MEN produces rugged Ethernet switches designed for mission critical applications in harsh environments like rail, marine, and industry. Their switches range in size from small board-level switches with 4 ports up to modular 19" rack systems with 28 ports. They address open standards and can be customized to meet unique customer needs. MEN's switches are designed to save customers costs through their ruggedness, long lifecycles, modularity, and ability to integrate with existing network management systems.

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November 29, 2017
9 Things to Know about MEN’s Rugged Industrial &
Railway Ethernet Switches

2. What are the Advantages of the MEN Switches?
Our Ethernet switch boards and
devices have been designed for
mission-critical applications in
harsh and mobile environments.
Whether CompactPCI or
CompactPCI Serial board-level,
modular 19“ system or compact
box switch – we at MEN focus on
the complete solution-oriented
offering of rugged embedded
computers for the rail and public
transport, avionics, heavy
vehicles, marine, medical,
industrial automation, and power
and energy markets.

3. MEN’s Ethernet Switch Portfolio is Quite Small –
What is their Position Compared to Competition?
From a board-level point of view, our switches are based on the modular 19”
CompactPCI Serial standard that allows us to scale the number of ports from 4, on
a single 3U board, up to 28 in a small 19” system. Line cards allow the flexibility to
select and mix RJ45, X-coded or A-coded M12 and SFP connectivity, using them
with or without PoE and PoE+ functionality. Also, our switch devices follow the
same flexibility principle.

4. Which Complexity of Network Applications are the
Switches Able to Serve?
Based on the standard switch configuration and management firmware from
MicroSemi (formerly Vitesse) our boards and devices cover the whole
performance range from small, cost-optimized networks with light management
and non-critical communication requirements, up to medium and big networks
with full-featured protocol flexibility, supporting VLAN, QoS, ring structures or
redundancy.

5. How do MEN’s Customers Profit from this Modularity?
The fact that up to this point we have not needed to apply custom-specific design
efforts – thus saving cost to the customer – allows us to deliver within short time.
As MEN produces the electronics in-house, we have developed a method to
produce small amounts in a very flexible way in order to handle the modularity of
the standard products – getting delivery times down to 2 weeks.
> Learn more about development and production processes at MEN!

6. Would MEN then Propose Full Custom Designs to
Customers at all?
For years we have also provided custom switch design for requests like
mechanical aspects, modification of the firmware, additional testing or
environmental qualifications. For our customers’ benefit, we develop custom
solutions based on open Ethernet standards in order to stay compatible with the
whole world of Ethernet hardware, software and protocols.
> More about customization at MEN

7. Which Open Standards do the Switches Address?
Basically, they address the following:
▪ 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Base-T and SX Ethernet copper and fiber standards
▪ ITU-T G.8032 and ITU-T G.8031 protection switching instead of proprietary
rings
▪ Commonly agreed protocols and interfaces that integrate in existing
management platforms (SNMP v1,2c,3 / RMON / sFlow / HTTP(s) / Telnet /
SSH / JSON etc)
And for the next generation:
▪ HSR/TSN switching and the IEC62439-3 protocol

8. Which Kind of Applications need Especially Rugged
Ethernet Switches?
We find these applications in
transportation – rail, road, air,
sea – and in industrial markets,
e.g. in robots. MEN’s standard
switch devices are all developed
and qualified for the railway and
public transport market. Unlike
somewhat industrial devices that
have only been adapted to train
requirements, MEN’s railway
switches are 100% compliant
with the EN 50155 norm – up to
the ultra-wide range class S2
power supply.

9. Is there is a Difference between
“Rugged” and “Rugged”?
If you do not consider temperature ranges and humidity or shock and vibration
being just numbers – yes.
One example: If your switch shall feature PoE as a power-sourcing device in a TX
temperature environment (up to +70°C/+85°C) and cooling with ventilation is not
allowed, you need to find a smart way of conductive cooling to transport the heat
away from the electronics.
Another example: The weakest points for typical railway vibrations are
connectors, sockets and – cables.

10. How can MEN Ethernet Switches Help to Save Costs?
Based on standard industry platforms and protocols, the switches are open to
communicate with standard hardware, firmware and software on the market –
avoiding a costly vendor-lock-in situation. Their ruggedness results in a reliable
operation, and thus a longer product life and a drastically reduced maintenance
overhead. Additionally, an efficient life-cycle management together with a
standard life cycle of 10 years and more reduces the total cost of ownership for
premature hardware replacements and software modification.
> Download the brochure to get detailed
information about the switch portfolio

11. www.men.de/ethernet-and-fieldbusses/
www.menmicro.com/ethernet-and-fieldbusses/
www.men-france.fr/ethernet-and-fieldbusses/