How Many Boxes Does It Take to Talk to Your Field Devices?
Walk into almost any substation, pumping station or plant and you find the same thing: a mix of protocols. A legacy serial device from the 1990s. A modern IED speaking IEC 61850. A SCADA master that wants DNP3. A cloud platform asking for MQTT. They all have to work together, and most of the time they do not speak the same language. Getting them to talk usually comes down to one choice: the right multi-protocol RTU.
The hidden cost of the gateway stack
The usual fix is to add hardware. A serial-to-Ethernet converter here, a protocol gateway there, a separate box to reach the cloud. It works, but every extra box is one more thing to worry about:
- Another point of failure.
- Another device to configure, power and maintain.
- Another hop that adds latency.
- Another line item in the budget.
Bridge enough protocols this way and the cabinet slowly fills with boxes whose only job is translation.
The fix: a multi-protocol RTU
One device that speaks every protocol on your site, in both directions. Something that can act as a master and a slave, a client and a server, at the same time. In other words, a multi-protocol RTU that converts, concentrates and controls in a single unit.
One controller, every protocol
The Brodersen RTU32M has a full communications suite built in, so you do not need add-on gateways. It speaks the standards your infrastructure already runs:
Every protocol supports Master/Slave and Client/Server roles, running together on a multitasking PLC runtime. And with licence-based capacity selection, you scale exactly to what a project needs, without buying new hardware.
Why it matters for your project
- Fewer boxes. One unit replaces a stack of converters and gateways.
- Fewer failure points. Less to break, less to power, less to maintain.
- Legacy meets modern. Connect old serial devices and new IEC 61850 or MQTT systems in the same controller.
- Room to grow. Unlock more protocols and capacity by licence, not by adding hardware.
A protocol converter, a data concentrator and a PLC used to be three separate boxes. On the RTU32M, they are one.
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