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Electronic Visions, Incorporated
Electronic Visions, Inc. was incorporated under the laws of the State of Florida in 1987 to provide products and services for industrial instrumentation, controls, and computing. Since 1987, EVI sales have grown from less than $100,000 annually to in excess of $1M for the last 4 years. EVI projected sales for 1995 is estimated at $2M due to a large contract to replace an aging plant process computer system at a US nuclear power plant.
Electronic Visions, Inc. employs 4 software engineers, 1 hardware engineer, 1 hardware technicians, and an office manager. Of the people at Electronic Visions, most have worked together in one form or another since 1985 and the remainder since 1990. In addition to the full time staff, Electronic Visions, Inc. utilizes consultants and contract services from time to time as required.
Electronic Visions, Incorporated is located in Rockledge, Florida, approximately 15 miles from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base, 25 miles from Melbourne, Florida and 50 miles from Orlando, Florida.
MODCOMP Products and Services
A significant portion of EVI business provides products and services for Modular Computer Systems, Inc. (MODCOMP) based process control applications. These types of computers were introduced in 1970 by Modular Computer Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and are used in a wide range of applications , from communication to process control. MODCOMP computers are used in the following applications/sites:
Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers in the Checkout, Control, and Monitoring System for the Shuttle. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Nuclear, fossil, and hydroelectric power plants Waste water treatment and pollution control facilities Airport and other transportation centers Metal manufacturing facilities such as steel and aluminum mills Petroleum plants, from offshore oil wells to refineries Chemical plants Automotive manufacturing and testing Electronic Visions, Incorporated offers users of MODCOMP systems a wide variety of services including:
Hardware Sales Hardware Service System Design and Implementation Software Design and Implementation Sustaining Engineering Services Custom Interface Development Training Consulting The average age of a MODCOMP based process control or monitoring system is approximately 10 years. The typical user has a significant investment in the application software which has been developed to take advantage of the services offered by the proprietary MAX real time operating system. Electronic Visions, Incorporated offers products that extend the life of or significantly enhances the capabilities of a MODCOMP based process control or monitoring system:
Message Routing Node (MRN)
Electronic Visions, Incorporated's Message Routing Node or MRN was developed in 1989 to provide a multi-function peripheral platform for the MODCOMP computer. The MRN provides the underlying platform for the MRN-100 DECNet, MRN-200 TCP/IP, and the MRN-300 Novell Interfaces, described in detail in following paragraphs. The MRN concept is planned for several other future Electronic Visions, Inc. products.
The current MRN configurations allow a MODCOMP to participate in networks commonly found in industry. Of the three MRN configurations, the MRN-100 DECNet and MRN-300 Novell interfaces are available only from Electronic Visions, Inc. The capabilities provided by the MRN-200 TCP/IP interface are also provided by a peripheral offered by Modular Computer Systems, Inc.
The MRN has several significant advantages to the Modular Computer Systems, Inc. offering:
The MRN has been tested on revisions F (released prior to 1981) to revision K (latest official release of late 1991) of the MAX IV operating systems and revisions B to D (latest) of the MAX 32 operating system. Installing an MRN on a MODCOMP system does not require that the user upgrade to the latest revision, as is required with the Modular Computer Systems, Inc. product. Developing for a wide range of operating system revisions provides a significant cost savings (approximately $4,800 to $6,500 per upgraded system) when considering the true cost.
The MRN requires minimal resources from the system. MODCOMP 16 bit computer systems have 64 kwords available for the operating system executable code and data structures. As each revision of the MAX IV operating system has been released, the amount of memory required by the operating system (called Map 0 Memory) has increased, often to the point that a user cannot upgrade. The MRN requires less than 256 words of Map 0 compared to the 10,240 that may be required by the Modular Computer System, Inc. product. Significant savings can be realized when considering the cost and consequences of recovering Map 0 Memory for other products.
The MRN presents minimal impact to the system. Electronic Visions, Inc. uses a optimized protocol between the MODCOMP and the MRN and performs most, if not all, network related functions in the MRN, not on the host MODCOMP system. Utilization on a MODCOMP Classic II/75 is typically less than 3-6 percent.
The MRN offers flexibility when changing networks. The hardware and a large percentage of the MODCOMP resident software is not network specific, allowing the user to easily switch between DECNet, TCP/IP, or Novell as their networking requirements change.
SCSI Mirror
Electronic Visions, Inc. offers a hardware solution for disk mirroring on MODCOMP or other systems utilizing SCSI disk drives. The SCSI Mirror provides disk mirroring, stacking (allowing several small drives to appear to the host as a larger disk), and unstacking (allowing a large drive to appear as several smaller drives) for the MODCOMP IPS. The hardware solution is totally transparent to the host MODCOMP and unlike other disk "twinning" software, does not require any additional resources on the host or impose performance penalties.
Replacement Disk Systems
Electronic Visions, Inc. offers a full line of replacement disk subsystems including:
RDU-1100 Removable Disk Drives for the MODCOMP 4185 Disc Subsystem
Universal SCSI Disk Controller
Allows the replacement of a variety of disk controllers on the MODCOMP systems. The Universal controller provides a means to replace older drives with higher performance controller and drive technology without software modifications.
SMD - ESDI Drive Replacement.
EVI offers a ESDI drive subsystem that attaches directly to existing MODCOMP controllers with the SMD interface. This replacement allows new drives to be used to replace the older SMD interface drives. This product is suited to users that wish to replace the drives, but wish to retain the older controllers.
Asynchronous Floppy Drive Replacement
Allows a conventional PC to replace the MODCOMP Asynchronous Floppy Disk. The EVI AFD provides superior performance and functionality on a low cost platform, allowing the MODCOMP AFD to be replaced with low cost, commercially available components. The EVI AFD software not only offers twice the speed but twice the capacity, allowing 127 tracks of 32 sectors compared to 77 tracks of 26 sectors. The EVI AFD also provides a console replacement, utilizing a second serial port. This allows a single PC to replace both the AFD and conventional CRT. The EVI-AFD software, when bundled with a commercially available laptop or notebook, may be configured with the end users MODCOMP diagnostics, providing a means to run diagnostics on remote diskless systems.
EVI offers a console logging software package, allowing up to 4 console devices to be replaced with a single inexpensive PC. PC-LOG provides logging to disk in several format, search and review capabilities, and capabilities to transfer files serially, all while continuing to log to disk. PC-LOG has proven to be a valuable enhancement to industrial computer rooms and is in use by major corporations throughout the world.
The EVI Console Diagnostic Loader (CDL) software package provides the capabilities to download diagnostics from a portable PC, such as a laptop or notebook, to a MODCOMP system. This capability allows field service personnel the ability to maintain remote diskless systems. CDL provides capabilities for loading fillable, relocatable, or DAX diagnostics through simple function key commands. Diagnostics are selected by name from menus.
Source Control Management (SCM) Software
EVI offers a Source Control Management system for the MODCOMP computers. The SCM provides all features found in PC based systems such as revision tracking, source control with check in/out and full reporting capabilities. SCM on the MODCOMP offers greater reliability than PC based systems by minimizing the movement of source to non-MODCOMP systems.
Terminal Control Program (TCP) Software
TCP was introduced by EVI to provide a low cost, low maintenance security system for MODCOMP systems. With the increasing popularity of terminal servers, the lack of access control on the MODCOMP systems becomes apparent. TCP provides the standard user name/password control with features for specifying break control, idle time, and initial user directories. TCP accomplishes this using standard Job Control Language files, providing a system which is not tightly coupled to the operating system, as are other packages.
Depot Repair
Electronic Visions, Inc. offers an unmatched depot repair service for MODCOMP computers and peripherals. Services provided range from simple repair to total refurbishment where all IC's are replaced, sockets tightened, and all corrosion/oxidation removed. EVI provides these services to customers worldwide.
Custom Manufacturing Services
Electronic Visions, Inc. offers a wide range of custom manufacturing services ranging from custom design from the conceptual stage to engineering of replacement components for obsolete and no longer available systems. EVI custom manufactured products include:
Automated Message Accounting Frame Emulator (AMAFE)
EVI provided complete design to manufacture services for this DEC Q-Bus sized card, allowing a complete rack of magnetic tape drives and controllers to be replaced with one or two cards (depending on redundancy requirements) and a PC. The AMAFE provides complete tape drive emulation, transmitting data serially to a PC. The AMAFE is used in the billing process in cellular telephony and allowed the customer to reduce the price of the cellular telephone equipment significantly to compete in the Rural Service Areas.
Digital Data Link Interface (DDLI)
EVI provided complete design to manufacture services for this DEC Q-Bus sized card, also part of the cellular telephone switch. The DDLI card provides an interface from the switch to the cell sites via modem. The original DDLI card was configured with outdated hybrid modem modules. The EVI DDLI card provided the same functionality but with the capability to utilize state of the art commercially available modems.
Cell Digital Data Link Interface
EVI provided complete design to manufacture services for this MultiBus I compatible card. The CDLI card is the companion card to the DDLI but is located in the cell site equipment. The EVI CDLI card provides similar capabilities as the DDLI.
Cable Distribution Board
EVI provided design to manufacturing services for this card, allowing the cabling to be simplified in a micro cell product.
Manchester Encoder Decoder Board
EVI provided design to manufacture services for this STD Bus card for the micro cell cellular telephone products. This board converts Manchester data to RS-232 data and vice versa.
RS-232 Multiplexor Board
EVI provided design to manufacture service for this Multibus I compatible card for the micro cell cellular phone products. The multiplexor board allows the redundant call processors each to access up to 16 micro cell systems.
DC to DC Converter Board
EVI designed and manufactured printed circuit boards that allowed replacement DC to DC converters with different footprints to be used
EVI 5316 Communication Interface
The EVI 5316 Communication Interface is a component in the Message Routing Nodes. The microprocessor based EVI 5316 was custom designed and manufactured by EVI to provide the intelligent interface from a PC to an interface on the MODCOMP systems. The EVI 5316 is an ISA compatible controller supporting DMA to and from the PC with an interface compatible with the standard MODCOMP 4805 controller with full DMP capabilities.
EVI 4805 Parallel Interface Controller
EVI designed and manufactures a 4805 compatible controller for the MODCOMP systems. Unlike the MODCOMP 4805 controller, the EVI 4805 resides in the PC chassis along with an EVI 5316 to provide a "no slot required" network interface. The EVI 4805 is fully compliant with MODCOMP I/O bus specifications and connects directly to the I/O bus. The EVI 4805 was developed to provide a solution for potential Message Routing Node customers that did not have any spare slots available on their MODCOMP systems.
AM-32X Flying Capacitor Analog Multiplexor
The AM-32X is a STD bus compatible solid state flying capacitor analog multiplexor providing 32 channel analog inputs. The AM-32X card was developed as an enhanced multiplexor card for a nuclear power plant data acquisition system. The solid state design eliminates the costly and troublesome mercury wetted relays commonly found in the flay capacitor designs and provides for faster acquisition of signals.
Universal SCSI Disk Controller Board
The USDC board is a ten layer, .090 inch board designed by EVI. This controller is described earlier and is based on the Motorola 68000 family of components.
Card Reader Replacement Card
EVI was contracted to design and manufacture replacement cards for a nuclear plant security system. The EVI design combined two cards, each containing several design changes, into one card and provided features for ease of maintenance. The replacement card allowed the existing security system to remain in use, eliminating the need to replace the entire system.
Future Opportunities
EVI has produced products for the telephony and nuclear power industries based on low cost commercially available components. EVI is in the process of contacting the engineers and managers at the other US nuclear power plants responsible for similar, but outdated, systems. The low cost of the EVI systems are ideally suited for other plants when compared with alternatives of total plant process computer system replacements. As nuclear plants attempt to cut operation and maintenance costs, but meet changing federal, state, and local regulations, the EVI products will appear very attractive.
EVI has identified a potential market in the redesign and manufacturing of replacement components for obsolete or out of production parts. A marketing campaign is planned to introduce EVI services in replacement components to the process control field.
Several STD Bus data acquisition products are in the planning stages. These products include a multiple channel programmable gain analog to digital converter and additional analog multiplexing cards. These products are available from only a few STD Bus vendors, if at all. In addition, EVI plans to productize a front end data acquisition system, developed by EVI personnel in 1987 for a nuclear power plant.
Copyright© 1997, Electronic Visions, Inc. All rights reserved.
1650 Barrett Drive 
Rockledge, Florida 32955 321-632-7530
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This page last updated on Oct 28, 2010