40
XXX XXX
PRE-TERMINATED
CABLING
Industrial strength Ethernet
to transform manufacturing
and logistics
By Manish Sablok, Head of Field
Marketing North West and East
Europe, ALE
enterprise.alcatel-lucent.com
Manish Sablok, Head of Field
Marketing North West and East
Europe at ALE, looks at the key
issues for effective industrial
Ethernet deployment
From robotics to IoT, the varied nature of communications
technology and its incremental introduction means
that infrastructure can become a significant roadblock
to achieving peak efficiency and interoperability. A
collaborative effort between the manufacturing and
logistics industries is driving the adoption of an industrial
strength Ethernet-based unified standard for industrial
communications. But are network engineers fully prepared
for the unique challenges of managing and securely
operating industrial Ethernet?
Ethernet is the single technology that can provide a
method of communication capable of linking all operations
from plant floor to back office and administration
together. The flexible nature of Ethernet, which supports
many different data formats, eliminates communication
breakdowns between the growing number and, varying
types of industrial devices from monitoring sensors to
automated machinery.
These devices are now in need of being interconnected
as the IoT and robotics become more and more pervasive
in manufacturing. But connectivity needs to be delivered via
ruggedised switches that are fit for purpose in challenging
industrial environments.
New generation of switches
The manufacturing process is only as fast as its slowest
component, so ensuring maximum device interoperability
and efficiency should be made an absolute priority. It’s fast
and reliable connectivity that brings every aspect of the
warehouse or manufacturing plant together, and supports
the widespread robotics and automation that's deployed in
heavy industry.
In the modern plant or warehouse, all deployed LAN
switches should be capable of 10 Gigabit Ethernet
connectivity to support high rates of data transfer between
large numbers of devices and eliminate bottlenecking.
New switches now incorporate Power over Ethernet (PoE)
meaning small industrial devices such as sensors, wireless
www.networkseuropemagazine.com