The limitation is it's a one-one protocol mapping.
This gives you Ethernet TODAY on each processor for under $150. I'd highly recommend buying an outright serial/Ethernet gateway such as a Digi One SP or a competitor's product if you want to simply connect the HMI. It was relatively inexpensive because we actually happened to have a KF2 already and I was only paying for the Digi One IAP. The last solution is what I actually implemented.
Note that there's no way to use Ethernet/IP directly via protocol conversion especially to route onto DH+ since Ethernet/IP doesn't have an easy way to do multiple gateway routing. You lose all the Ethernet/IP features but my impression is that you were trying to get back to DH+ and not migrating everything early via some sort of interface onto Ethernet. You'll then have a ControlLogix that is speaking DH+ as a DH+ node. Or alternatively connect it to the serial port of your ControlLogix and use DF-1 protocol. Or else use the KF2 box as-is but realize that it's a single-PC solution at a time no matter what you do. Or alternatively plug the serial port into a single PC and use RS-Linx Gateway.
Then use a Digi One IAP to make it a multiple-connection aware setup. Put a PCMK card in it so that it acts as a gateway server for everything or some things. Load the PC with nothing but the minimum software and this. RS-Linx OEM can support OPC communication for local-only OPC aware HMI's. I believe I tracked down at least one or two others when facing the same sort of problem. Use the above device or one of the competitors.
Roughly <$5K if you do nothing else with it, but it doesn't stop you from using the backplane for a regular ControlLogix that just happens to be a gateway, too. Use a ControlLogix and route across the backbone. The basic problem is that DH+ absolutely, positively has poor support overall. At the HMI/PC level, you could use either network since Ethernet/IP works fine over Ethernet. I ran for about a year over the existing DH+ network with block transfers on all the PLC-5's sending the data to a single "aggregator" PLC which was accessed via Ethernet. At the PLC level, you can always do block transfers. The PDC system never requires any software updates, security patches, driver updates or memory flash configurations, making it secure and easy to implement.About $1200-$1500 if I recall correctly. The OCX-based network is installed with 1 dip switch and has no software programming or system configuration. Like all our modules, this fiber media converter utilizes our packetization technology, which keeps data secure by preventing a mixed data stream.
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