Using Ethernet in a Manufacturing Plant? Photos of Something You Might NOT Want To Do…

I visited a manufacturer customer recently (I’ll refrain from mentioning their name to protect the guilty – you’ll see in a moment) and received a tour from their IT lead for the manufacturing plant. Read more »

New RSP Switches Offer Zero Switchover Time for Harsh Environments

For mission critical applications, it is vital that there be no downtime. To enable maximum network availability for critical applications in the toughest of environments, Belden recently released the Hirschmann RSP Switches.

So how to the RSP Switches meet the requirements of harsh mission-critical environments?

The RSP Switches support the new IEC-standard redundancy protocols, which make them ideal for environments such as electricity distribution, mechanical engineering, production or security, where uninterrupted data communications in environments are a requirement. The RSP switches support the parallel redundancy protocol (PRP) and high-availability seamless redundancy (HSR), which provide failover times of 0ms. These protocols are based on the IEC62439 standard. Read more »

Our New C(UL)/UL Tray-rated Fieldbus Cables for Harsh Environments

fieldbus_cables_blogIf you’re looking for reliability for your fieldbus network in harsh environments such as the oil sands of Canada and other oil, gas and petrochemical operations, Belden has released the perfect cables for you. Belden has expanded its line of FOUNDATION Fieldbus cables with Type A C(UL) and UL tray-rated cable. The cables comply with both Canadian and US regulatory requirements and meet the Fieldbus IEC 61158-2 (ISA/SP-50) specification.

Standard single and multi-pair cables are available with an easily identifiable orange jacket, or a blue jacket for Intrinsically Safe (IS) applications. They are UL approved for direct burial, are oil and sunlight resistant, RoHS compliant and CE approved. XLP insulation provides additional physical enhancements of the conductors including better cut through and chemical resistance. Read more »

Networking Cables for Harsh Environments Webinar

ind_cablesDo you believe that all networking cables are equal? 

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, your answer is certainly “No.”  

In particular, harsh environments require that networking cables be built to meet the environmental challenges in order to insure signal transmission quality. Environmental hazards include EMI, chemicals, water, crushing, flex and temperature extremes.

So what should you look for in a cable to stand up to these hazards?

Frank Koditek, our product line manager – industrial cables, will present exactly what you should look for in the upcoming Cabling Installation & Maintenance Magazine Webinar: Cabling for Industrial and Other Harsh Environments.   Read more »

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