Technical Bulletin
Strategic Objectives
As a global leader in the steel processing industry, Marcegaglia understands the importance of anticipating market trends and
responding quickly and positively to market shifts. To keep pace with the latest technologies within the market and increase ROI,
Marcegaglia needed a faster maintenance process.
In addition, Marcegaglia had to make adjustments to its installation and deployment procedures for faster communications and to
promote the integration and interoperability between IT and Operations Technology (OT).
To meet these requirements, Marcegaglia needed a reliable solution to withstand harsh environments, and shorten the time to perform
functions ranging from diagnostics and maintenance to upgrades and expansion. This new system would also allow Marcegaglia to
communicate information in real time, improving performance while maintaining quality and network security.
Panduit Solution
“Panduit helped ease the integration of the proposed new network systems with existing systems, ensuring their interoperability and our
condence,” said Mr. Bonatti. “We specically appreciated their approach, which allowed us to select the correct networking to improve
resiliency and performance.”
To accommodate Marcegaglia’s requirements, Panduit proposed its Pre-congured Network Zone System, Industrial Distribution Frame
(IDF), and ber and copper connectivity to offer the exibility for future growth that the company needed, along with a demonstrable ROI
due to the speed and ease of installation, to increase cost savings.
The Pre-congured Network Zone System is part of a plant-wide Ethernet architecture designed to address environmental, performance,
and security challenges, and IT and OT best practices. This factory tested and validated system protects Marcegaglia’s rack mount
Ethernet switches and includes pre-installed DIN rails for switch mounting and cable management accessories for switch installation,
DIN rail patch modules, and a grounding bar enclosure. This integrated enclosure is securely mounted on the columns, which are
located away from vehicle and personnel trafc to safely maximize space.
The pre-congured IDF allows Marcegaglia to:
• Perform quick and sufcient deployment and protection of rack mount Ethernet switches
• Accomplish rapid and easy maintenance of its network switch equipment
• Achieve 25% faster IDF installation than a non-pre-congured IDF installation
• Experience 3X the cooling capacity over typical enclosures
The distribution switch within the IDF has ber optic OM3 cabling to handle distances greater than 100m to protect against EMI, and to
achieve faster switch convergence after a network drop-out. For cable runs less than 100m, Marcegaglia used Panduit Category 6A/6
copper in a structured cabling connectivity deployment. The structured channel uses solid horizontal cable terminated to Mini-Com®
jacks connected with patch cords to network devices.
To secure horizontal ber and copper in a reliable, consistent manner, Marcegaglia chose Panduit® PatchLink™ Horizontal Cable
Managers and Panduit® Open-Access™ Cable Management components which simplify moves, adds, and changes. Integral bend
radius control protects the patch cables in the pathway while ensuring system reliability.
As part of a defense-in-depth strategy, Panduit network security lock-in/block-out devices prevent unauthorized access to data to
prevent damage and help ensure the security of Marcegaglia’s network infrastructure.
“After assessing several
options, we chose the Panduit
solution because it allowed
us to standardize our network
connectivity in all production
sites, streamlining resources
and reducing installation time.”
Integrated Network Zone
Enclosure