What is an Industrial Ethernet Switch?
An industrial Ethernet switch is a type of network switch that is built to withstand the demands of industrial use. Industrial-grade network equipment is required for oil rigs, railways, manufacturing plants, and other applications that must withstand a wide range of temperature, humidity, vibration, electrical noise, and physical contamination (oil, water sprays).
To achieve the goal of improved operations, today’s digital transformation initiatives necessitate data connectivity throughout the architecture. These demands entail the extraction of useful information from devices, assets, and processes. This is required not only to automate processes, but also to offer information from auxiliary activities like energy management, environmental monitoring, and associated performance indicators, all of which have the potential to improve operations. OEMs are increasingly relying on industrial Ethernet capabilities to create value, differentiate offers, gain a competitive edge, and satisfy customer demands for Industry 4.0 and Industrial IoT (IIoT).
Industrial automation engineers adapted Ethernet to meet the strict, deterministic-network requirements of manufacturing automation environments and industrial networking solutions, resulting in industrial switches.
Types of Industrial Ethernet Switches include:
Unmanaged switches
Managed switches
Rackmount switches
Hardened Ethernet Switches
While 5G networks have a lot of potential in the future, industrial Ethernet wireline networks are the present technology of choice for connecting industrial and infrastructure applications. In comparison to legacy Fieldbus and most contemporary wireless options, Ethernet’s benefits in essential performance categories such as speed, bandwidth, and capacity remain appealing.
Ethernet technology continues to evolve, extending its reach and capabilities. Faster speeds, more bandwidth, higher wattage PoE (Power over Ethernet), and the promise of standard real-time deterministic Ethernet are only a few of the most significant improvements.
From cloud-centric systems to ones that increasingly rely on the industrial edge, digital transformation techniques have changed. Customers are looking to the edge to overcome issues with latency, bandwidth, OT protocol support, and security that cloud-centric methods have. As a result, methods like “edge where you can; cloud where you must” emerge.
The edge idea is changing in response to more nuanced edge-to-cloud linkages, including continued tiering into a connectivity-centric “thin edge” vs. a compute-and-storage-oriented “thick edge,” which is defined by increased capability inherent in devices like industrial edge servers.
With continuous reliance on gateways, routers, and thick edge devices for edge-to-cloud integration and edge computing, industrial Ethernet switches (IES) will stay firmly planted in their connection position at the thin edge of this evolving multi-tiered stack. Most top IES vendors’ strategies reflect this, with many relying on thick edge devices for edge-to-cloud integration. Cisco, the market share leader, is an exception, with its IOx edge compute platform offered in its IE 4000 switches and across its network infrastructure portfolio.
The Network Infrastructure Tier is Continually Changing
Due to ongoing technological growth and standardization, the thin edge or connection tier is undergoing significant changes. This is true not only in terms of the growing number of devices available that meet industry-specific requirements in segments like transportation (EN50155), electric power T&D (IEC 61850-3), and surveillance (PoE), but also in terms of technology areas like Gigabit Ethernet, Time-Sensitive Networks (TSN), Industrial IoT, and network management, to name a few.
The reach and capabilities of industrial Ethernet systems are expanding as Ethernet technology advances. Suppliers are reacting by developing switches that enable GB, 2.5 GB, and 10 GB speeds, as speed and bandwidth continue to rise. PoE standards, which are critical for powering edge devices like wireless access points and video cameras used in surveillance applications, are also evolving, with devices that support the new 90-watt IEEE 802.3bt standard, which was ratified in 2018, currently on the market.
