Industrial PC (Sealed) -- Linux

[ricky@learnautomation.com]

With the advent of Ethernet/IP, many companies are starting to use
Ethernet for Industrial Control.  Before this, it was not possible with
TCP/IP because it was not "Deterministic", so we couldn't gurantee packets
would get from the I/O Device to the processor in a guarantted time.

Now, many companies are looking out over a sea of IP addresses, and their
maintenance personel can't figure out what's what!  Ethernet IP devices
have the ability to use hostnames, but a DNS Server must reside on the
Ethernet/IP network.  This network must be isolated from a TCP/IP nework,
because TCP/IP packets are not deterministic.  This means that each
machine on a plant floor has it's own isolated Ethernet network for
controlling devices, and a separate ethernet module that reports
statistics to the plant server over the TCP/IP network.

I'm looking at this little box as a possible solution for DNS, but the
price is simply forbidding:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3447460380.html

At $1700 a whack that's a little high...  Then you must times that by two
because if one goes down, a secondary better be waiting!  The multiply
that times the number of machines on the plant floor, and you will end up
with an astronomical price.

Does anyone know of an industrial solution similar to this that can simply
serve as a DNS and email server?  (When something goes wrong, ethernet/ip
devices can send an email to a cell phone -- This means maintenance can be
at the machine before the operator even knows there is a problem in some
cases)

The WRT54G comes to mind immediately, but no one is going to mount
something you can use at home (and readily available in a public store)
inside an industrial cabinet.  It must be a reliable box.  Preferrably
without fans.  This box need to run for years and years without anyone
thinking about it.

Thanks!

Ricky Bryce

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