Networking Production Appliance Boards
We now have eleven {11} Vorne Production Appliances {Model XL600-4R} at our Winfield facility as well as two more of the same model at our Salyersville, KY facility. My goal has been to network the eleven boards here in Winfield so they may be accessed on the plant floor by supervision as well as in our offices by me and management. We have encountered resistance to connecting these boards wirelessly to the existing wireless network on our shop floor with the main concern being security and the alternate solution offered by our corporate networking department as wired fiber optic. These boards connect to the equipment via PLC and I connect to them now via the only communication port on the board by attaching a CAT5 cable ran from my laptop.
We have 11 boards separate by a distances ranging from 100’ to 400’ with the 2 boards farthest apart being 1200’ from each other. These 11 boards are scattered between our 3 connected buildings. Each of the 3 buildings has desktop PCs connecting to our network wirelessly. These PCs are all contained within locked work stations. At one time, we did have routers/switches both in the shop and offices which were easily accessible but these have either been moved above the ceilings or removed. Due to security concerns
The main issue our networking department has is with security. We have recommended connecting a wireless bridge to the boards and connecting any boards with the 300’ limitation of CAT5 cable to the same bridge. This bridge would then communicate with our existing wireless network. The problem is that our networking department feels this is not secure in that someone could possibly plug a CAT5 cable into the wireless bridge and gain access. Other than the simplest solution of placing these bridges next to the boards, which are 15-20 feet above the floor, what other secure methods could be used to satisfy these concerns? The manufacturer has said that MAC address filter could be used on the wired ports of the wireless bridge. Intrusion to our wireless network is not a concern – just the fact that a switch/bridge would be out on the shop floor {even if it was 20’ in the air OR in a lock-box} where someone could gain physical access.
Any ideas would be helpful as I will be scheduling a phone conference for all concerned parties and I’d like to have some “ammo” so to speak, to support my point. I was an MCSE {Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer} back in 2001 albeit the OS then was NT 4.0} at one time but now have just enough knowledge to look silly in a discussion.
Thanks!