Product category:
PCs and Embedded Systems
News Release from: B and B Electronics Manufacturing Company | Subject: ESP901/ESP902/ESP904 serial servers
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 25 November 2004
Serial servers distribute multiple
messages
B and B Electronics has enhanced its family of serial servers, so now serial data can be sent over intranets or the Internet to up to eight client locations anywhere in the world.
Millions of industrial devices are configured by serial ports, but serial ports are fast disappearing from new PCs To solve this problem, B and B Electronics has enhanced its family of serial servers, so now serial data can be sent over intranets or the Internet to up to eight client locations anywhere in the world
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 5 Jan 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Life's a beach for datacommunications
A sandy beach might be a strange location for a production control computer, but that's what the cover of the new datacommunications catalogue from B and B Electronics shows.
Industrial Ethernet serial servers star in Chicago
The ESR series of industrial Ethernet serial servers will make its world debut on booth 4705 at US National Manufacturing Week from 7th to 10th March 2005 in Chicago.
"Each of our Vlinx serial servers is now a multicast/unicast web server, so that not only can users configure devices from anywhere in the world, but serial messages can be distributed to multiple computers at once".
"This greatly expands the possibilities in a complex system", says Mike Fahrion of B and B Electronics.
"A sensor can send its data to multiple users, and multiple people can request information from the sensor".
"That kind of diagnostic capability was not previously possible".
The ESP901/ESP902/ESP904 serial servers can use either the UDP or TCP protocol to communicate with multiple hosts.
UDP dispenses with error checking in favour of speed.
TCP opens and closes sockets and does error checking for more reliable, but lower speed, datacommunications.
The TCP option allows up to eight client connections.
Specific connections can be used as alarms, triggering an appropriate response from a remote client, even thousands of miles away.
Serial networks up to 1.2km long and with 32 devices can pass their data to a computer anywhere and the remote PC "thinks" the devices are local.
Other benefits include configurable TCP or "time out" options for all devices.
This can be set to recognise the absence of serial data or Ethernet communications.
Once the timeout is reached the unit will automatically make itself available for a new connection, with no human intervention.
Another new feature is a "forced transmit" function which sends accumulated data across the network at preset intervals, as determined by the user.
B and B customers report that the web-based configuration tool can be used with any browser and is very easy to use.
"When things go bump in the night, people sure like logging in from their home PC instead of pulling on their jeans and driving through the snow", Fahrion adds.
"Virtually any device with a serial port can be accessed this way".
• B and B Electronics Manufacturing Company: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
