What is Network Solutions?

Your industrial network infrastructure is central to achieving your smart manufacturing goals. Networks must be robust, reliable, and secure. The knowledge required to converge plant-floor and IT technologies make this difficult to achieve. ES&E and Rockwell Automation’s IT and Industrial Automation expertise can help you design, deploy, and manage your network infrastructure, which is the backbone of your Digital Transformation.

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Develop, Manage, and Drive Performance from Your Infrastructure

A modern, secure, and reliable information infrastructure connects your assets, people, and information. It is the source of endless opportunities to improve your operational performance. We partner with industry leaders such as Panduit, Cisco, vMware, Microsoft, and others. We can help save you time and reduce stress with one number to call for world-class support.

Assess Your Network - Understand Potential Performance Issues

Before deploying a modern industrial network infrastructure, you must understand your existing infrastructure's conditions and identify any issues. Our Industrial Network Services team brings a unique perspective, leveraging our team of IT specialists who have industrial automation expertise. This balanced approach allows us to fully assess your industrial IT assets and identify and remediate potential performance and security issues.

Design - Build a Scalable, Secure Network Infrastructure

A thorough industrial network design can help reduce your exposure to risks, unexpected costs, and future performance issues. We collaborate to help you design a secure industrial network built for today and scalable for tomorrow. When you leverage our Industrial Network Products, we can quickly design and deploy a network aligned to the Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) guidelines, industry standards, and business requirements.

Implementation - Get Your Network Quickly Up and Running, and Minimize Future Issues

To efficiently implement your network, you must be able to manage a number of factors. We can help navigate the entire implementation process, from meeting your time and budget goals to simplifying vendor procurement. By tapping into our partnerships with companies like Cisco and Panduit, we can install a robust, secure network that helps increase systems availability. We offer a range of implementation services, including turnkey projects, pre-engineered, and customized solutions.

Validate - Benchmark Network Performance

Validation by independent third-party professionals is crucial whether you have modified or installed a new network infrastructure. With expertise in IT and operations, we can help confirm that your network meets your installation, security, and performance requirements. We use state-of-the-art diagnostic tools to conduct installation and operational tests to ensure your specifications are met and performance complies with governing standards such as ODVA, IEEE, ANSI, TIA, ISA-95, and ISA-99.

Download the Rockwell Automation Network Services eBook

Request a Network Assessment

Network Assessment

A Standard Network Assessment can help you evaluate the health and security of your company’s industrial control system network.

We have the experience to help you reduce future industrial IT expenditures.

Ask Yourself

• Do you know what assets you have on your network?
• Have you considered how security risks can cause safety risks?
• Do you have a proper physical infrastructure (cables, conduit, etc.) to meet industry requirements?
• Do you have a maintenance or service person who comes into your facility that can make configuration changes to a controller, and do you have policies around this type of access?

Benefits

• Increase security without sacrificing productivity
• Reduce risks while improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness
• Improve network scalability and reduce the level of network support needed

What to Expect

• Kickoff meeting and site preparation - The process begins with a team meeting so that we can discuss your data requirements.
• On-site data collection and interview - A Rockwell Automation Authorized Service Provider Network Engineer will conduct an on-site consultation and physical plant walk-through. We’ll gather physical infrastructure information during the site walk-through and logical and security information during the on-site interview.
• Off-site data processing - A Rockwell Automation Network Engineer will analyze the collected data and compile a final report. This report will provide an in-depth overview of network architecture along with recommended actions. Each section will be rated on criticality to the impact of your operations, so you know what will make the most significant impact.
• Delivery - The Rockwell Automation Authorized Service Provider will review the assessment, discuss remediation, and help you develop an action plan.

Assessment

A Rockwell Automation Standard Network Assessment provides you with the following:

• Inventory of significant network components, including network switches, routers, and firewalls
• Baseline comparison of physical, logical, and security-based elements against industry standards
• An expanded review of the physical network infrastructure to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) standards, jointly created with Panduit Corporation
• Evaluation of critical aspects of the network with minimal impact on your production environment
• Recommendations and remediations to current network infrastructure challenges

Request a Network Assessment

Network Reliability

If your network goes down, actionable diagnostic information from your Network Infrastructure can help resolve faster than a person without data.

A Stratix 2500 Lightly Managed Switch solves critical challenges at a lower product cost than traditional managed switches.

Advantages of using lightly or fully managed switches.

• Ethernet Cable Loop prevention
• Traffic Prioritization using Quality of Service and implementing VLANs
• Port Diagnostics and Network Visibility

Disadvantages of using unmanaged switches.

• Open ports on unmanaged switches are a security risk
• No resiliency = higher downtime
• Unmanaged switches cannot prioritize traffic
• Unmanaged switches cannot segment network traffic
• Unmanaged switches have limited or no tools for monitoring network activity or performance.

Stratix 2500 Lightly Managed Switch

Ask Yourself

• Is Your Network Infrastructure Meeting Your Availability and Performance Needs?
• What is Your Network Saying, and Who Can Help?
• Is Your Network Infrastructure Providing the Visibility and Risk Mitigation You Need?

What to Expect

• Unplanned downtime
• Loop detection and prevention
• Network Performance
• QoS packet prioritization sends control traffic before Ethernet camera traffic.
• Virtual Segmentation
• Collaboration with Remote Experts
• Diagnostics for network troubleshooting
• Security Risk Mitigation, Protect Availability and Performance
• Disable unused ports, and configure only to connect specific MAC IDs
• Segmentation

Benefits

Stratix 2500 Lightly Managed Switch Features

• Premier Integration to the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture® system
• Minimized downtime by monitoring traffic flow
• Improved network resiliency to help uncover errors before the network stops
• Increased network security with port security to control connections to the network when needed
• Reduced overall TCO with logical segmentation

Request a Network Assessment

Network Design

Improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by more than 10% by connecting machines for intelligent decision-making in the digital transformation

With a Machine Level Network Design, we help your machines make the right connections.

Ask Yourself

• Do you have line expansion requirements?
• Do you need to capture data from new or existing machines?
• Are you performing any device-level analytics?
• Do you have standards for cell/zone topologies?
• Do you require standard network documentation?
• Is your access layer switch hardware on a common platform?

Benefits

• Increase machine visibility
• Improve application response time
• Support growth and expansion planning
• Reduce operational costs

What to Expect

1. Collaboration meeting - The process begins with a collaboration meeting to discuss business objectives and network design expectations and to identify functional network requirements.
2. On-site data collection - A Rockwell Automation Authorized Service Provider Network Engineer will conduct a current network analysis to evaluate the network architecture, installation environment, and performance. This step also includes the identification and documentation of:
   • Uptime requirements
   • Manufacturing process flows
   • Interoperability requirements
   • Functional zones
   • Planned expansions
   
3. Off-site data processing - A Rockwell Automation network engineer will analyze the data collected to develop a network design package, including physical and logical drawings with detailed component specifications.
4. Design package review - The Rockwell Automation Authorized Service Provider will review the machine-level design drawings with you to ensure all network requirements are satisfied.

Design Package Deliverables

• Machine-level design drawings
• Access switch topology and port maps
• Device IP addressing
• Access layer bill of materials
• Physical network component specifications
• Improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by more than 10% by connecting machines for intelligent decision-making in the digital transformation

Request a Network Assessment

Network Security

A Fast, Easy, Simple Solution that Delivers 100% Visibility into Industrial Networks in Minutes

Claroty Edge is a highly flexible, Windows-based edge data collector that delivers 100% visibility into industrial networks in just minutes without requiring network changes, utilizing sensors, or having any physical footprint whatsoever.

Download the Claroty Edge Assessment flyer

This fast and easy solution can be deployed to run on-premises or via SaaS to reveal in-depth details on both managed and unmanaged industrial assets that could otherwise only be discovered — if at all — via methods that may not always be ideal or desirable for all networks and use cases under all circumstances.

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