Rockwell Automation Announces New Allen-Bradley Compact Box PCs and Thin Clients

Rockwell Automation announced the availability of its new Allen-Bradley VersaView 6300 box PCs and thin clients to deliver computing performance in more compact, durable and affordably priced packages.

The VersaView 6300 box PCs and thin clients fit in the palm of a hand, making them the smallest industrial computers to date from Rockwell Automation.  The compact design can help users by requiring less panel-space and reducing costs.

The products are also designed to withstand harsher industrial environments.  They have a built-in heatsink, can operate in 0° to 50° operating temperatures, and are protected against shock and vibration.  They are designed with reduced connections and no moving parts to help improve reliability.

Both products work with the Rockwell Automation ThinManager software, which helps for centralized and more secure application management.

The thin clients are ThinManager-ready, and the box PCs are ThinManager-compatible, able to run on a Windows 10 IoT operating system or switch over to run in the ThinManager environment, effectively becoming thin clients.  This dual-use option gives users new choices and flexibility, such as:

• The ability to deliver applications from a central server or a local PC using one product, which can help simplify a company’s supply chain.
• The option to load applications from a PC if a central server goes down, which can help improve availability.
• The ability to use a PC first as an HMI for a standalone machine, as a thin client for a series of connected machines, or as a data aggregator to collect and share operational data.

Both products use DisplayPort, which supports 4K video for high-resolution content displays.  They also have two USB 3.0 ports and two Ethernet ports, making them suited for high-speed data logging and IIoT gateway applications.