Electricity and Control August 2024

COVER ARTICLE

The Industrial Ethernet Network portfolio from Phoenix Contact

P hoenix Contact offers you more real time, more wireless, more security, and more reliability. Industrial Ethernet from Phoenix Contact can be easily integrated into your automation infrastructure – because we make Ethernet easy. Thanks to our many years of experience in automation and industrial Ethernet networks, we are familiar with and understand your expectations and requirements. This is evident and embodied in our products and solutions. Unmanaged switches vs Managed switches For years, unmanaged switches have been used almost exclusively in machine networks and at field level. There are undoubtedly good reasons for this, with the chief arguments usually being the price (managed switches often cost several times as much) and the user-friendliness of these switches (no network technology know-how required). However, many customers turn a blind eye to the disadvantages of unmanaged witches, or rather, they ignore the advantages of managed switches, which justify the extra cost from an economic point of view. In networks with unmanaged switches, it is only possible to access the end devices (such as PLCs, bus couplers, and suchlike) directly. Furthermore, only information about the components can be obtained, not about the network as a whole. However, in this era when more and more Ethernet

components are also being used in machine and production networks, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to diagnose every device, every connection, and every instance of data communication in detail at all times. Managed switches are the central source

of information here. The initially higher investment required for managed switches often proves to be worthwhile as soon as the first network failure and associated production downtime can be prevented or fixed more quickly. We at Phoenix Contact have an Industrial Ethernet Switch portfolio that comprises managed and unmanaged switches with Gigabit, PoE, IEC 61850 certification, and for DIN rail mounting. This gives you the flexibility to build powerful and secure networks, even in harsh environments: copper and FO ports, as well as redundancy functions, enable the flexible networking of your systems and the easy segmentation of your industrial network. □

For more information contact Phoenix Contact. Tel: +27 (0)11 801 8200

Email: info@phoenixcontact.co.za Visit: www.phoenixcontact.co.za

Phoenix Contact’s Industrial Ethernet Switch portfolio comprises managed and unmanaged switches.

AUGUST 2024 Electricity + Control

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