Communications: Mil-Grade Ethernet Switch Offers 20 Ports With Secure Management

Aug. 18, 2005

The SwitchBox is a ready-to-deploy military-grade network system. It delivers a 20-port Gigabit Ethernet switch housed in a fully ruggedized single-slot chassis. The system offers fast, reliable, and deterministic forwarding (switching and routing) of control and data packets with up to 20 wire-speed 10/100/1000-Mbit/s interfaces. Also included are fully integrated layer 2 switching, layer 3 routing, quality-of-service support, IP multicast, security, and network management. And, it provides out-of-band debug using a separate 10/100 Ethernet port. Available with support for the VxWorks operating environment, it can be remotely configured, monitored, and upgraded through a secure set of interfaces. At just 12 by 8.25 by 3 in., the low-profile SwitchBox provides a flexible multilayer switching system solution for space-constrained land, air, and sea vehicles and other field systems. The chassis is natural-convection cooled and designed for use in 40°C to 71°C operating ambient environments. The system is rated to withstand 0.15-g²/Hz vibration and 40-g shock (per Mil-Std-810E). Pricing starts at $22,700.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computingwww.cwcembedded.com

About the Author

Dave Bursky

Technologist

Dave Bursky, the founder of New Ideas in Communications, a publication website featuring the blog column Chipnastics – the Art and Science of Chip Design. He is also president of PRN Engineering, a technical writing and market consulting company. Prior to these organizations, he spent about a dozen years as a contributing editor to Chip Design magazine. Concurrent with Chip Design, he was also the technical editorial manager at Maxim Integrated Products, and prior to Maxim, Dave spent over 35 years working as an engineer for the U.S. Army Electronics Command and an editor with Electronic Design Magazine.