How does an industrial router differ from a home router?
Routers that are used in industrial environments or in functional buildings differ significantly from conventional home routers in three areas:
Lifetime
Home routers are developed for 2-3 years of use, while industrial routers have a service life of 10+ years. They are qualitatively designed for harsher environmental conditions, e.g. temperature fluctuations in control cabinets or increased EMC/vibration, and stand for durability in the corresponding infrastructure.
Availability
Industrial applications rely on high communication availability. The router system has been developed for uninterrupted 24/7 operation.
Security
Infrastructure and industrial plants are attractive targets for cyber criminals. The router operating system is specially developed and hardened for these applications and offers functions for secure operation in critical infrastructure.
Find out more about the characteristic quality of the industrial routers.
How and where are industrial routers installed?
Industrial routers are clicked onto a DIN-rail in the electrical control cabinet or screwed directly to the housing or a bracket. In the case of cellular routers, the external cellular antenna is routed out of the control cabinet and mounted on the outside wall of the building.
Is the solution from INSYS icom compatible with controllers and third-party devices?
Our industrial routers combined with the remote maintenance service icom Connectivity Suite – VPN can be connected to all control systems, e.g. from Saia Burgess, Wago or Siemens, to enable efficient remote access.
Alternatively, existing devices that are themselves OpenVPN-capable can also be connected to the VPN solution from INSYS icom at any time, as it is ‘third-party compatible’.
Does INSYS icom meet the requirements for KRITIS?
Industries such as the food trade are part of the critical infrastructure (KRITIS) and therefore require special security precautions. INSYS icom products are compliant for use in these areas and are already being used by the relevant players. Key security features include, for example, the fact that our development process is certified according to the important cybersecurity standard IEC 62443-4-1. In addition, regular penetration tests are carried out for all products by an independent organisation. Find out more about IT security in our overview.
As a KRITIS operator, can I use cloud-based services?
The current legal situation does not rule out the use of cloud services. KRITIS customers of INSYS icom certainly use our solutions such as the icom Connectivity Suite – VPN or icom Router Management. Ultimately, implementation depends on company-specific regulations.
What interfaces do the routers have for operation and monitoring?
Our industrial routers can be easily integrated into existing monitoring systems with the following interfaces: REST-API, CLI, SNMP.