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GarrettCom Targets Oil & Gas With a Line of Industrial Networking Products Hardened for Hazardous Environments

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 October 2006, 09:00 CDT

FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The demand for secure, redundant, hardened high-bandwidth industrial networking capabilities at oil and gas exploration sites, energy field development, production, and transportation facilities is on the rise. To meet that demand, GarrettCom(TM), Inc. is offering a series of hardened Ethernet(TM) Switches and Serial Media Converters, called Magnum(TM) OGP (Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals) products that meet both the UL 1604 Class 1 Division 2 certification for use in hazardous environments and IEEE PCIC draft specifications for 14-mil silicone-based conformal coating that protects equipment against even highly corrosive gases such as hydrogen sulfide and benzene.

GarrettCom has received Class 1 Div. 2 certification for five Ethernet industrial networking products: the Magnum 6K8 and newly-announced 6KQ Managed Ethernet Field Switches, the ES42H and P, ESD42H and P Edge Switches (the "D" indicates dual-homing capability), and the hardened CS14H and P Converter Switches that combine a 100 Mb fiber Media Converter and a 10/100 Ethernet switch into a single unit.

Combined with its Class 1 Div. 2 certified Links line of RS232 and RS 485 Serial Copper to Fiber Link/Repeaters, GarrettCom offers a broad range of products that support both mixed-protocol and pure Ethernet SCADA systems for networks in the facilities of the oil, gas and petrochemical industry. The Class 1 Division 2, Groups A, B, C, D certification makes the GarrettCom OGP products "UL approved" for use in hazardous environments containing volatile flammable liquids, gases or vapors.

The Magnum 6K8 and 6KQ Managed Field Switches are uniquely flexible and configurable with a wide variety of port modules that allow the user to specify a mix of 10/100/1000 Mb fiber and copper ports (including 10/100 PoE), as well as the complementary DC power supplies. With any other vendor, such flexibility would require custom design and custom pricing. All Magnum Managed Switches incorporate MNS-6K software, which provides a complete range of network management services designed to provide ease-of-use, unmatched security features, and redundant topologies support in a modular package that can be configured to cover any media and bandwidth requirements.

For additional protection against corrosive gases and salt-spray atmospheres, an extra-thick silicone conformal coating is offered as an option on GarrettCom's OGP products. Where a 5-mil silicone conformal coating is appropriate for high moisture facilities such as water treatment plants, heavy-duty conformal coating (12.5 to 15.8 mil thickness) has been shown to be necessary for more severe and corrosive environments. Military applications and standards such as MIL-I-46058C confirm the efficacy of heavy-duty silicone conformal coating for electronic equipment to protect against highly corrosive gaseous hydrocarbons.

"The GarrettCom OGP products have been stellar performers in factory automation, power substations, telecommunications and outdoor video surveillance," said Eileen Hess, P.E., Market Development Manager for GarrettCom. "By designing products that achieve a Class 1 Division 2 rating and offering the extra-thick conformal coating option, GarrettCom is able to extend the power, ease-of-use, flexibility, and reliability of its industrial networking product line to support our customers with heavy duty networking applications in hazardous environments, such as those typical to oil, gas and petrochemicals processing."

Other benefits GarrettCom brings to industrial networking in hazardous environments include:

* Generous 10/100/1000 Mb fiber port availability. * High-EMI noise immunity, reliable operation in the presence of interference, compliant with IEC 61850 for power utility substations. * Four DC power options: 125V, 110V, 24V, -48V DC, all with a dual-source option for high availability in case of power source failure. * Extended ambient operating temperature range, from -40 degrees C to 75 degrees C. * Rugged metal cases for durability and noise immunity. About GarrettCom

GarrettCom, Inc., Fremont, Calif., is an industry leader in providing cost-effective, off-the-shelf industrial networking products for specialty and stressed applications. GarrettCom's hardened Magnum products emphasize fiber capabilities for challenging industrial applications in manufacturing, power utility substations, telecommunications, oil and gas pipelines, traffic control and industrial video surveillance. The company manufactures a line of more than 100 off-the-shelf products that address practical applications that previously required custom solutions. GarrettCom provides a comprehensive network architecture including a switched Ethernet core, distributed edge devices for both Ethernet and serial protocols, and secured connections to various Wide Area Network services. For more information on GarrettCom and its Magnum line of products, visit, or contact the company at 47823 Westinghouse Drive, Fremont, CA 94539, voice 510-438-9071, fax 510-438-9072, email mktg@garrettcom.com.

Magnum and GarrettCom are trademarks of GarrettCom, Inc. DynaStar is a service mark of GarrettCom, Inc. Ethernet is a trademark of Xerox Corp. For More Information Contact: Jim Krachenfels, GarrettCom, Inc. Barbara Kline, Breakthru Communications 510-580-2767 650-868-5804 jkrachenfels@garrettcom.com bkline@breakthrucom.com

GarrettCom, Inc.

CONTACT: Jim Krachenfels of GarrettCom, Inc., +1-510-580-2767,jkrachenfels@garrettcom.com; or Barbara Kline of Breakthru Communications,+1-650-868-5804, bkline@breakthrucom.com, for GarrettCom, Inc.

Source: PRNewswire

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