Belden Unveils Operating System Generation for Its Hirschmann Brand of Switches

With the new HiOS operating system, Belden has further extended the range of applications for the Industrial Ethernet switches in its Hirschmann product program: The performance of this operating system will set a new benchmark for the automation sector, says Product Manager Jürgen Schmid. It permits the use of intelligent infrastructures in time-critical applications, previously exclusively a 'hard-wired' domain, i.e. with point-to-point connections. In a transformer substation scenario, for example, this allows sensors and controllers to be securely connected to the network via Ethernet.

In addition to numerous management and diagnostic options, both the Standard and Advanced versions provide precise time synchronization compliant with IEEE 1588v2 plus a variety of redundancy protocols. With zero switchover times, the Parallel Redundancy Protocol and High-Availability Seamless Redundancy redundancy methods ensure smooth production processes. Comprehensive security mechanisms protect networks against attacks and operating errors, so also contributing to high network availability. On top of this, the Advanced version provides additional Quality of Service functions such as DiffServ, VLAN extensions, and security mechanisms such as Access Control List and IEEE802.1x Multi Client Authentication.

Both operating system versions can currently be used with switches belonging to the RSP, EES and MSP series. Moving forward, they will be employed in all new managed switches developed for the Hirschmann brand.

Supported by both the Standard and Advanced versions, management protocols include Telnet, SSHv2, HTTP, HTTPS, TFTP, SFTP, and SNMP v1/v2/v3. In addition to PRP und HSR, redundancy protocols also include MRP (Media Redundancy Protocol), Fast MRP, and RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol). Security mechanisms comprise MAC-based Port Security, Authentication (IEEE802.1x), Guest/unauthenticated VLAN, Radius Client, Restricted Management Access, Local User Accounts, various Privilege Levels, Management Authentication via Radius, Account Locking, configurable Password Policy and Login Attempts, Audit Trail, CLI/SNMP Logging, and HTTPS-certified Management.