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years is a long time. During this time, technology will most
certainly advance in amazing ways. Components used inside
SIXNET Industrial
Products will be upgraded to take advantage of new technology
that offers higher performance and lower cost. Through all
these changes, many systems that incorporate SIXNET devices
will continue to function reliably with no desire to “fix
what isn't broken”. SIXNET customers want to know that
they will be able to maintain their existing systems for a
very long-time,
with product support and replacement parts remaining available.
In response, SIXNET has established a twenty-year product
support policy for our Linux-based RTUs, industrial controllers,
and Ethernet Switch products. This page substantiates our
ability to see this policy through.
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Control
and Ownership of Essential Technology
The key to maintaining long-term product support
is to have control over the technologies incorporated into
the product with the ability to adapt as changes are needed.
SIXNET owns
all of the tooling and engineering documentation utilized
in our products. A modular design approach insures that any
element of a SIXNET product may be upgraded in the future
with
full compatibility with the remaining elements of the design.
Also, the use of SIXNET controlled and maintained software
and the durable IPm platform insure
the longevity of product support. |
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Powerful
Firmware
The firmware embedded into SIXNET Linux-based products is
a combination of GPL (General Public License) software augmented
by additional functionality that SIXNET has created. All
of the source code for the firmware in SIXNET products is
in our possession and is well documented in an ISO9001 certified
source code control system. This guarantees that SIXNET
has the ability to alter the firmware as needed. As a SIXNET
customer, you have access to the GPL source code as well.
Our experience in the SCADA marketplace has taught us valuable
lessons in software modularity. For example, the interface
to the Switch hardware itself is a “driver”
that can be replaced or supplemented, in the same manner
that I/O drivers are added to commercial SCADA software.
When better switch technology becomes available, it will
be easy to drop in a new driver and maintain 100% upward
compatibility with our feature-rich firmware.
Note: This is not true of most Ethernet Switch manufacturers,
who have based their products upon the software supplied
by the switch IC supplier. IC suppliers provide firmware
to entice OEMS to buy their chips. The goal of these IC
suppliers is to insure that you must keep using their chips.
(The licenses for their proprietary software demand this.)
Good luck to those switch manufacturers and their customers
when the sole-sourced ICs become obsolete!)
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Linux
Durability
SIXNET IPm-based Switches, RTUs, and controllers
run on a truly open
Linux platform. This open-source version of Unix has been
growing and strengthening for more than 30 years. Its maturity
and robustness have made it the most popular operating system
for embedded products. Its open source nature insures that
it will survive and thrive for decades to come. More over,
the upward functionality of SIXNET Managed Switches and industrial
controllers will grow as our customers and OEM partners develop
add-on applications –
in the true spirit of this open source platform.
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Advanced
Hardware Platform
SIXNET IPm (Linux-based) products utilize a 32-bit
PowerPC processor with 32 Megabytes of memory–
way more processing power than is needed for a Managed Ethernet
Switch (way more processor than you will find in our competitor’s
switches). This abundance of computing resources is SIXNET’s
way of insuring the availability of resources for the requirements
of tomorrow.
As technology advances, even this capable processor will
eventually be upgraded. The migration path of these long-life
switches is assured by the modular nature of their plug
in processor board and the assurance of portability of the
embedded Linux platform. |
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Common
Packaging
SIXNET has designed and owns the plastic molds used
to manufacture our compact products. In fact, the Lexan®
base is the same molded part used for SIXNET I/O, industrial
modems and controllers – the vast majority of all SIXNET
products. Ownership of the package tooling and standardization
throughout the entire SIXNET family of products is a strong
incentive for SIXNET to continue availability of drop in replacement
packaging. The popularity of DIN rail mounting is certainly
growing and will prevail for a very long time.
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ISO
9001:2000 Documentation
SIXNET has maintained fully compliant ISO
9001:2000 documentation for more than a decade. These
detailed records and the well-documented procedures used to
maintain archived information are key elements in our ability
to provide extended term product support. |
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A
History of Exceeding the Twenty Year Mark
Long-term product support has been the cornerstone
policy at SIXNET for more than a quarter century. Our first
generation of programmable products was the IOMUX RTU, first
delivered in 1987. Today, 17 years later we are still delivering
more than 700 of these durable products to OEM customers
annually. Our rolling commitment to provide a minimum of
five years of product support has now brought the life of
these products to its 23rd year – and beyond. In 2002
an IPm-based replacement for the IOMUX RTU was first introduced,
providing a “form, fit, and function” replacement
with huge expansion capacity. These upgrades are drop in
replacements for the first generation IOMUX controllers (with
some software porting by the OEMs.) This remarkable commitment
by SIXNET has extended the life of the IOMUX and support
for the more than 20,000 installed units well past the thirty-year
mark! |
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