They can have many different physical shapes and construction. They can be designed for mounting in the field, such as Advantech’s EKI serial device servers. They can be designed for rack or panel mounting such as Advantech’s UNO embedded automation computers. They can be designed for mounting in Ethernet ring structures, such as Advantech’s EKI Ethernet switches.

They need to have industrially-hardened circuit boards. They need to have wider-than-commercial operating temperature specifications. They need to have industrial mounting that prevents damage from shock and vibration. In other words, they need to be as robust and the plant floor devices they are networking.