Hope Industrial required a KVM solution that would allow non-industrial computers to be placed as far away as possible from the industrial monitors in a secure, climate-controlled environment, leaving only the rugged industrial flat panel monitors exposed to factory conditions. Furthermore, Hope Industrial required a KVM solution that could deliver a perfect picture at these lengths.

Hope Industrial designs many of its products, including the encased ADDERLink™ extender to meet standards developed by the National Electrical Manufacturer Association (NEMA). NEMA ratings are useful in defining the types of environments in which an electrical enclosure can be used. Hope Industrial’s black powder coated steel enclosed products have a NEMA 4 rating, which deems them acceptable for providing protection against dirt, rain, sleet, snow, ice, windblown dust, splashing water, and hose-directed water. The company’s stainless steel enclosed products have a NEMA 4X rating, which also includes corrosion protection. According to the Plant Technical Manager of General Mills, “The extenders are quite efficient and they allow us to put the computers in a dry area and just the touchscreens in the wet areas.” Hope Industrial has been working with Adder for several years and has plans to possibly integrate a USB extender from Adder into their products as well in the near future.