Walking around the 2013 Hannover Messe Faire can be a daunting task whether its navigating through the Hannover campus and its'  13 co-located tradeshows or figuring out which one of the broad range of special events, forums and key note speaking engagements to attend.  One thing is for certain.  The "Internet of Things", "The Integrated Industry" and "The Industrial Revolution 4.0"  themes all describe the evolution of connecting, embedding and extracting intelligence from previously unconnected devices. Although the industries can not come to a consensus on what to call this paradigm shift, one thing is for certain....The chosen protocol that's empowering this evolution isETHERNET.

The challenge lies in integrating Ethernet functionality into devices, machines or automation equipment that doesn't always conveniently fit into a1u, 2u, 3u, 4u...or DIN rail mounted enclosures.  Designers, integrators and machine builders need a flexible alternative to address the diverse applications, size and environmental considerations required to truly take advantage of deployinganytime, anywhere, any device connectivityto industrial automation applications.

Cisco is a pioneer in providing robust, and scalable embedded technology solutions.  Kevin Holcolmb, Cisco Technical Marketing Engineer, discusses our newESS 2020 Embedded Switch.  

With the understanding that "one box does not fit all," Cisco puts a ruggedized component of the Cisco Industrial Ethernet solution in a board form factor that customers/partners can easily integrate into their ruggedized casings.  The ESS 2020 was developed primarily for deployment in diverse and harsh environments typically experienced  in military, transportation, mining, public safety, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries.

These new embedded Ethernet switches provide easy to leverage Ethernet functionality and dramatically decrease the time it takes for an automation engineer to release an in-production design into a robust and scalable Ethernet-enabled product. Engineers are no longer required to learn a different technology (Ethernet), and can instead focus on their core expertise.  Thus improving time-to-market performance and saving in cost and complexity.

So unlock your imagination and deploy Ethernet where no switch has gone before.  The plight and success of The "Internet of Things", "The Integrated Industry"  and "The Industrial Revolution 4.0" is in your hands.

Happy Designing!!!!!