Ether-Serial Links are network devices that install serial ports on Ethernet networks. The serial ports in an Ether-Serial Link send information to an Ethernet, by converting it to an IP-compatible format and sending it out the Ethernet side of the Ether-Serial Link. Data moving the other direction, from the Ethernet side of the Ether-Serial Link to the serial device, undergoes the same process in reverse.
Ether-Serial Links are among the most versatile of network devices. With them, you can access and control serial ports across a network, as simply and easily as if they were right in the box of the PC beside you. You can extend a serial connection to any distance, even across the Internet.
Ether-Serial Links assign IP addresses to their serial ports, making it possible for a single PC to control many serial devices, or for many PCs to access a particular serial device. The ports of a Lava Ether-Serial Link are conventional serial and Ethernet ports.
Extend the reach of serial ports, without a network
An Ether-Serial Link can be connected directly to a PC’s network interface card using an Ethernet crossover cable. In this configuration, a one-to-one relationship exists between the Ether-Serial Link and a PC. The serial ports of the PC have the serial ports of the Ether-Serial Link added just as if they were in the PC itself. The 50 foot cable limitation of RS-232 no longer exists!
Access and control a serial device across a network
Here’s where things get interesting. An Ether-Serial Link makes it possible to attach a serial device anywhere on a LAN or WAN. Simply attach the serial device you wish to network-enable onto an Ether-Serial Link, and connect the Ether-Serial Link to a network switch or hub. Install the Ether-Serial Link driver on any system that you want to use to access the Ether-Serial Link’s ports. This driver installs the Lava Discovery Protocol, which can automatically detect and access Ether-Serial Links on the same network segment. Supply a gateway address, and Ether-Serial Links can be made available to the LAN or WAN as a whole, across switches or routers. Access to the Ether-Serial Link’s serial ports can be restricted to specific network users, or open to the network as a whole. Whatever a PC could do through its internal serial ports? controlling factory equipment, operating POS devices, or monitoring a security system, for example?can now be done transparently across a network.
Access and control a serial device across the Internet
The power of the serial networking really shows when it is used to tap the infrastructure of the Internet or a company intranet. In this application, Ether-Serial Links are configured with both IP and gateway addresses, and become available anywhere the Internet reaches. Now that’s power! Connect Simply.
LAVA Computer MFG headquartered in Toronto, ON, Canada, designs and manufactures serial parallel I/O boards and Ethernet-to-serial device servers widely used in Point of Sale, Kiosk, Gaming, Industrial Automation, Hospitality, Telecom, Security & Access Control industries. With well over a million LAVA products built into workstations, servers, and POS systems since 1984, LAVA I/O boards and Ether-Serial Links are trusted by resellers, distributors, OEM’s and system builders in over 47 countries worldwide. Designed for lifetime performance, each LAVA connectivity link is individually tested and covered by the LAVA Lifetime Warranty.
