Moxa’s ioThinx Modular Remote I/Os Allow for Changing Modules with No Reconfigurations Efforts
Nov 13, 2018
Brea, California, November 13, 2018—Moxa launched its ioThinx 4510 IIoT modular remote I/O. The ioThinx 4510 supports multiple IT and OT protocols, such as Modbus TCP, SNMPv3 and RESTful API, and offers an intuitive configuration backup tool with a user-friendly web GUI, allowing IT and OT users to copy configuration settings in new modules without any additional reconfiguration efforts required, even if different module combinations exist. Also, no setting changes are required from the devices to the upper software (e.g., SCADA). Moreover, the ioThinx 4510’s built-in Modbus gateway can reduce the complexity of a system.
“We see more and more demand from OT and IT users alike who want to retrieve I/O data from field devices and then push the data to a private cloud and public cloud. However, most of the modular I/Os in the market are not user-friendly enough, especially for IT users,” noted Austin Lin, Product Manager of Moxa’s Industrial Data Acquisition & Control Division. “Therefore we developed the ioThinx 4510 by leveraging an IT concept in the design of an OT product in order to remove barriers in the OT world for IT users. We bring our core competence and experience in connectivity to the design of our new ioThinx product line, bridging the IT and OT worlds to tap into the IIoT.”
The ioThinx 4510 also addresses great difficulties for OT and IT users. For modular remote I/O setups, one of the greatest difficulties is duplicating configuration settings to the current modules with different module combinations. After adding, moving, or deleting one of the modules, the configuration of the unchanged modules, including the Modbus address and RESTful APIs to the upper software, needs to be reconfigured. Now, users don’t need to worry about it.
IT and OT Protocols in One Device
The ioThinx 4510 supports the most commonly used protocols, including Modbus TCP for OT operations as well as SNMPv3 and RESTful API for IT operations. The ioThinx 4510 retrieves and converts I/O data to any of these protocols simultaneously to fulfill a variety of protocol applications in one device, helping users stock fewer product types and variants, and ultimately streamlining their suppliers.
Intuitive Web Configuration Tool with GUI Design
The ioThinx 4510 is designed with an intuitive web configuration tool that supports module/channel unique name. Simply put, the configuration settings, including Modbus address/RESTful channel name to SCADA, will correspond with the specific module. No matter whether users change the module sequence, add or remove modules, they are not required to do any reconfiguration. They just need to configure the newly added module. What’s more, the modular web configuration tool includes UI design features such as drag-and-drop, so users can tweak the I/O sequence and types intuitively. The feature also applies to Modbus TCP and Restful API protocols.
Built-In Modbus Gateway
The ioThinx 4510 is not just a modular I/O but also designed with a built-in Modbus gateway. It supports Modbus RTU Master to help users collect field-site data from serial devices and convert the serial data to different protocols, e.g., Modbus TCP, SNMPv3, and RESTful. This two-in-one design reduces system complexity, the amount of space required in the network topology, and overall installation time.
About Moxa
Moxa is a leader in edge connectivity, industrial computing, and Industrial network infrastructure solutions for enabling connectivity for the Industrial Internet of Things. With over 30 years of industry experience, Moxa has connected more than 57 million devices worldwide and has a distribution and service network to serve customers in more than 70 countries.
