Amplicon sells first 6KL Industrial Ethernet switch in Europe

The 6KL is one of the lowest cost modular Industrial Ethernet switches available on the market. Modularity means system integrators and OEMs can settle on one style of switch for a wide variety of applications keeping installer training and spares provision simple and cost-effective.

The compact 6KL base unit comes as standard with four 10/100 copper ports, which can be specified as either regular or Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. Users can add up to four 100Mb fibre ports (for either singlemode or multimode operation) or up to four additional 10/100 copper ports (which again can be PoE ports), or combinations of the two. In addition to these 8 ports, users can specify up to two gigabit (Gb) ports, configured either as SFP ports or as 10/100/1000 copper ports.

David Evans, Product Development Manager at Amplicon commented:
“Garrettcom have always been synonymous with quality but have not always met the right price point for cost-sensitive applications in the building controls or security markets. As Garrettcom’s premier distributor in the UK, the 6KL gives us a truly industrial grade product that is not only flexible but lists at a very attractive price.”

The 6KL comes as standard with Garrettcom’s MNS-6K managed switch software, proven in thousands of hardened applications over ten years of service. Ease of use is assured through its graphical user interface, and the software provides powerful features such as secure web management, SNMPv2/v3 management, 802.1p QoS prioritisation, tag-based VLANs, IGMP Snooping and IGMP-L2 multicast management and port security. Where extra security is important, Garrettcom’s MNS-6K-SECURE software is available, adding security features such as SSH, RADIUS and TACACS+ support, SFTP, DHCP Server, Syslog events, TFTP and SNTP.

Users also get a choice of software redundancy options including RSTP-2004 with industry-leading fault recovery times in rings and meshes, and Garrettcom’s own S-Ring product which supports unmanaged switches as part of resilient rings.

The 6KL features a hardened steel case enclosure that offers IP52 environmental protection as standard. The innovative design of the steel case also serves as a heat sink for effective heat dissipation, so no fan is required. For use in highly aggressive environments, the 6KL is available with conformal coating: options include a light duty coating for use in high humidity, and a heavy duty coating allowing the switch to be used in oil and gas industry applications, and in pharmaceuticals manufacturing plants. The 6KL also meets IEC-61850 and IEEE 1613 environmental standards for use in electric power substations.

The flexibility of the 6KL also extends to its power supply and mounting options. Power options include AC, 12V, 24V, 48V and 125V DC, as well as dual source DC. A universal AC power supply is also available. For mounting, panel-mount brackets are included as standard, and the 6KL can also be DIN-rail mounted.