Server speeds switch to industrial Ethernet

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 30, 2003

The Digi Connect ME allows manufacturers of traditional serial data acquisition and control instrumentation to easily convert their existing product offerings to industrial Ethernet connectivity.

Entrix Computing is experiencing a surge of interest from control and instrumentation manufacturers since Digi International released the Digi Connect ME.

Described as "the next step forward for industrial Ethernet" by Peter Brearley, Sales Manager at Entrix, the Connect ME allows manufacturers of traditional serially based data acquisition and control instrumentation to easily convert their existing product offerings to industrial Ethernet connectivity.

In a unit with a board footprint of just 37 x 19mm and a height of 19mm are packed a 32bit processor and a wealth of features such as 931Kbaud communication rate, 256bit encryption, 2Mbit of Flash memory and 8Mbit of RAM.

Industry leading features such as five general-purpose I/O pins and compatibility with powered Ethernet are also incorporated.

As these dimensions include the RJ45 connector socket as well, this is a truly miniaturised device server.

According to Digi, "Customers can now add embedded network connectivity to products in less than 30 days, without requiring a time consuming and expensive printed circuit board modification".

"The Digi Connect ME is the first single component product to combine 32bit performance and flexibility with the size and price previously afforded to commodity level 8 and 16bit solutions", said Joel Young, Vice President of Device Server Products at Digi International.

"It provides the perfect vehicle for migrating applications to advanced network connectivity while simultaneously preserving existing investment".

Digi Connect ME is a future-safe product line that fully protects a company's design investment.

Customers can design a solution once, and then re-use the software as they migrate from external Ethernet connectivity solutions to fully integrated Ethernet processors, while delivering performance levels that meet the needs of today and extend well into the future.

The plug and play capabilities of the Digi Connect ME make it easy to enhance the productivity of a device by adding networking technology in a cost effective manner, while simultaneously giving a customer access to the full complement of application creation and customisation options available with the NetSilicon NS7520 microprocessor, and NET+Works development tools.

Revolutionary component mounting and connectivity options allow the ME to be mounted on a chassis or product enclosure.

Out of the box, the Digi Connect ME has unique and industry-leading features.

Not only does it include complete support for the common set of networking protocols and services, it also includes breakthrough capabilities like optional power pass-through via the network interface, enabling a device to be powered over the Ethernet cable.

It also includes device management and control capabilities like five general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, a customisable web interface with application-specific Java applet support, SMTP email alerts and full configuration and management via SNMP.

Finally, it is the first to support a truly interoperable, standards based security framework using SSL/TLS and up to 256bit AES encryption.

The product also delivers industry leading low latency, high throughput and customisable web pages.

"This product is a perfect example of Digi's ability to provide solutions which make device networking easy while also giving our customers the power to customise the product to meet their individual needs now, and in the future", said Joe Dunsmore, CEO and President of Digi International.