March 3, 2005 — Version 4.3.2 of the Tactical Software product line is now shipping. In addition to various maintenance fixes, the release offers a major new feature for the Serial/IP Redirector: support for inbound connections from serial servers and back-to-back Serial/IP operation.
Inbound connections from serial servers are used by software applications that open Serial/IP COM ports and wait for servers to initiate connections to a specific TCP address and port number. This type of configuration can be found in applications that allow field devices to initiate data upload, alarm notifications, and other event-driven connections back to a central computer.
Additionally, inbound connections can be used to respond to outbound connections from another copy of the Serial/IP Redirector running elsewhere on the network. In this configuration, Serial/IP runs in a back-to-back mode, eliminating the need for serial lines or modems between COM port applications on the two computers.
Multiple Serial/IP COM ports can be configured to respond to the same TCP address and port number. When an inbound connection is received, the Serial/IP Redirector presents it on the first available (lower numbered) Serial/IP COM port.
