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Technology Stocks : Lantronix - (LTRX )in the same Echelon? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. K. G. who wrote (5)	7/20/2000 9:17:27 PM
From: D. K. G.	Respond to of 6

FACTORIES NEED A LITTLE TLC, TOO -- Solutions help open the lines of communication Stephanie Green techweb.com San Jose, Calif. - It's often been said that the key to any good relationship is open communication. As e-business becomes more prevalent, networking integrators and manufacturers acknowledge the need for factories and corporate offices to be able to communicate instantaneously. The need is there but, for the most part, the solutions are not. And networking integrators, in particular, see an increasing need for products and technologies addressing this issue. "There is a huge interest, especially in markets like the Midwest, where there is a lot of manufacturing," says John Freres, president of N2N Networking Systems, an integrator in Schaumburg, Ill. Network integrators are seeing the potential in this space, and while manufacturers have been a little slow on the uptake, they now are responding in kind to what they see as a potential growth market. To that end, Cisco and GE Industrial Systems formed the GE Cisco Industrial Networks in June. The organization plans to build and design network equipment for manufacturing plants and industrial environments to connect throughout the enterprise and will use Ethernet infrastructure to connect the two environments. GE Cisco currently is selling Cisco products, including routers and LAN switches, and Lantronix industrial networking equipment such as Lantronix CoBox DinRail Universal Thin Servers, which include networking capabilities and DIN rail mounting. Analysts say they believe Cisco is taking this path because the company sees a significant growth opportunity in the market. There has always been a need to connect factory floors and offices, says Eric Hindin, vice president of e-networks and broadband at The Yankee Group. Get In The Driver's Seat Map: Manufacturing Automation Protocol A communications protocol introduced by General Motors in 1982, MAP provides common standards for interconnecting computers and programmable machine tools that are used in factory automation. At the lowest physical level, MAP uses the IEEE 802.4 token bus protocol. Top: Technical Office Protocol A communications protocol for office systems developed by Boeing Computer Services, TOP uses the Ethernet access method and is frequently used in conjunction with MAP. TOP is used in the front office, while MAP is used on the factory floor. TOP uses the CSMA/CD access method. crn.com Copyright ® 2000 CMP Media Inc.