Like many industrial processes, applications in the food and beverage industry often depend on seamless processes and reliable data communication. Every machine is networked, and the network cannot go down. The people charged with monitoring and troubleshooting those connections, however, can’t be everywhere at once. Now, there’s an app for that.
Belden has introduced a mobile app called HiMobile that lets network administrators to be virtually everywhere at once keeping the network running. HiMobile runs on browser-enabled smartphones and tablets using the Apple, Android or Windows Phone operating systems. “This app improves network availability by allowing users to access status information about switches from almost anywhere—enabling administrators to respond immediately to error messages even without a PC,” says Product Manager Mark Cooksley.
Used with Belden’s Industrial HiVision network management software, the HiMobile app enables mobile monitoring of network devices. The management software acts as the server and the app as the client. Access to the server is possible via WLAN, Ethernet or a 3G mobile connection, and can be protected by a password.
To avoid typing errors on the smaller keypads used on these devices, Cooksley says, IP addresses also can be entered by scanning a QR code affixed to the switches, or users can select network devices from lists.
The latest version of Industrial HiVision, version 5.1, enables faster and easier configuration of firewalls and wireless devices. For example, a user can configure hundreds of devices simultaneously, even on a live network. Also, using Belden’s MultiConfig parameters, firewalls with varying rules can be configured together.
HiVision can manage very large or complex networks. The largest control network built in one phase in the Middle East, for example, includes more than 1,000 network nodes. It uses the HiVision centralized network management to ensure that no network failure will interrupt communications.
Belden engineers are aware that the accessibility gained through mobile technology must be balanced by attention to security. Therefore, the status information for network devices obtained via HiVision is read-only and cannot be updated. To make changes to the network, a mobile worker needs to log in to the full version of Industrial HiVision, says Cooksley.
In a related security announcement, Belden says, “We have evaluated our products across all Belden brands, including Belden, Hirschmann, GarrettCom, Tofino Security and Grass Valley, and we are not susceptible to the Heartbleed vulnerability.” The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability in the OpenSSL cryptographic software library that allows stealing the information protected, under normal conditions, by the SSL/TLS encryption used to secure the Internet. SSL/TLS provides communication security and privacy over the Internet for applications such as web, email, instant messaging (IM) and some virtual private networks (VPNs).
