Submittal
6 WHITE PAPER – Introduction to the Micro Data Center (MDC)
More Meaningful Connections
Figure 5. Manufacturing Switch Mounted on a DIN Rail Bracket
Thermal loads in an industrial Micro Data Center application are quite low, typically less than 25% of that
experienced in an enterprise data center environment. This reduced heat load, coupled with the extended
operating capabilities of industrial-rated switches, greatly diminishes the need for active cooling solutions in
many industrial applications.
There may be cases where network designers may wish to
combine DIN rail mounted devices within racks (components
such as PLCs, gateways, manufacturing switches, etc.) in
order to save space. Placement of DIN rail mounted devices
in the MDC may help achieve this benet by eliminating
separate enclosures while closely linking DIN rail mounted
devices to the network (see Figure 5).
Parameter Copper Cable Multi-mode Fiber Single-mode Fiber
Reach (max)
100m (330ft) 500m (1,750ft) 40km (24 miles)
Noise Mitigation
Foil shielding Noise immune Noise immune
Bandwidth
1 Gb/s 10 Gb/s 10 Gb/s
Cable Bundles
Large Medium Small
POE Capable
Yes No No
Table 1. MDC Cabling Options for Copper and Fiber Optic Cabling Media
Network Cabling-Media Selection and Security
Ethernet media can be ber optic cabling and/or copper cabling. There are many design considerations to
properly select the cable media: Table 1 compares cable types when multiple criteria are considered:
• Run distances between MDC and manufacturing equipment
• Type of information transmitted (i.e., machine instruction or production monitoring data)
• Equipment connectivity (i.e., types of connectors/ports)
• Environmental conditions (i.e., electrical noise, vibration, temperature, moisture, etc.)
• Ease of installation and maintenance frequency