RS, a trading brand of RS Group plc has introduced Red Lion’s N-Tron Series NT5000 gigabit managed Layer 2 Industrial Ethernet switches, which help maximize operating performance and uptime in harsh industrial applications. 

Red Lion’s new N-Tron Series NT5000 gigabit managed Ethernet switches are engineered for ease of use, security, and durability and suited for use in the factory automation, robotics, food and beverage, oil and gas, alternative energy, water and wastewater, marine, and rail industries. A configuration wizard and graphical dashboard simplify installation and setup; security features help administrators protect networks from unauthorized access; and a rugged design withstands harsh industrial environments. NT5000 switches are also available in a variety of configurations for broad application suitability. Options include six, eight, 10, 16, or 18 ports, all copper or copper and fiber optic connectivity (10/100/1000, 100/1000Base-T, Gigabit Fiber, and SFP), and compliance certifications. 

“Clear, comprehensive and fast network management is essential for organizations to achieve maximum uptime,” says Diane Davis, director of product management, networking, at Red Lion. “NT5000 switches are rugged, quick, and easy to set up and deploy, and secure. They keep industrial networks connected and protected and allow users to leverage their data, which can transform an operation over time.” 

N-Tron Series NT5000 switches feature a quick start wizard that walks administrators through switch configuration for fast deployment and has a fast-boot feature that passes traffic in less than 20 seconds. They also support text-based configuration files, which makes it easy for installers to copy the configuration of one device and load it onto other NT5000 switches on the network, and port mirroring, which allows users to duplicate the packets from one switch port on another switch port to troubleshoot issues and benchmark network performance. 

The graphical dashboard offers a view of the switch, including active ports, errors, temperature, contact relay status and color-coded gauges for port traffic. This allows users to identify and address possible network disruptions in real time and helps maximize uptime. It also enables port and tag configuration, which achieves complex VLAN configurations, and preconfigured N-Ring ports, which achieve N-Ring Auto-Member configurations.

Red Lion’s NT5000 switches include security features to help administrators protect networks from unauthorized access. Features include password encryption, MAC port security (HTTPS, SSH, SSL, and SNMPv3), configurable password lengths, an ability to define multilevel user privileges and disable unused protocols, and an event log or syslog that can automatically disable user or port credentials after a defined number of failed attempts. They also support 802.1X with RADIUS remote server authentication, which allows a centralized RADIUS server on the network to grant and remove port and user authorization.

Red Lion’s N-Tron Series NT5000 switches have compact metal enclosures with a temperature range extending from -40 degrees C to 85 degrees C, redundant power inputs from 10–49VDC, a configurable alarm contact, configurable bi-color fault status LEDs, LED port status indicators, reverse polarity protection and ESD and surge protection. They also withstand up to 15 g of vibration from 5–200Hz and up to 200 g of shock for 10 ms.