Engineers in industrial environments
probably have felt the need to connect
some serial port device of interest
to their Ethernet local-area network
(LAN). Industrial devices still widely use
RS-232 serial interfaces because of their
robust nature. But making them accessible
via your regular Ethernet LAN is tricky
at best—at least, it used to be. The B&B
Electronics Vlinx
ESP211-232 mini serial
server solves this
problem (see the figure).
Now, anything
with a serial port can
be connected to the
network, whether it’s
a scale, scanner, display,
or whatever.
The B&B Vlinx
serial-to-Ethernet
converter is compatible
with IEEE
803.3u 10/100BaseT
Ethernet with auto detect. It supports TCP
(Transmission Control Protocol) Server, TCP
Client, or User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Its
TCP probe automatically restores connections
in Virtual COM mode. Support for direct IP,
Paired, or Virtual COM modes is provided.
The device’s Vlinx Manager software is compatible
with Windows 2000, 2003 Server, XP,
and Vista. RS-232 data rates to 230 kbits/s
can be accommodated. Available now, the
product costs $99.
LOUIS E. FRENZEL
B&B ELECTRONICS
www.bb-elec.com