The Industrial Automation Group of Advantech introduces the EKI-1524 Serial Device Server, which is the latest addition to the EKI-1500 family, allowing up to four RS-232/422/485 serial devices to be remotely monitored, managed and controlled over Ethernet and Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Equipped with dual 10/100Base-TX Ethernet ports and dual Media Access Controllers (MACs), this innovative device ensures data transmission even in the event of a network link failure.

Dual Ethernet LAN Redundancy: With redundant Ethernet connections, communication is not interrupted in the event of a network problem. With one connection automatically assigned as primary and the other as backup, loss of the primary connection initiates an immediate and automatic switch-over to the backup, ensuring data integrity and peace-of-mind.

Advanced Multi-Access Functionality and Low-Latency Processing: The EKI-1524 offers a number of conventional operating modes that allow connections to be initiated by either attached serial devices or remote Ethernet hosts using both UDP/IP and TCP/IP protocols. For applications beyond simple point-to-point connections, two new multi-access modes allow one-to-many and many-to-one communications. The first allows up to five Ethernet hosts to access a single serial device and the second allows a single serial device to simultaneously send data to as many as 16 Ethernet-connected hosts.

In addition to these exciting new features, serial transmission speeds have been increased to 921Kbps, allowing a much broader range of serial devices to be network enabled. More importantly, optimizations in serial to Ethernet handling have yielded an ultra fast round-trip latency of less than 10 milliseconds where network traffic is not an issue, allowing the use of timing-sensitive serial protocols and increased polling rates.

Transparent Access to Serial Devices: For easy integration with COM-port based Windows™ applications, included redirection software allows remote serial devices to be accessed just like a built-in COM-port. In the event of the primary network connection interruption, the redirection software automatically activates the backup connection, re-routing serial data over the secondary connection to ensure critical data delivery.

Ruggedized for Industrial Applications: Like the other members of the EKI Industrial Ethernet family, the EKI-1524 Serial Device Server is packaged in a compact and thin DIN-rail mount chassis. They are ruggedized for demanding industrial applications with 4,000 VDC Ethernet ESD protection, dual 12 to 48 VDC power inputs with power line surge (EFT) protection of 3,000 VDC, and feature an operating temperature range of 0 to 60° C to ensure system uptime.

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