Siemens has extended its Sinema Remote Connect software for the efficient maintenance of distributed plants and machines to include a number of new security and virtualisation functions. Alongside OpenVPN, Version 1.2 of the management platform now also features IPsec encryption, allowing a wide range of various machines with different security protocols to be flexibly connected. The new version is also capable of running in a virtualised environment. This not only increases the flexibility and availability of the platform but also the efficiency of maintenance and support services. The management platform is particularly suited for series and special-purpose machine building.

Siemens’ SINEMA Remote Connect ensures secure management of tunnel connections (VPN) between headquarters, service technicians and the installed machines or plants. The communication between participants in such a scenario is independent of the protocol and IP-based. There is no need for direct access to the company network in which the plant or machine is integrated. The service technician and the machine to be serviced establish separate connections to SINEMA Remote Connect. There, the identity of the participants is determined by exchanging certificates. Only then is remote access to the machine granted.

The connection to SINEMA Remote Connect can be established with a variety of media, such as wireless communication, DSL or existing, private network structures. Siemens offers a comprehensive portfolio of industrial routers from the SCALANCE series for connection to remote networks. These can be easily configured for the connection to SINEMA Remote Connect with auto configuration.

An address book function is available with the installation of the SINEMA Remote Connect client. It can be used to easily identify and select all machines and plants for management with SINEMA Remote Connect. This is a decisive advantage in serial machine manufacturing with the same machines and IP addresses.

Benefits:

* Central administration of all VPN connections
* Simple management of different users
* Address book function with SINEMA RC Client for fast and easy connection to SINEMA Remote Connect
* Encrypted connections using OpenVPN with just a mouse click
* Protocol-independent, IP-based communication
* Easy integration of Siemens industrial routers with auto configuration
* Special IT knowledge regarding remote access is not necessary
* Easy selection and connection to identical serial machines for original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and
* Wide range of remote networks applications, from remote service to remote control.

Vijay Krishnamurthy, Industry Sales Manager, Siemens Ltd – Industry Services, Mumbai. Toll free: 1800 209 0987. Email: ics.india@siemens.com