An industrial switch with optical ports is launched into mass production

It was already described in the "Solutions" section how industrial enterprises and production sites can design reliable communications networks using MES switches. At that time, a new product was announced – MES3500I-8P8F with optical ports. Today, we are announcing the launch of its mass production.

MES3500I-8P8F perfectly complements the line of industrial switches thanks to its increased port capacity and optical ports. These features ensure efficient data transmission between switching equipment. The device is capable of maintaining stable connection between control systems and peripheral equipment, minimizing delays.

The switch is equipped with 8 Gigabit copper ports with support for PoE/PoE+ and 8 Gigabit optical ports. This makes it possible to connect a large number of different devices simultaneously, both those requiring power over Ethernet and those that do not. Additionally, two SFP+ uplink ports with a bandwidth of 10 Gbps are available, which is especially important when building networks with high traffic density.

MES3500I-8P8F meets the requirements of the industrial environment with temperature range from –40 to +70°C, passive cooling system, IP30 housing protection and DIN rail mounting option.

Reliable operation in harsh conditions is also ensured by vibration resistance and resistance to mechanical impact.

The MES3500I-8P8F switch supports the ERPS (Ethernet Ring Protection Switching) protocol, which is used in ring topologies. It provides fast automatic switching to a backup route in the event of a link failure and helps maintain network resilience.

Scaling and flexible VLAN configuration mechanisms are also available: Q-in-Q technology makes it possible to create multiple isolated segments within a single VLAN, and the Selective Q-in-Q function enables setting point-to-point VLAN processing logic for individual packets. Support for GVRP (GARP VLAN Registration Protocol) provides dynamic distribution of VLAN information between switches, making the administration of large networks easier.

The equipment also supports an extended set of L3 protocols: RIP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, PIM SM/DM. This allows the switch to be integrated into complex networks that require dynamic routing and group data transfer.

Additionally, VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) technology is supported. It helps isolate traffic flows from different services or nodes on a physical device. This eliminates the risk of one type of traffic affecting others.

A wide range of security features are implemented to protect the network, including:

• IP Source Guard – blocks IP address spoofing attempts;
• Dynamic ARP Inspection – verifies the authenticity of ARP requests;
• DHCP Snooping – prevents attacks by allowing DHCP messages to be received only from trusted ports.

Administration is performed using the standard command line interface (CLI), with web interface being another option. RMON/SMON protocols are used for centralized monitoring and diagnostics as they collect statistics for each interface and track the load in real time. The SNMP protocol can be used to monitor internal resources and device status (CPU, RAM, temperature, etc.).

Traffic mirroring is supported via SPAN and RSPAN technologies. They allow traffic packets to be duplicated both within a single device and to a device located in another physical area of the network.

We offer a comprehensive approach to building a network using MES industrial switches. For more details, please contact our sales department at foreign.sales@eltex-co.ru