Challenge:

The customer – a leading global provider of industrial automation power, control, and information solutions required connectivity that would accommodate their customers who have widely dispersed and disparate network environments with a mix of 10Mb and 100Mb Ethernet devices. Seamless support of either Ethernet standard became a necessity. Therefore, the company determined that a 10/100Mb Ethernet auto switching capability was essential for their product.

Two significant challenges faced the company’s design team. First, the small “footprint” of their product packaging made the task of finding a networking solution that would fit into the product design very daunting. In addition, time-to-market was a driving factor. In a highly competitive market, they needed to deliver their network enabled controller products as quickly as possible, and could not afford long development cycles to integrate networking capabilities. Could Lantronix^® provide a quick time to market and cost effective solution?

Key Requirements:

	10/100Mb Ethernet auto switching capability was required for their interface
	Quick time-to-market was critical in a highly competitive market
	Ease-of-implementation – solution must fit into product design easily
	Reduce development costs and engineering resources
	Upgrade network form 10Mb to 100Mb Ethernet

The Solution: Lantronix xPort Embedded Ethernet Device Server

Selecting xPort to provide Ethernet/IP connectivity enables the company’s network interface to perform key tasks such as uploading/downloading programs, communicating between controllers, generating e-mail alerts via SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol), and more. xPort’s optional 256-bit standards-based encryption assures optimal security for communications.

A significant advantage was its compact size and the ease with which it was integrated into the network interface. Using xPort, the product designers and engineers did not need to spend upwards of 48 months of labor and hundreds of thousands of dollars in development time becoming experts on Ethernet and writing an IP stack. They simply purchased an integrated solution from Lantronix.

Because xPort virtually “dropped” into the product design, the product engineers did not have to significantly modify the product to add network connectivity. Another significant factor was the need for higher speed 100Mb data transmission. xPort provided much faster performance than the previous network connectivity solution the company had been using.

Lantronix xPort Application – Networking Module

Results:

	Quick-time-to market allowing for a competitive advantage
	Significantly reduced development time which saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor
	Enterprise level security options including a 256-bit standards-based encryption assures optimal security for communications
	Ease of integration into their product interface, ability to generate e-mail alerts via SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol)
	Compact size virtually “dropped” into the product design, added network connectivity without significant modifications
	Higher speed of data transmission and provided much faster performance

About the Lantronix xPort

Full Networking in a Tiny Package – xPort embedded Ethernet device server removes the complexity of designing network connectivity into a product by incorporating all of the required hardware and software inside a single embedded Ethernet solution. Smaller than your thumb, it includes all essential networking features, including a 10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet connection, proven operating system, an embedded web server, e-mail alerts, a full TCP/IP protocol stack, and 256-bit AES encryption for secure communications. This easy-to-embed networking processor module enables engineers to focus on their core competency while reducing development time and cost and increasing product value.

Lantronix xPort Key Benefits:

	Minimal engineering effort required to web-enable virtually any electronic device
	Remote command and control of edge devices
	256-bit AES encryption for secure communications
	EMC/EMI-compliant; RoHS-complaint
	Single Rj45 package

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For more information on the xPort Embedded Ethernet Device Server.