LABTECH and Stratus Work Together to Improve
the Reliability of Process Automation

In our August 2002 newsletter, we reported on our test results of LABTECH software and some of our most popular I/O and drivers, running on the new Stratus ftServer family of computers.

Our test results confirmed that the partnership of LABTECH and Stratus provides a complementary, complete fault tolerant hardware/software solution for process control and data  acquisition:  LT/CONTROL and LT/CONTROLpro provide a fault-tolerant software control system with connections to sensors and data acquisition I/O, and the Stratus ftServer system serves as the Microsoft Windows 2000 hardware  platform.  Recognizing the synergy between our products, we have entered into a global partnership agreement with Stratus Technologies.  This agreement was announced at the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society  (ISA) Conference, in Chicago, Illinois on October 21 2002.

"Manufacturers demand bullet-proof, cost-effective solutions for their plant-floor operations.  In the past, they have had to settle for being locked into  proprietary systems, because it was too difficult and time-consuming to configure an open system from the hardware components up," said Frederick A. Putnam, CEO of LABTECH.  "This agreement allows Stratus and LABTECH to work  together to provide customers with an open architecture, end-to-end fail-safe system.  At one end is the Stratus Windows-based servers providing 99.999+ per cent reliability and at the other end is redundant I/O.  In between, is LABTECH software, performing data acquisition and making sure faulty I/O hardware is automatically switched out, with no down time."

"The Stratus ftServer provides system availability that exceeds even the highest end distributed control system computers in wide use today, and at a cost which is far less than those DCS systems.  However, it's a general purpose computer, not a control system", said Wesley Lyons, Sales Manager at LABTECH.  "Our contribution is to add LABTECH's time-tested process control and data acquisition software, and our knowledge of how to implement fault-tolerance for process I/O, in order to create a total system.  Key to  this is the high reliability of the LABTECH runtime software, which has been tested in the ultimate way, through heavy use over LABTECH's 21-year history, by thousands of customers in real plants."

LABTECH is currently shipping Version 12.1.2 of its LT/CONTROL family of products.  This version offers USB and PCI plug-and-play support and 32-bit driver support.  New remote control functionality and enhanced graphics have been added to the LT/CONTROL product family.

The Stratus ftServer family of Intel® Architecture-based servers offers a unique combination of hardware fault tolerance, advanced software availability, and integrated service technology to produce the industry's most reliable servers for continuously available computing.  Unlike high-availability cluster systems, which require complex software scripting and system failover time, Stratus servers are designed not to fail in the first place.  The self-contained servers come ready to integrate quickly into IT infrastructures, to run Windows 2000 applications unmodified, to operate with little-to-no staff support for ongoing operation, system management, or servicing.

 

About Stratus Technologies

Originally founded in 1980, Stratus Technologies designs, sells, and supports fault-tolerant computer servers for operations where uninterrupted processing, business  continuity, and reliability are important.  Through its 24-7 Technologies Division, Stratus also licenses technology for continuous computing on Intel processor-based platforms to other global manufacturers.  Stratus has been named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 2002 "FORTUNE® 100 Best Companies to Work For" and by Upside magazine among the "UPSIDE Hot 100 for 2002."  Stratus is a U.S. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Stratus  Technologies Website is www.stratus.com.

 

About LABTECH

Since 1981, LABTECH Corporation has been keeping engineers on the cutting edge of data acquisition and process control with their products: NOTEBOOK, NOTEBOOKpro, CONTROL, and CONTROLpro.  LABTECH products are able to interface with over 1,000 hardware devices from over 50 manufacturers.  First to leverage the World Wide Web for remote access to real-time applications with its network and Internet technology, LABTECH focuses  on providing innovative software for end-users, systems integrators, and OEMs in process control manufacturing, automated test, and laboratory automation.  LABTECH's Website is www.labtech.com .

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