Motor control centers (MCCs) provide a great deal of convenience for modern plants and factories. A wide range of motors, including variable speed drives, overload relays and starters, can all be managed from a central location.

MCCs are generally available in two types:

• Standard, which is hard-wired
• Intelligent, which is Ethernet-enabled

It’s generally accepted that intelligent MCCs require the highest level of managed switch technology to properly operate. This creates serious challenges for the average maintenance staff, which doesn’t have the IT background necessary to maintain the switches.

Knoxville, TN, August, 2019 - Softing AG has acquired the assets of Phoenix Digital Corporation (PDC), a provider of secure industrial fiber optic communication products. The business will be operated by Online Development Inc.

"Phoenix Digital's secure fiber optic modules are a great addition to Softing Industrial's portfolio of IoT communications products, expanding the technologies offered and the industries served," said Dr. Wolfgang Trier, CEO of Softing AG. Softing is expecting the acquisition to contribute additional revenue of up to EUR 3 million annually once integrated in the Softing product portfolio.

In the early 2000s, officials decided to create the East End Tunnel in Louisville, KY, which would allow state highway 841 to run under a sensitive historic site in the city. The project was part of a larger $2.3 billion project to improve various crossings over the Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana.

As officials planned the 1,700 feet of tunnel, some challenges quickly became apparent.

For one thing, the project required a new communication network to tie together the tunnel’s traffic control system as well as the system that controlled the air ventilation fans in the tunnel.

At Phoenix Digital, we think things like network communications do not always need to be complicated. Sometimes enough is all you need.

With that in mind, what the group here at Phoenix Digital spends a great deal of time working on and talking about is how to make communications easy, reliable, secure, easy, fast, fault tolerant, and easy. Basically, we want to give the customer as much capability as possible, but we want to deploy that technology quickly and easily. This is what we do.