OPC Server Software monitors remote switches.

Press Release Summary:




N-View(TM) OPC Server and switch firmware can create network remote monitoring system. Software automatically acquires switch data points from N-View switches in network. Each switch records and transmits 5 switch status variables and 42 different port variables including status, packet traffic, and packet error information. OPC client software and HMI packages can be used to view, alarm, trend, and gather historical network data using switch variables.




Original Press Release:



N-TRON(TM) Introduces N-View(TM) OPC Server Software and N-View(TM) Switch Firmware Option for all N-Tron Layer 2 Switches



The N-TRON(TM) N-View OPC Server and switch firmware in combination with OPC Client software can be used to create a complete network remote monitoring system

Highlights
o N-View OPC Server Software automatically acquires switch data points from all N-View Switches in the Network.
o All N-Tron Switches ordered with the N-View option transmit switch and port data points periodically.
o Each switch records and transmits 5 switch status variables and 42 different port variables including Port status, Port bandwidth Packet traffic and Packet Error information.
o Variables of all N-Tron N-View capable switches can be accessed from remote locations on the same network. OPC Client ready Software and HMI packages can be used to view, alarm, trend and gather historical network data using switch variables.

July 29, 2002 - Mobile, AL - N-TRON Corp. announced its latest product family, the VIEW OPC Server and N-View firmware equipped switches.

N-View OLE for Process Control (OPC) Switch Firmware
The N-TRON(TM) N-View(TM) OLE for Process Control (OPC) Server Software will work with industry standard OPC Client software and most popular Human Machine Interface (HMI) Packages to provide complete network traffic and status monitoring for N-Tron 202MC-N, 405TX-N, 405FX-N, and 900B-N Industrial Switches with the N-View Firmware. N-Tron Industrial Ethernet Switches offer outstanding performance, and ease of use. They are ideally suited for connecting Ethernet enabled industrial and/or security equipment requiring mission critical reliability. The N-View OPC Server in combination with one or more of our industrial switches will add complete network visibility to an HMI Control and Monitoring application.

N-View Switch Firmware
N-Tron Switches with the N-View firmware upgrade (part numbers ending in -N) will autocast a small Ethernet packet periodically containing a port-by-port status of the switch. This information includes 5 switch level data points and 42 data points per port. The data is captured by the N-View OPC Server Software and can be displayed by application software running in the same Windows environment with OPC Client capability.

Ease of Use
The N-TRON(TM) N-View Software includes the OPC Server and a configuration software utility. The configuration software will automatically search the network for all N-View enabled switches using MAC addresses to identify each switch. The unique IEEE MAC address can be selected and assigned a 128 character alias name. Meaningful alias names can also be added to all ports using the configuration software. The switch and port alias names can be saved and used by the N-View OPC Server as part of the switch variable names. The alias names can be used to help identify the location of the switch and the areas or equipment connected to the ports.

N-View OPC Data Variables
N-View OPC Server data variables can be accessed by most popular HMI or other application software packages with OPC client capability. These variables can be divided into three general categories.
Status variables indicate the operating condition of the switch or port. Traffic variables count the number of OCTETS (BYTES) of a specific type of Ethernet packet that have passed through a port since the start of the switch. Error variables count the number of packet errors seen at each port since the start of the switch.
N-View OPC variables are presented to the OPC Client application software as string variables. Most HMI software packages can convert these variables to the data type required for display, alarming, and trending during the data import process.

Price
N-View OPC Server site license is priced at $500. The N-View Switch Firmware Option adds $100 to the base price of any of the N-Tron 202, 400, and 900 Series Switches.

Availability
N-View produces are available immediately from N-TRON's worldwide network of distributors. For a distributor near you, contact N-TRON at 251-666-9878 or visit our web site at www.n-tron.com.

N-TRON Corp.
N-TRON Corp. develops, manufactures, and markets highly reliable industrial network products designed to solve the most demanding communications requirements for mission critical industrial, data acquisition, Ethernet I/O, and control applications. Our customers are engineering and information technology professionals who require Ethernet products to operate in industrial environments with high throughput and minimum downtime.

N-TRON Internet Address: www.n-tron.com

© 2002 N-TRON, Corp. N-TRON and the N-TRON logo are trademarks of N-TRON, Corp. Product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective company.

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