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Lean Managed Switches – Practical Tip – Control Cabinet Manufacturing

13 October 2020

Lean Managed Switches – Easy Network Diagnostics in the Control Cabinet

The new lean managed switches: for greater network availability and reliability.

In the age of Industry 4.0, Ethernet-based bus systems offer a powerful communication infrastructure in control cabinet manufacturing for robust, reliable installation of networks. Ethernet switches have proven especially efficient – powerful interfaces that receive data in a packet, process it and pass it on to multiple devices in a local area network.

WAGO’s portfolio of switches offers a variety of products to help control cabinet manufacturers cope with the increase in networking in the industrial and building sectors. All new: lean managed switches, whose selling points include easy DIN-rail installation and intuitive configuration – no special IT skills required. These switches increase the reliability and availability of the application and offer a range of functions, particularly for network diagnostics.

The Right Type of Switch for Every Control Cabinet

WAGO’s selection of switches provides various unmanaged and managed switch types and designs for your application.

General Benefits

Powering PoE terminal devices through PoE+
Isolated communication with fiber optic cables up to 80 km
100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s versions
Broad temperature range
Easy DIN-rail mounting in control cabinets

Unmanaged Switches

Unmanaged switches are often used to connect small independent networks consisting of only a few components. They can easily be coupled to the network without additional IT expertise (a plug-and-play model). LEDs allow local diagnostics in the control cabinet. WAGO’s unmanaged switches withstand extreme external conditions (temperatures, vibrations, impacts), contributing to a cost-effective, reliable network.

Managed Switches

The efficiency advantages of managed switches are especially apparent when demands increase on network management, availability, reliability and diagnostics in the automation system. WAGO’s managed switches can be securely integrated into many systems via application-specific protocols. For example, certificate-based authentication can be used to restrict network access to selected subscribers. Redundancy protocols also allow error-free communication even when there are defective cables or decentralized power outages in the network, increasing availability. It is also possible to limit bandwidths and, for instance, detect incorrectly mated cables – a function that makes the network more robust.