The Red Lion N-Tron® 500 series industrial Ethernet switches offer multiple options, including those with remote port monitoring, called N-View OPC, and advanced management features. The 500 series is designed for use in harsher locations, being able to stand up to more extremes in temperature, shock, and vibration. Their durability and reliable performance make them ideal for industrial use.

N-View OPC port monitoring comes with switches designated by -A and -N part numbers. N-View OPC remote monitoring adds network traffic monitoring, trending and alarming to any application using N-TRON switches configured with the N-View option. Using the N-View software displays the current port status and monitors traffic, using 5 switch level data points & 41 port level data points. The -N switches have the N-View port monitoring only, they do not come with advanced management.

Features of advanced management include IGMP Snooping, VLAN, QoS, Trunking, and Port Mirroring. Advanced management switches are known by their -A part number. IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) Snooping is a feature that lets the switch forward and filter multicast traffic using group addresses. VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) can segment the switch, creating separate or overlapping local area network (LAN) domains. QoS (Quality of Service) prioritizes network traffic, which promotes better network performance. It helps to improve the delay time of prioritized Ethernet packets needed for interactive applications such as ring management. With port trunking, or aggregation, more than one port can function as one, uplinking to another switch configured in the same way, which expands bandwidth. Port Mirroring copies traffic on one port and sends it to another port. Using the mirror port, traffic from the source port can be monitored. All advanced management switches also feature N-View OPC remote port monitoring.

The complete line of the N-Tron 500 series of Ethernet switches is available through the online store, and can also be ordered over the phone. Switches without a -A or -N in their part number are totally unmanaged switches. N-Tron 500 series switches with advanced management are set up using the serial COM port. Other switches with advanced management include the 700, 7000, and 9000 series.