Cisco Unveils New Industrial Switch Series and New Industrial Organization

Cisco (www.cisco.com) announced the Industrial Ethernet (IE) 2000 switch series, a cornerstone product for the company’s Connected Industries business unit and industrial network offerings. The Cisco IE2000 industrial switch series will help customers build intelligent networks for industrial automation, delivering highly secure, scalable connectivity from plant floor to enterprise network.

The Cisco IE2000 switch series builds on the company’s enterprise networking expertise and existing Industrial Ethernet family of switches, delivering reliable and highly secure network connectivity to unique manufacturing environments.

According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI), by 2016, there will be nearly 2 billion machine-to-machine wireless connections--including GPS systems in cars and asset tracking systems in shipping and manufacturing sectors--demonstrating the need to more tightly connect and integrate devices, machines and vehicles with traditional enterprise networks. The resulting transition, which Cisco refers to as “The Industrialization of the Internet,” will accelerate the networking industry beyond the IT and service provider (SP) networks in industries such as manufacturing and transportation.

The Cisco IE2000 industrial switch series also provides highly secure remote access and monitoring of automated systems and offers intelligent energy management with visibility into machine performance to help customers better manage costs. The IE 2000 industrial switch interoperates corporate and manufacturing floor networks in a cost-effective manner to deliver video and corporate applications to manufacturing plant floor.

In an interview with Automation World, Cisco spokespeople referred to the new Connected Industries business unit that brings products and expertise from various units into one group in order to provide an integrated value add.

Maciej Kranz, vice president and general manager, Connected Industries business unit, Cisco, also said, “Major sectors of the economy are undergoing a transformation driven by new requirements around production and factory automation, traffic management, data analytics and machine-to-machine communication. Cisco’s Connected Industries business unit was created to help customers realize the benefits of the transition to Ethernet and IP across the operational technology segments including manufacturing plants, transportation infrastructure and vehicles.”