What Does "IP" Mean for Industrial Computers?
In the world of industrial computing, "IP" carries two distinct meanings, and buyers usually arrive searching for one of them. The first is Ingress Protection — the IP rating defined by IEC 60529 that tells you how well an enclosure resists dust and water. The second is Internet Protocol — the networking layer that gives every industrial PC, PLC, camera and sensor an IP address so it can talk to the rest of the plant network. A properly specified industrial computer has to satisfy both: a rugged enough enclosure for the environment, and enough network ports and addressing flexibility for the control architecture.
IP Ratings (Ingress Protection) Explained
An IP rating is written as two digits. The first digit (0–6) rates protection against solid objects such as dust and tools; the second (0–8) rates
