How to Choose The Right Industrial Ethernet Switch

Industrial Ethernet Switch are Ethernet devices that feature Industrial-grade reliability, advanced network security, easy management, withstand Extreme Temperatures and Electromagnetic Interference.

They are specifically designed with Industrial chip, support IP30/IP40 protection, aluminum alloy shell, Din-rail or Rack mount installation, fanless, EMC level 4 protection, DC12-48V or AC/DC220V power supply, and can operate at wide temperature range from -40 to 75°C , widely used in Industrial automation, Data Center Network, Intelligent Transportation System, Electric Power Industry, and new energy.

In addition to this, Managed type Industrial switch can also provide some other advanced network managed functions, such as: Ring redundancy technology (failure recovery time<20ms), VLAN, multicast, Quality of Service, Speed control, port mirroring, fault alarm and firmware remote update, also support CLI, WEB, Telnet, SNMP management.

Unmanaged switches are designed to plug-and-play, no configuration is required, usually used for smaller networks. on the other hand, managed switches provide advanced managed functions like VLAN, Quality of Service, Redundancy, SMMP, allow you to manage, configure, and monitor the settings of your LAN, often used in the core layer in a network.

Here are some difference between Managed Switches and Unmanaged Switches:

Commercial Switches are widely used in many fields, including residential and commercial buildings, healthcare, retail, and IT & telecommunication. Industrial switches are very different in terms of components, performance, anti-interference, applicable temperature, power supply selection, and installation methods.  

The main difference between Industrial Switches and Commercial Switches are as follows:

● Operating Voltage

Industrial switches support a wide operating voltage range, which can support DC12-48V or AC/DC220V. Commercial switches usually only support 220V.  

● Power Supply

Industrial network switches support redundant dual power supplies, one of which serves as a backup, while the commercial type is basically a single power supply.

● Installation method

Industrial switches adopt Din-Rail or Rack-mount installation, while Commercial type generally use Rack-mount or Desktop installation.

● Link failure recovery time

The Managed Industrial switches use MW-Ring network redundancy technology, and the failure recovery time less than 20ms, commercial switch takes 30s to 1min.

● Working temperature

Industrial Switch can withstand extremely operating temperature range from -40 to 75 °C, and commercial switch generally support 0-40°C.

● Others

Industrial-grade switches are designed with high quality components, much better than commercial grades in terms of heat dissipation, electromagnetic compatibility, dust resistance, and service life.

Understanding the Feature, Performace, Cost and Application of network switches will help you find the best solution for your project. Hereby, we would like to recommend 5 type of Industrial Ethernet Switches for your reference.

● Unmanaged Switches

Unmanaged Switches are typically used for simply connectivity. they're designed to be plug and play, not necessarily need to be configured or watched, simple and easy to set up.

An industrial Ethernet network may include many nodes, hundreds of cables and other device like serial converters, routers, protocol converters, and Serial to Ethernet, Ethernet Media Converter and SFP Transceivers. when you start a new project, you need to know which Ethernet Switch is the best choice.

There are some questions you need to ask before choosing a suitable switch for your application.

The following video will show you how to connect an Industrial Ethernet Switch.