Gateway and adapter go industrial

New products add rugged industrial-grade alternatives to Digi's Drop-in Networking product line.

Digi International has released industrial-grade versions of its ConnectPort X4 gateway and XBee adapters.

The ConnectPort X4 NEMA provides ZigBee to cellular (GSM) connectivity and is integrated into a NEMA 4X/IP66 enclosure for protection against dust, water and ice.

XBee adapters featuring lithium batteries for extended life in extreme temperatures provide off-the-shelf wireless enablement of existing electronic devices.

These new products add rugged industrial-grade alternatives to Digi's Drop-in Networking product line - a combination of hardware components and software tools for network-enabling commercial grade devices where wired infrastructure does not exist or does not satisfy customer needs.

"To meet the growing demand for Drop-in Networking, we are developing product extensions that solve targeted application needs", said Larry Kraft, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Digi International.

"Collecting sensor readings or monitoring machines in outdoor and industrial environments are areas where we're seeing a great deal of interest in Drop-in Networking".

"These new products are specifically designed to operate in these kinds of harsh environments".

The ConnectPort X4 NEMA is Class 1, Division 2 certified, ensuring safe operation in the presence of flammable liquids, vapours and gases.

It is designed for applications like tank or pipeline monitoring, precision irrigation control and automated metering infrastructure (AMI).

In addition to Ethernet, serial and USB interfaces, the gateway offers four analogue input ports for wired sensor connectivity and an open-frame power supply built into the enclosure base.

All cable inlets and antenna connectors are designed to prevent intrusion by water or debris.

Like all ConnectPort X gateways, the ConnectPort X4 NEMA features a native Python engine for programmability.

The lithium battery-powered XBee adapters are also Class 1, Division 2 certified.

They join Digi's current line of XBee adapters that are powered by alkaline batteries or an external AC power supply.

Unlike alkaline batteries, which suffer significant charge loss at extended temperatures, lithium batteries maintain a steady charge over a much wider temperature range.

In most remote device monitoring applications where readings are infrequent, lithium batteries can last for several years.

The extended battery life is critical in broadly deployed, outdoor applications where getting to devices on a regular basis to change batteries is expensive and impractical.

Lithium-powered XBee adapters are offered with RS232, RS485, digital and analogue I/O interfaces.

A NEMA 4/IP66 enclosure can be purchased as an accessory for all XBee adapters.

The ConnectPort X4 NEMA will be available in July 2008 at a list price of US $799; the lithium battery-powered XBee adapters will also be available in July 2008 and list for US $125.

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