Replacing the Digi Discontinued WR21 Cellular Router
About Anuja Upale
Anuja Upale is an Engineer with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Electronics & Telecommunications from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, and a Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Maryland. With eight years of hands-on experience in the tech and electronics industries, Anuja serves as an excellent technical consulting resource for design engineers. Specializing in wireless technologies, including Cellular, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, LoRa®,and GPS–Anuja develops insightful reference designs, application notes, white papers, and product kits to support the advancement of innovative technologies.
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- Digi International is discontinuing their TransPort WR router series in favor of a new line of products with advanced features. What are the recommended replacements for customers?
Digi has introduced a new Industrial Series (IX) of products for customers to transition successfully from their previous WR series. The IX series contains four different product families: Digi IX10, IX15 and IX20. These are targeted towards a broad variety of applications and requirements. - What is the main difference between the TransPort WR and Digi IX series? Why did Digi decide to move to a new series?
The previous TransPort WR series products are based on the SarOS operating system, whereas the new IX series is based on the Digi Accelerated Linux Operating System (DAL OS), with a far more advanced feature set. SarOS is a 20+ year old operating system that has reached its technological limitations. DAL is a proven, enterprise-grade router operating system with improved security and stability, and integration with the Digi Remote Manager® configuration and network management platform. - What are the major differences between SarOS and DAL OS?
- DAL OS allows for IPV6 support for Cellular, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and VPN, whereas SarOS only supports Ethernet.
- DAL OS enables zero touch provisioning for devices with automatic APN search. SarOS doesn’t support this feature.
- DAL OS has the ability to run native Linux applications and shell scripts.
Browse the full list of feature differences in Digi International’s Digi Router Migration - SarOS to DAL documentation. - Are there any other key differences between the Digi WR and Digi IX series?
- Digi’s IX series combines Cellular offerings with other short-range technologies such as Wi-Fi.
- The Digi IX series contains a single, global SKU as well as regional variants.
- Some of the IX product family allows for a change to the Digi CORE® plug-in modem within the router.
- What are the new products in the Digi IX series, and which are comparable replacements for WR models?
Digi IX10 is the recommended replacement for the Digi WR 11XT. Digi X10 is rugged, reliable, cost-effective, and offers connectivity for critical industrial applications. It covers LTE Cat-4 in a single global SKU.
Digi IX20 is the recommended replacement for the WR21. The IX20 is targeted towards Cloud managed networking for critical applications. It supports LTE Cat 4, Cat 6 and Cat M1. Additionally, the Digi CORE plug-in LTE modem can be changed within the router.
Digi IX15 is a programmable gateway that connects Digi XBee®-enabled devices to remote applications over Cellular and Ethernet. - What resources are available to ensure a successful transition from the Digi WR to Digi IX series?
Digi has extensive documentation available to make this transition easy and smooth for customers:- Migration from SarOS to DAL OS: Details the differences between both OS systems.
- DAL OS features: Highlights the key feature of DAL OS.
- Digi Router Migration Tool: Digi has created a migration tool to guide customers through the transition.
- Migrating from Digi WR21 to the Digi IX20: This webinar talks about IX20 as the next-gen successor for Digi WR21.
About Anuja Upale
Anuja Upale is an Engineer with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Electronics & Telecommunications from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, and a Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Maryland. With eight years of hands-on experience in the tech and electronics industries, Anuja serves as an excellent technical consulting resource for design engineers. Specializing in wireless technologies, including Cellular, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, LoRa®,and GPS–Anuja develops insightful reference designs, application notes, white papers, and product kits to support the advancement of innovative technologies.