I have maintained for a long time that it is hard to do IT/OT conversion because both groups use the same technology, Ethernet, differently. While some maintain that Ethernet is Ethernet is Ethernet, when you get into the specifics of how that technology is used, the application of the technology is different.

Let’s talk about VLANs as an example. A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a way of grouping devices into a common local Ethernet as if they were connected on their own network. In the following diagram, there are two VLANs. Each VLAN maintains its own collision domain. Traffic within one collision domain never interferes with traffic on another collision domain. Both switches in this diagram manage traffic within each VLAN as if there were two separate physical networks.

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