Cisco's industrial Ethernet switch goes mil rugged

Product

October 17, 2011

John M. McHale III

Editorial Director

Military Embedded Systems

Cisco Systems routers and switches certainly provide value in many industrial or benign computing scenarios.

Cisco Systems routers and switches certainly provide value in many industrial or benign computing scenarios. And while Cisco’s IE-3000 Ethernet switch was viable in the applications for which it was originally crafted – like the utility substation or factory floor – it needed more ruggedization for the harsh environments encountered in the military. To the rescue is Parvus Corporation’s DuraNET 3000, a ruggedized iteration of the Cisco IE-3000 Ethernet switch. Designed with C4ISR situational awareness and extreme military environments in mind, DuraNET 3000 is suited for shipboard, airborne, and vehicle use. And this ruggedized version of the Cisco switch provides the same pluses as its foundation Cisco tech: Best-in-Class Layer 2 LAN IOS. And Layer 3 IP Services IOS Software Support is provided as an alternative.

IOS management is extensive and includes voice, video, and data features to further security and high availability. The too-long-to-write-here list of IOS management specifics includes CLI over Serial, advanced routing protocols, Cisco Device Manager over Web Browser, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), multicast routing, Layer 3 IP Services Support Inter-VLAN Routing, Cisco Network Assistant, and many more.

Meanwhile, ruggedization is built-in for withstanding shock, thermal, and vibration per MIL-STD-810, and the aluminum chassis is sealed to prevent EMI, dust, or water infiltration. Temperatures of -40 °C to + 71 °C (fanless operation, sans any moving parts) are no problem for DuraNET 3000, which offers reliable network connectivity via circular MIL-DTL-38999 connectors. Not only that … interfaces include an RS-232 console and 2x GbE uplink ports plus 8x, 16x, or 24x Fast Ethernet ports.