Connectivity is the name of the game for Lantronix

A maker of device servers, Lantronix connects devices in the warehouse and factory to the communications network.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 4/11/2007

Every now and then, we come across a company that makes something that most companies use, but probably don’t think about.

Lantronix is one of those companies. Based in Irvine, Calif., Lantronix is all about connectivity, says product manager Brian Tutor. “What we provide are device servers that allow a customer to connect devices to the network that you couldn’t normally connect,” says Tutor.

In a distribution center or factory, those devices could include bar code and RFID readers, access control panels, or photo eyes and sensors. “Anything with a digital I/O can connect to us,” Tutor says.

What’s driving connectivity?
Tutor says the answer is centralization. If all the devices in a facility, or a network of facilities, are connected to the network, you can centralize the monitoring of those devices from one remote location. That allows one individual, or one team, to monitor all the devices being used in all of those facilities from one place.

“The math is pretty simple,” says Tutor. “If a company needs one person to physically monitor 10 devices, they need 10 people to monitor 100 of them. But if you put those devices on the network, one person can monitor all of them. Others only need to get involved when there’s a problem.”

Even that may be changing with the next generation of device servers, which have the same level of intelligence and software embedded in them as a programmable logic control (PLC) device.

These new intelligent device servers can be programmed to proactively monitor the devices and even repair them in the event of a software failure. If there’s a problem the device server can’t address, like a mechanical failure, the system can send an e-mail alert to someone who can take care of the problem.

“These devices can do the kinds of status monitoring, repair and alerting that a PLC (programmable logic controller) can do, without the expense of a PLC,” says Tutor. “Instead of getting a call saying the line is down and we can’t ship, you’ll get an e-mail saying the line is up and running because the intelligent device server has fixed it for them.”