Chapter 1 Overview
1.1 Introduction
To create reliability in your network, the EKI-7657C comes equipped with a proprietary redundant network protocol—X-Ring that was developed by Advantech, which provides users with an easy way to establish a redundant Ethernet network with ultra high-speed recovery time less than 10 ms.
Aside from 7 x 10/100Base-TX fast Ethernet ports, the EKI-7657C comes equipped with 3 combo 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 copper ports or mini-GBIC expansion ports. Traditional RJ-45 ports can be used for uplinking wide-band paths in short distance (< 100 m), or the appropriate replaceable SFP module can be used for the application of wideband uploading and long distance transmissions to fit the field request flexibility. Also, the long MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) ensures that the EKI-7657C will continue to operate until a Gigabit network infrastructure has been established, without requiring any extra upgrade costs.
1.1.1The SFP Advantage
The EKI-7657C’s three SFP fiber slots provide a lot of flexibility when planning and implementing a network. The slots can accept any SFP-type fiber module and these modules are designed for transmitting over distances of either 500m (multi-mode), 10km, 30km, 50km, 70km or 110km (single-mode)—and the slots support SFP modules for WDM single-fiber transmissions. This means that you can easily change the transmission mode and distance of the switch by simply pulling out the SFP module and plugging in a different module. The SFP modules are hot-swappable and plug-and-play! Also, the fact that the switch has three of these slots, means that the network manager can, for example, have one 10km module in one slot and one 110km in the other.
1.1.2High-Speed Transmissions
The EKI-7657C includes a switch controller that can automatically sense transmission speeds (10/100 Mbps). The RJ-45 interface can also be auto-detected, so MDI or MDI- X is automatically selected and a crossover cable is not required. All Ethernet ports have memory buffers that support the store-and-forward mechanism. This assures that data is properly transmitted.
1.1.3Dual Power Input
To reduce the risk of power failure, the EKI-7657C provides +12 ~ 48 VDC dual power inputs. If there is power failure, EKI-7657C will automatically switch to the secondary power input.
1.1.4DIDO
EKI-7657C provides 2 digital inputs and 2 digital outputs. When disconnection of the specific port was detected, the digital output will activate the connected warning device to alarm the user. As for the digital inputs, they can integrate sensors into the system to issue alarms by sending Syslog, SMTP, or SNMP Trap.
