Buy one CISCO training course place and get a second half price!

As organisations recognise the value of converging the industrial plant floor with their IT infrastructure, the gap in the skills that are required to manage such a convergence is becoming apparent. 

Before organisations can realise the significant benefits to be achieved in quality, safety, timeliness and customer satisfaction, their Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) professionals need to understand the significant complexities of the converged environment.

Together, Rockwell Automation and Cisco have developed a training and certificate portfolio that is optimised for each side of the equation, IT and OT, providing the skills that are required to securely converge the network architecture with maximum efficiency and return on investment, enabling organisations to transform their business and gain a competitive edge. 

The training will be held at the Rockwell Automation Training Centre in Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes.

Courses and Training days: 

Managing Industrial Networks with Cisco Networking Technologies (IMINS)

Industrial Networking Specialist Exam

19-23 October 2015

Click here for more information

Managing Industrial Networks for Manufacturing with Cisco Technologies (IMINS2)

CCNA Industrial Exam

16-20th November 2015

Click here for more information 

£3517.50 combined cost including exam, which equates to a 25% saving – for a limited time! Only for October and November! 

Please contact CSM.Mailbox@routeco.com to book your place or request more information.

New White Paper helps simplify IP address management

Whether you are an Manufacturing facility, Machine Builder or System Integrator, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses within your Industrial Automation and Control System (IACS) application may need to be reused.

This whitepaper from Rockwell Automation and Cisco can help explain how to deploy network address translation within a converged plantwide ethernet architecture.

Cisco Systems and Rockwell Automation have produced the CPwE NAT architecture that is based upon industry standards. Network Address Translation (NAT) allows for the reuse of IP addressing without introducing a duplicate IP address error into your IACS application architecture.

The need for NAT is driven by both technology and business aspects. Design considerations allow end users to overcome common challenges where skid and machine builders use the same range of IP addresses for all machines produced. CPwE NAT aids both end users and OEMs in deploying a NAT-capable network through planning and design guidance, allowing for a network architecture optimised for IACS application needs.

For more information please contact us at info@routeco.com or visit our website at www.routeco.com

The whitepaper can be downloaded by clicking here.

Get the full value out of your network infrastructure with Stratix 5410

Getting the full value out of your network infrastructure is critical, especially in industrial environments where conditions can be extreme and high performance connectivity is required.

To address these challenges, Rockwell Automation offers the Allen-Bradley® Stratix 5410™ Industrial Distribution Switch with a 19” rack mount design to its existing line of Ethernet switches. With a rugged exterior, rear mounting capabilities and multiple fibre port options, this switch is an ideal solution for a centralised point of network distribution.

Features and benefits:

• 19” rack mount design for increased port density
• Platform with four 10-Gigabit uplinks and 24-gigabit downlinks for high performance network requirements
• Provides access switching and distribution layer routing capabilities for flexibility in designing network architectures
• Offers support for up to 12 ports of Power over Ethernet (PoE/PoE+) to help minimise hardware and cabling.

As part of the Stratix™ portfolio of products, the Stratix 5410 offers the same programming and support tools already familiar to both your Operations Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) professionals. With integration into Studio 5000 Automation Engineering and Design Environment, FactoryTalk View faceplates and Add-on Profiles can be leveraged for simplified configuration and monitoring. This optimised level of integration helps you experience easier commissioning and faster diagnostics retrieval.

The full range of Stratix products are available on the Routeco website here.

For more information contact us at info@routeco.com, 0370 607 1000 or visit our website at www.routeco.com

Extension to Rockwell Automation’s Stratix 5400 portfolio

Rockwell Automation is extending the existing Stratix portfolio of industrial network infrastructure products to include a switch with an all Gigabit (GE) platform.

The Allen-Bradley Stratix 5400 industrial managed switch supports layer 2 switching and layer 3 routing with GE Power over Ethernet (PoE) and additional GE fibre ports, which enhance scalability for use in various applications.

This addition to the portfolio exhibits increased versatility with the ability to support multiple network configurations. When used as a layer 2 switch, the Stratix 5400 is an ideal solution for heavy industry applications where dual ring architectures are required or where high performance end devices, such as video or telephony, are needed.

When acting as a Layer 3 switch, routing is enabled between segmented networks for better performance and protection from unwanted network traffic. Segmenting the network helps to ease network changes, to simplify network security management by building domains of trust and to increase efficiency.

By choosing a switch co-developed by Rockwell Automation and Cisco, your Operations Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) professionals leverage tools and technology that is familiar to them. By helping to provide optimised integration, you can experience easier commissioning and faster diagnostics retrieval.

The Stratix 5400 range is available to purchase online here.

For more information please contact us at info@routeco.com or visit our website at www.routeco.com

Simplify the integration of machines into your existing network

Increasing use of EtherNet / IP in industrial automation means that there is an increasing need to properly manage machines on the network while ensuring change processes are easy to manage.

The new Allen-Bradley 1783 Network Address Translation (NAT) router helps deliver standard machines to end users without programming unique IP addresses. With reduced installation and configuration activity the Allen-Bradley 1783-NATR enables machines to be added, moved or replaced with little or no configuration. 

Being able to access real-time data is important. To produce and provide data, machines need to integrated into the broader network where information can be analysed and sent to the right place at the right time. The Network Address Translation provides flexibility to segment or isolate network traffic by determining which devices are exposed to the larger network. Furthermore, being able to isolate access to certain devices can help to optimise local network performance. 

Users are able to configure the device by using a module web page and/or EDS AOP using Studio 5000 Automation Engineering & Design Environment™.

Key Features: 

• Uses simple 1:1 Network Address Translation (NAT) to map IP addresses on the machine subnet to IP addresses on the control network
• Configurable via web page and/or Electronic Data Sheets (EDS) Add-on Profile (AOP)
• Simplified device backup and restore via SD card storing configuration
• Support both Linear and Device Level Ring (DLR) topologies on the machine network
• Designed for equipment in packaging, conveyor and process applications with machines that contain up to 32 Ethernet nodes

The Allen-Bradley 1783-Nat can be found here. 

For more information please contact us at info@routeco.com or visit our website at www.routeco.com

Protecting your electronics with Rittal enclosures

The main function of an enclosure is to protect electronic components and devices from aggressive media such as humidity, water, oil- contaminated ambient air, corrosive vapours and dust. 

In addition, heat is also troublesome for components in enclosures. If components are exposed to heat more than 10 Kelvins relative to the maximum permitted operating temperature, this can half the service life of components and the failure rate is doubled. 

Failure to provide protection will mean electronic components will inevitably fail and eventually lead to the shutdown of entire production systems. This can generate huge costs: from repairing the parts to the loss of earnings while production stops. 

With this in mind, Rittal have bundled their innovative enclosure, power distribution, climate control and IT infrastructure products together into a single system platform. Rittal’s Therm software and Therm App makes calculating the control requirements of individual enclosure assemblies easy.

As a system provider, Rittal is the world’s top system supplier of exceptionally effective, yet energy efficient and environmentally friendly climate control solutions, precisely tailored to your individual requirements. 

If you would like to find out more, Rittal have produced an enclosure cooling handbook which is available here. This includes chapters on the following: 
• Fundamental principles
• Active heat dissipation 
• Tips for project planning and operation 
• What is machine and process cooling?

For more information please contact us at info@routeco.com or visit our website at www.routeco.com