Siemens is expanding its industrial communication portfolio with the Scalance XB-100 unmanaged industrial Ethernet switches. The switches have a large number of ports and are suitable for Zone 2 hazardous areas thanks to their ATEX and IECEx approvals. They also support output and input currents of 24 V(DC) and 24 V(AC) (50/60 Hz). This means they can also be used in building automation. The monitoring, control, regulation and optimization devices in building automation, which communicate with each other via the medium-independent communication protocol BACnet/IP, are electrically and optically connected by this switch product line. The unmanaged switches can be used without pre-configuration and are available in five variants. They therefore have a maximum of 24 RJ45 ports and two ST/BFOC or SC ports, which can be used to bridge distances of up to 5 km in multimode mode. Diagnostic LEDs make it possible to display or determine the device status.