Product Innovation
The Compact and Safe Solution for Simple Machine Networking
Helmholz presents the new “WALL IE Compact” variant of the popular industrial NAT gateway.
More transparency in production for greater added value in the production process?
The desire to integrate production machines into the factory network is not new, but it often fails due to incompatible connectivity with existing systems or security concepts.
The easy-to-configure gateway “WALL IE Compact” from Helmholz is installed once and permanently between the machine and the production network.
The NAT mode allows machines to be transparently integrated into the factory network without having to change the machine’s IP addresses. The NAT operating mode enables address translation and uses firewall rules or packet filters to restrict access to the downstream automation network.
The “WALL IE Compact” therefore also enables the establishment of secure communication in accordance with the IEC 62443 security standard when used as a transition (“conduit”) for a new network segment (“zone”).
The “WALL IE Compact” supports transmission speeds of up to 1000 Mbit/s for both the factory network and machine communication. Machines and systems equipped with video cameras or IPCs in particular can now be connected to the factory network with improved performance. For example, backups and the transfer of larger data volumes run much more smoothly.
The modern web interface is also slim and user-friendly. Complex and oversized JavaScript and CSS frameworks have been deliberately omitted, which further increases security. Helmholz consistently follows the principle of a minimal software footprint—not only for the web interface—to enable a secure application.
Key performance features of the “WALL IE Compact”:
- Access restriction via packet filtering: IPv4 addresses, protocols (TCP/UDP/ICMP), ports, MAC addresses
- Reduction of network load through broadcast and multicast filtering
- DHCP server (LAN) / DHCP client (WAN)
- Gigabit network connections
