of ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-B, 606-A; TIA-5690B; ANSI-J-STD-607-A and ISO/IEC11801.
Yes, Cisco does make industrial switches (and I don’t mean the *old* 