News
New Networking Software Makes Ethernet Real-Time Transactions Reality
- By Scott Bekker
- November 17, 1999
NETsilicon Inc. (
www.netsilicon.com), a system-on-chip (SoC) networking solutions provider, announced its Net+Fast IP, a software module that enables the use of Ethernet in high-speed real-time industrial automation applications. Net+Fast reduces the time required to process and execute commands over Ethernet, which will make Ethernet suitable for many applications.
Most Ethernet-connected devices offer a response time of several milliseconds, which is not acceptable for real-time applications. Net+Fast IP provides a mechanism to respond to incoming packets almost instantly. Net+Fast IP accomplishes this fast response by associating a data buffer auto-reply or an automated processing routine with particular IP ports.
In a recent lab test, the Net+Fast IP-enabled Net+Works environment consistently generated responses of 240-250 microseconds. Without Fast+Net, the environment produced responses in an average of 1330 microseconds. The 250 microsecond benchmark is considered fast enough to support the majority of real-time applications in industrial automation.
Net+Fast IP software is available as an optional module in the Net+Works Embedded Networking Solutions architecture.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.