Fertilizer production is one of the harshest environments a computer can be asked to run in. Ammonia and dust exposure, temperature swings, and constant vibration from heavy processing equipment cause standard commercial-grade PCs to fail early and often, especially when they're mounted directly in control cabinets on the plant floor.

Koch Fertilizer's IT/OT architecture team needed a compact, fanless computing platform that could sit inside plant-floor control cabinets, run continuously without air-cooling intake pulling in contaminants, and hold up to industrial vibration and thermal extremes — all while meeting the security posture required for a converged IT/OT network. A hardened, wired-only endpoint with no open wireless attack surface, built-in platform security, and reliable local storage was a priority.

Cybernet worked with Koch Fertilizer to spec a custom build-to-order configuration of the iPC R2is, Cybernet's fanless rugged industrial PC platform for automation and control applications, purpose-built for exactly this kind of deployment.

The configuration Koch Fertilizer standardized on (custom SKU IPCR2ISB-KI5500) includes:

• 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8565U processor for reliable, responsive performance on plant-floor applications
• 16GB DDR4 memory and a solid-state drive for fast, fanless, moving-parts-free operation
• Wireless module removed, keeping the unit wired-only to match Koch Fertilizer's hardened OT network policy
• An embedded hardware RAID controller for data reliability in an unattended, industrial setting
• A TPM module for platform-level security and encryption
• A DIN rail / VESA mount kit for flexible installation directly inside control cabinets
• A 1-year warranty plus lifetime U.S. phone support

Since deploying its first units in 2024, Koch Fertilizer has continued to standardize on the iPC R2is platform, placing repeat orders as the rollout has expanded across its Wichita operations. Cybernet's build-to-order program has let Koch Fertilizer's IT/OT team lock in the exact configuration — down to the removed wireless card and mounting hardware — and reorder it consistently as new control cabinets come online.

The result is a plant-floor computing platform that fits the space and mounting constraints of a control cabinet, tolerates the dust and vibration of a working fertilizer plant, and meets the wired-only security posture Koch Fertilizer's architecture team set for its converged IT/OT environment.