It often goes like this: One of your best customers is calling; your marketing team has identified a new market; or you have a new opportunity. And now you need to get network-enabled: EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, PROFINET IO, EtherCAT, OPC UA, or something else.
And you need a solution: source code, an embedded PCB, or a maybe even a module to solve that need.
You don’t have the time, expertise, or patience to spend countless hours developing it yourself, field testing your solution in several plants, and doing your best to comply with every last paragraph in a seven-inch manual, only to fight with some tester at the certification center. Doing it that way isn’t going to get it done quickly or easily.
You’ve probably looked at some git-hub code but you’re not sure of its quality, or if it will be maintained on a timely schedule as the specifications migrate in future. And most of all, you really want someone you can call when your customer has a problem you can’t quickly fix.
If this describes you, then you’ve come to the right place.
I’m John Rinaldi, and I’ve built Real Time Automation to service customers exactly like you, because I’m one of you.
Many years ago, I built a three-button pushbutton station that needed DeviceNet connectivity. All the available solutions were complicated, over-designed, complex to integrate, and too large for the processor I was using.
So, I built my own DeviceNet source code. And, I’ll be honest with you, it was a disaster. I didn’t really understand the specifications. I didn’t understand how to code a network protocol. And I didn’t understand how to eliminate the complexity of deployment in the field.
But I persevered. Little by little, my team and I learned how to interpret the specifications. We learned how to simplify the application integration. And we learned how to eradicate the complexity of installation and deployment.
Then I started to get calls from other companies that wanted a small, simple, easy-to-integrate solution; our business delivering networking solutions to customers like you was born. Now we do a lot more than just DeviceNet: you can get everything from Profibus DP to EtherNet/IP to Modbus TCP to OPC UA and a lot more.
Because I’ve been a designer of networked automation devices, I know your concerns and what you are going to need from us to be successful. That’s why I’ll personally promise you:
Small Footprint and Low Resource Requirements – If you’re like many of our customers you have very little unused Flash and RAM left in your device. Our source code products are built for single-task operation and minimal resources.
Expert Consultation – You’re likely not an expert in networking, protocols, deployment considerations, and how users integrate networked products like yours with Siemens and Allen-Bradley controllers. We are! We’ll train, guide, and support you from day one all the way through product certification and beyond. Often, you’ll be working with the guy who wrote the code.
Pre-Certification Support – If you’ve ever had a network product go through certification at a conformance test lab, you know it isn’t fun. They’ll throw thousands of tests at your product over eight or more hours and pore over your connectors and supporting documentation. If there are problems, they’ll work with you – at a hefty hourly fee. You can avoid all that by working with us. You’ll pre-certify your product in our lab and we’ll represent you at the test lab. If something goes wrong, we’ll work with the test lab to fix it.
Training – Your development staff is going to get trained on everything they need to know to implement your solution. Knowledge transfer is a big part of what we do. Your developers need to understand how the code works, what the gotchas are, how users are going to deploy the device, and when to call for help. That’s part of what we offer. But you’ll likely also need to have your sales, marketing, or support team get up to speed on this technology. They need to be able to talk to customers about it in language that make sense. You can get that from us, too – at your site, at our place, or over the web. Whatever works best for you.
The Complete Solution – You need the complete solution: tools, training, support, and more. And that’s what you’ll get from us.
This is my company, built from scratch out of frustration with the products and services available in the market, and driven with a passion to deliver products that you can get quickly and easily deploy and commission, with exceptional support.