Advantech eki-7656c, User Manual, Page: 12 / 114

Chapter 1
Overview
1.1 Introduction
To create reliability in your network, the EKI-7656C/7656CI comes equipped with a
proprietary redundant network protocol—X-Ring that was developed by Advantech,
which provides users with an easy way to establish a redundant Ethernet network with
ultra high-speed recovery time less than 10 ms.
Aside from 16 x 10/100Base-TX fast Ethernet ports, the EKI-7656C/7656CI comes
equipped with 2 combo 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 copper ports or mini-GBIC expansion
ports. Traditional RJ-45 ports can be used for uplinking wide-band paths in short
distance (< 100 m), or the appropriate replaceable SFP slots can be used for the
application of wideband uploading and long distance transmissions to fit the field
request flexibility. Also, the long MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) ensures that the
EKI-7656C/7656CI will continue to operate until a Gigabit network infrastructure has
been established, without requiring any extra upgrade costs.
1.1.1 The SFP Advantage
The EKI-7656C/7656CI’s two SFP fiber slots provide a lot of flexibility when planning
and implementing a network. The slots can accept any SFP-type fiber transceivers
designed for transmitting over distances of either 500m (multi-mode), 10km, 30km,
50km, 70km or 110km (single-mode)—and the slots support SFP transceivers for
WDM single-fiber transmissions. This means that you can easily change the
transmission mode and distance of the switch by simply pulling out the SFP transceiver
and plugging in a different slot. The SFP transceivers are hot-swappable and plug-and-
play. Also, the fact that the switch has two of these slots, means that the network
manager can, for example, have one 10km transceiver in one slot and one 110km in
the other.
1.1.2 High-Speed Transmissions
The EKI-7656C/7656CI includes a switch controller that can automatically sense
transmission speeds (10/100 Mbps). The RJ-45 interface can also be auto-detected,
so MDI or MDI-X is automatically selected and a crossover cable is not required. All
Ethernet ports have memory buffers that support the store-and-forward mechanism.
This assures that data is properly transmitted.
1.1.3 Dual Power Inputs
To reduce the risk of power failure, the EKI-7656C/7656CI pr12 ~ 48 V
DC
dual
power inputs. When one of the power inputs fails, P-Fail LED will turn on and send an
alarm through a relay output for notifying the user; and the switch will toggle to the
secondary power input.
1.1.4 Flexible Mounting
EKI-7656C/7656CI is compact and can be mounted on a DIN-rail or panel, so it is
suitable for any space-constrained environment.
EKI-7656C_7656CI_Manual 2