New IntraVUE Lite for control networks

An Ethernet Direct product story

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Nov 27, 2007

Ethernet Direct launch new IntraVUE Lite network management software, especially design for local control and I/O networks.

The explosion of Ethernet devices at the control and I/O level has created a need for a cost effective and scalable diagnostic tool that can be used by control engineers and technicians.

In order to respond to this growing requirement, IntraVUE Lite is created which will be targeted at Control or I/O networks, as well as many OEM systems.

IntraVUE Lite will contain all of the diagnostic features of the current IntraVUE 2.0 software but restricted to a single local subnet of 256 addresses.

The software is well positioned to be a cost effective tool even for small systems.

IntraVUE Lite can be installed to run continuously or used in a laptop as a portable test tool.

The software allows easy movement from computer to computer, thus able to be shared between service people.

IntraVUE within minutes of being connected to the network will automatically identify and map all devices, as well as provide details on connection health, traffic and misbehaving devices.

In a bus or daisy chained configurations of traditional industrial networks, Ethernet communication passes through several active devices called switches.

These switch configurations complicate troubleshooting by having the transmitting device not directly connected to the receiving device.

Other diagnostic methods treat each device separately without understanding the path; this would be like troubleshooting a circuit board by testing individual components without referring to the circuit diagram.

IntraVUE has been applied in some of the most complex manufacturing networks and has been selected by some of the largest manufacturing companies.

Feedback from users and experienced gained from these plant floor applications have helped the product to evolve.

Providing simplified and automated mechanism to allow local resources who are not network experts to quickly respond and resolve problems is the major difference separating IntraVUE from traditional IT tools.