Black Box SM900A, PRO SWITCHING SYSTEM II Specifications

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Black Box Corporation • 1000 Park Drive • Lawrence, PA 15055-1018 • Tech Support: 724-746-5500 • www.blackbox.com • e-mail: [e-mail]

© 2007. All rights reserved.

Black Box Corporation.

12/18/2007 #25900

Chassis-mounted
switching and patch­ing system for RS-232,
RS-530, X.21, and V.35
data communications.

Cards for A/B
switching and
patching or for switch­only capabilities.

Daisychain up to 9901
fully populated chassis
to control and manage
up to 158,416 A/B
interface cards.

Management Control
Software makes on­screen control a snap.

Multiple programmable
alarms alert you to
network conditions.

Dual-power options.

M

anaging switchable circuits is
easy with the Pro Switching

System II (PSSII) from Black Box.

This innovative system consists
of rackmount modular components
that provide an economical and
reliable means to manage
RS-232/V.24, V.35, X.21, and RS-530
data interfaces. With this chassis­mounted switching and patching
system, you can switch individual
circuits, all 16 circuits in a chassis,
or a group of circuits via remote
console commands or upon an
alarm automatically.

You can also switch manually.
Use front-panel buttons to switch
individual circuits or to gang­switch. Or you can disable manual
switching capabilities in the system
with a simple command from an
attached console. We even offer a
Contact Closure Card that lets you
use a programmable logic
controller (PLC) to direct your
circuit switching.

Daisychain up to 9901 chassis
together to control and manage
158,416 A/B interface cards from

Control hundreds or thousands of devices

from a single ASCII terminal or PC!

Key Features

PRO SWITCHING SYSTEM II

a single console. This means of
control is an alternative
to connecting multiple multiport
KVM switches when you want
to manage hundreds of CPUs.

One PSSII console can
support 32,000 switchable circuits
in 2000 racks (if you install 100
racks at each of 20 sites). In this
setup, each site would contain one
master rack which, in turn, would
support up to 99 slave chassis.
And you’re not limited by a type
of cabling that can be used to
connect the console to the master
chassis; it can be local hard-wired
cabling, a dedicated link, or even
a dialup link (although you must use
hard-wired local cabling for
all slave connections).

The PSSII chassis

At the heart of the system is the
chassis. Choose the SM900A for
RS-232, RS-530, X.21, or V.35
communications. For V.35 only, use
the SM901A.

Each chassis has 18 mounting
slots with card guides and a
backplane PC board that provides

the card-edge interface for the
cards you plan to add. The rear
plate of the chassis has three rows
of DB25 EIA connectors. Use them
to attach the A, B, and Common
(modem) sides of your data cables.

Cards seat in the chassis from
the front, and their data connectors
plug easily into the cable
connectors without disturbing any
cable bundles attached at the
chassis’ rear. The first slot holds
the unit’s Power Supply Modules
(order separately), and the slot
adjacent to it is for installing an
optional Management Control Card
or Terminal Display Card.

The chassis’ other 16 slots
can accommodate up to 16 circuit
cards, which we offer as Front
Interface Cards or Universal Serial
Cards. Each module passes one
switchable data circuit.

The PSSII chassis also has a
control-communications interface
and two test-equipment interfaces.
The latter two connections enable
you to perform interactive test-

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module communications and test
functions.

You can use the interface
labeled ”I/A”, for instance, to
connect a basic error rate (BER)
tester or a protocol analyzer. In
addition to BER tests, you can
conduct protocol simulation, block
error rate (BLER) tests, or error-free
seconds (EFS) tests.

The other test interface, labeled
“Monitor,“ enables you to connect
a data-line monitor device when
you want to passively monitor
certain lines. The interface’s
parallel-wired connectors are also
used to daisychain two or more
PSSII chassis.

Modules for the system

For your various interface
requirements, we offer a number
of modular cards (also called
circuit cards) that can be installed
in a PSSII chassis. Each card is a
single switchable circuit between
your data terminal equipment
(DTE) and data communications
equipment (DCE), and feature
circuit-status display and alarm
definition, detection, and reaction.

The cards are equipped with
three ports that link to A, B, and

Common paths. These paths
connect to the equipment cables
attached in at the chassis’ rear.
You can switch paths, for instance,
when you need to reroute a circuit
from an attached device that has
failed to a device or circuit that’s
operational. To switch, press a
button on the mounted card. LEDs
inform you of your selected switch
position.

Each card has four manual
patch cavities. Three of these
provide intrusive access to the A,
B, and Common (modem) sides of
the switchable circuit. The fourth
cavity provides bridged (non­intrusive) access to the Common
(modem) side.

RS-232, RS-530, X.21, and V.35
Front Interface Cards,
(SM906C–SM909C) feature a
switchable A/B circuit, a common
RS-232 or V.35 cable connection,
plus signal-monitoring LEDs. You
can mix, match, and install up to 16
cards in the chassis.

With up to nine alarm options,
each RS-232, RS-530, and V.35
circuit can be individually
configured for up to a maximum
of eight alarms on the presence or
absence of Physical Layer signals.
And each X.21 circuit can be
individually configured for up
to six programmable alarms.

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The front and back views of a
Pro Switching System II chassis.

(2) Power

Supplies

(1) Management Control Card

(Slot is also used for Terminal Display Card)

(16) Front Interface Cards

(Slots are also used for Universal Serial Cards)

All modules mount in a Pro Switching
System II chassis for installation in a
standard 19-inch rack. The chassis
includes a six-foot (1.8-m) AC power
cord. Standard AC voltage is 115- or
230-volt input.

The redundant front-loaded power
supplies (to be ordered separately)
provide DC-voltage power to the
chassis.

The Management Control Card (also
to be ordered separately) contains
LEDs that indicate signal status of
any interface patched to the control­module cavity from a patch cavity.
The LEDs illuminate with a positive
voltage, such as a data “space” or a
control signal “high.” Next to each
LED are voltage-test jacks.

If you don’t require patching
capabilities but want economical
A/B switching plus transfer speeds
of 10 Mbps! within your PSSII,
order Universal Serial Cards
(SM930C–SM934C). These cards
support RS-232, V.35, RS-530, X.21,
10BASE-T, and analog RJ-11 or
RJ-45 communications. They differ
only in the interface adapters
shipped with them (except for the
SM930C, which is designed to link
to the chassis’ three DB25
connectors and, therefore, requires
no adapters).

The SM930C is a universal
DB25 model that’s suitable for
RS-232 or RS-530 switching
applications.

The SM931C has three DB25
male to DB9 female adapters. It’s
ideal for RS-232 TIA-574 (IBM

®

PC

COM port) switching applications.

The SM932C has three DB25
male to DB15 female adapters and
is suitable for X.21 switching.

The SM933C has three DB25
male to RJ-11 female adapters and
is suitable for 4-wire RS-422
applications or can be used to
switched telephone circuits not
connected to the public telephone
system.

The SM934C, which features
RJ-45 connectors that are RJ-48
compatible and are unkeyed,

includes three DB25 male to RJ-45
female adapters. It’s suitable for
RS-232 TIA-561, 8-wire RS-422,
10BASE-T, or Token Ring (up to
16 Mbps) applications. It can also
be used to switch private T1 or E1
circuits not connected to the public
telephone system.

With its latching relay feature,
the Universal Serial Card forwards
all traffic in the event of a power
failure and, when used as a copper
path, operates independent of
speed and protocol. And there’s no
complicated programming!

As with the Front Interface
Cards, the Universal Serial Cards
install in the front of the PSSII
chassis and can even be mounted
alongside the Front Interface Cards.

In a daisychain configuration,
you can put up to 16 Front Interface
or Universal Serial Cards in each
slave chassis. The master chassis
can be populated with up to 16 of
these cards plus one Terminal
Display Card.

Management cards

For managing the chassis, you’ll
need either a Management Control
Card or a Terminal Display Card.

The Management Control
Card (SM902C or SM904C) provides

Attaching ears are slotted at the standard EIA location for a 7" panel.