GarrettCom Magnum 6KM hardened mobile Ethernet switch

The newest member of the industrial-grade GarrettCom Magnum Switches product line, the GarrettCom Magnum 6KM Mobile Ethernet Switch, is built to withstand shock and vibration in harsh mobile environments, including railroad carriages, public service and emergency vehicles, mining equipment, shipboard, and military vehicles. Possible applications include in-carriage networking of IP-enabled infotainment systems, robotics, security and surveillance systems, and mobile network devices on trains, mobile command centers, light rail and busses, as well as passenger accommodation technology in a variety of scenarios. 

The switches have M12-type heavy-duty screw-type port connectors, technology borrowed from military equipment that is designed to stand up to mobile vibration.

“Interest in mobile access to IP communications is growing rapidly, but the only available switches to install in vehicular applications, other than high-priced water-tight military Ethernet switches, are ones with standard RJ45 ports, which do not stand up well to continuous vibration,” said Lee House, GarrettCom’s CTO. The GarrettCom 6KM GarrettCom stand up to extremes of temperature, dust and dirt, corrosion, power surges and electromagnetic interference and has “rugged M12 ports to withstand vibration and shock in an affordable package for many types of mobile applications,” House said.

The Magnum 6KM is designed to meet or exceed demanding industrial standards for mobile environments, including compliance with IEC 61373 and IEC 60068-2-27 specifications for withstanding shock, and with IEC61373, IEC 60068-2-6 FC specifications for withstanding vibration. In addition, the 6KM design complies with the EN50155 and EN50121-4 Railway Applications Standards, NEMA TS-2, and TEES for dc-powered and PoE-powered traffic control equipment, is DNV compliant for marine applications, is UL listed (UL 60950), and meets European CE and RoHS requirements.

The 6KM base unit has four 10/100 M12 copper ports (PoE optional). Configuration choices include two Gigabit ports (either M12 copper ports or LC-type fiber), and up to four 100Mb LC fiber ports, up to four additional 10/100 M12 copper ports, or combinations of the two.  

To protect sensitive electronics from even the harshest environments, the 6KM Mobile Ethernet Switch is packaged in a fully-enclosed steel case that acts as a heat sink, eliminating the need for movable parts such as fans, and providing high EMI noise immunity. It can withstand operating temperatures ranging from -40° to 195 °F (-40° to 85 °C) and has optional conformal coating for corrosive environments, and with an IP52 rating for dust and dirt resistance. Power input choices include ac or dc at 12 V, 24 V, -48 V, 110 V, 125 V, 250 V, and each with dual-source power input for redundancy. This powerful, small-footprint device is available with DIN-rail or panel mounting.

The Magnum 6KM comes with MNS-6K Managed Network Software, proven in tens of thousands of hardened applications over 10 years of service, according to GarrettCom. MNS-6K features GUI ease of use, secure web management, SNMPv2, v3 management, 802.1p QoS prioritization, tag-based VLANs, IGMP snooping and IGMP-L2 multicast management, port security, and a choice of software redundancy options including RSTP-2004 for fault recovery times using rings and meshes, and GarrettCom’s S-Ring product which supports unmanaged switches as part of resilient rings. Optional MNS-6K-Secure software adds more security features such as SSH, RADIUS and TACACS+ support, SFTP, DHCP Server, Syslog events, TFTP and SNTP Server, GarrettCom says.

Pricing and delivery

GarrettCom markets products through a direct sales force and a network of resellers, system integrators, manufacturers’ representatives, and international distributors. Prices for the Magnum 6KM Managed Switches start at $1,000, the company said in the May 24 announcement.

https://garrettcom.com/6km.htm.

About GarrettCom

GarrettCom Inc., Fremont, Calif., provides networking solutions for challenging industrial environments, including power utility substations, video surveillance, transportation, industrial automation, telecommunications, and water treatment facilities. The company’s products provide a comprehensive industrial network architecture encompassing a switched Ethernet core, distributed edge devices for both Ethernet and Serial protocols, and secured connections to various WAN services.

www.garrettcom.com

 See the Control Engineering Industrial Network channel.

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering content strategist, www.controleng.com

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