A hardened, industrial-grade Ethernet switch reflects a design philosophy rooted in resilience and long-term reliability—where failure is not an option. The differences are not trivial, as this table illustrates: Prevents failure from extreme heat/cold. Unlike regular commercial switches, industrial-grade switches are designed to operate under a much wider range of temperature. With more and more outdoor applications, Ethernet switches are going to the extreme and need to operate in either high heat or frigid cold temperatures. Without rugged and temperature-rated equipment, weather can afect network operation and overall system reliability. THIS SUMMER SAW RECORD. In the driverless mining truck dispatch system at an open-pit coal mine in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, during summer when surface temperatures reached 65°C, ordinary switches frequently crashed due to overheating, causing five mining trucks to lose navigation control.
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