Secure gateways for power communications

April 2021 Fieldbus & Industrial Networking

Moxa has introduced a new series of secure hardened Modbus-to-BACnet protocol gateways. The MGate 5217 Series consists of industrial protocol gateways that support Modbus RTU/ASCII/TCP and BACnet/IP protocol conversions, making it easy to integrate industrial devices into an energy management system. The gateway design is based on the IEC 62443 standard to enhance connectivity security. In addition, the MGate 5217 features a reliable operation under harsh conditions and easy-to-use tools to make device configuration and troubleshooting easy.

Secure hardened to protect critical assets

Critical power communication takes place in applications such as data centres where vulnerabilities are unacceptable. Based on the IEC 62443 standard, the MGate 5217 protocol gateways’ design supports various security features, such as whitelisting, account management, password policy and a TLS secure connection, which allows only authorised users and prevents unwanted access, thus enhancing connectivity security.

Reliable design for continuous operation

Critical power communication cannot endure system downtime, thus reliable communication between power monitoring devices and scada systems is critical. Therefore, the MGate 5217 protocol gateways feature 2 kV serial port isolation and a -40 to 75°C wide operating temperature range to ensure reliable communications and operations. In addition, it comes with an industry-leading five-year warranty, ensuring stability and reliability for long-term operations.

Effortless installation and maintenance

In power monitoring applications, devices such as power meters, automatic transfer switches and UPS controllers are required to be connected and communicate with scada systems for instant power status monitoring. The installation and maintenance of numerous communication devices can be a daunting job. The MGate 5217 protocol gateways support easy-to-use configuration and a built-in troubleshooting tool that make installation and maintenance easy and fast.

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