Ewon is the most widely used industrial secure remote access solution in the world. It’s built upon nearly 300,000 machines connected to the Talk2M service and more than 30 data centers which provide service continuity and support. The 10,000+ customers who have trusted Ewon for nearly 20 years have taken advantage of the new functionalities that Ewon has been offering time after time thanks to the availability of new and regular firmware releases.
However, there are some hidden treasures in the portfolio that you may not be aware of yet:
1. Enable remote connectivity from the factory
In truth, you don't have to always have the machine connected to the Internet. When you need to use the built-in remote access service to carry out a troubleshooting or maintenance task, a person in charge at the factory can manually activate the connection. This can be achieved by using the configurable digital input, available on all Ewon devices, to authorize Internet or VPN connectivity. With this connection, you could also activate the VPN by sending an SMS to the Ewon.
2. Check if somebody could be remotely connected to the machine
All Ewon devices have a pre-configured digital output that is automatically activated when your Ewon device is connected to Talk2M, our industrial VPN cloud. With the Ewon Flexy, you can also be informed when someone is actively connected (potentially making machine configuration updates) and trigger the same digital output. This way, you can properly inform the operator or production manager. For some applications, it is even a standard as in the case of UNE-EN 415-10:2014 for packaging machinery.
3. Set up an Ewon device without having the Ewon in front of you
This is a treasure that suits us very well in our strange times because it allows you to set up and configure remote connectivity to the machines without leaving your house. By pre-configuring the cloud connectivity, the final end user can install an Ewon device as it comes from the factory by simply plugging in an SD card or USB flash drive.
The cloud registration and device configuration can be done remotely thanks to Easy Setup:
4. Test remote connectivity with Talk2M without an Ewon device
Are you in a hotel and can't connect to Talk2M? Do you want to know if the customer's network has a good connection to the Talk2M remote access service before sending an Ewon device? Thanks to the Talk2M Connection Checker tool, it is possible to identify prove Talk2M connectivity before needing to install an Ewon device on the network. The Talk2M Connection Checker is a free of charge tool that you can run on the network where you end up installing the Ewon device or the eCatcher VPN client. At the end of the tool’s main test, the results are displayed, and if problems have been detected to connect to Talk2M, the error message includes additional information to help troubleshoot the problems. Most of the time, you’ll see all green checkmarks and confirm that Talk2M is reachable from your location!
5. View machine data instantly on your own data portal
Would you like to be able to monitor some key data of each machine from your smartphone? This is made possible with the built-in functionality of Easy KPIs. The setup is simple, and the solution is impressive. From each Ewon Flexy you can select up to 6 tags and publish them on the free-of-charge M2Web website. The live data can be displayed in a map or list view, and each tag is color-coded to indicate whether or not they are in an alarm state. It's a free feature and equipped with all Flexy devices.
6. Give maximum availability for remote service to the machine
"What happens if the customer's network fails and you cannot access to the machine?” We have a solution for this! All Ewon devices can automatically switch from a primary WAN interface to a secondary WAN interface if the primary fails. For example, if the Ethernet WAN connection does not work the Ewon device can automatically switch to a cellular 4G network to provide continuous connectivity. Alternatively, you can set up a WiFi secondary WAN interface and use your mobile phone’s hotspot for emergency situations.
7. Configure enhanced cybersecurity features for even more protection
By default, Ewon offers many security functions and are automatically enabled. But there are many other options that are configurable based on the needs of the client or the IoT application. While the default administrator username and password are provided for ease of use, you should change the default administrator Ewon password when setting it up for the first time. Related to this topic, all Talk2M accounts can create an unlimited number of users. Therefore, it’s highly advised that each user has a unique username and unique authorization based on their access level to segment their responsibilities. Lastly, proper Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) should be enabled for all user accounts and password cleanliness policies should be considered as well.
We hope you have discovered some hidden treasures and can gain more out of your Ewon solutions this year!