Industrial-strength switch line serves IP camera networks, other applications

A new series of environmentally hardened Ethernet switches from KBC Networks nicely fits the needs of IP camera networks as well as several other applications, the company says. The ES range of products includes switches that are managed and those that are unmanaged. Switches in the line have operating-temperature ranges between -40 degrees Celsius and +85 degrees Celsius as well as a protection-class rating of IP40. KBC says its entry-level set of unmanaged switches is suitable for straightforward IP camera systems. Higher up the product line's food chain are switches with fiber interfaces, embedded serial server data ports and small form pluggable (SFP) ports.

The company points out that security systems as well as other safety-critical systems rely on high-speed recovery, unlike many other networking systems that can afford slower recovery times. For high-speed-recovery needs, KBC switches offer redundancy through DT-Ring or DT-Ring+ technology with recovery times under 100 msec.

KBC's president Steve Kuntz says, "Although we already offer an extensive transmission range, our goal is to provide the right product for each customer's unique requirements and that's precisely what our new switch line enables us to do."