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**NEWS RELEASE** ** NEWS RELEASE** Alpha Micro Components has it all "Networked out" 
With more and more design engineers embedding networking and Internet capabilities into their designs, Alpha Micro has the tailored solution Demands for more and more of our electronic devices and machines to be network and Internet-enabled are increasing at a rapid pace. Products that have traditionally not required network capabilities are now being upgraded – at this rate, it won’t be long before we can all go onto the Internet at work to find out what is in our fridge at home. “By 2010, only 5% of networked devices will actually be PCs,” explains Graham Arnott, Product Specialist, Alpha Micro Components. “Affordable device servers from companies such as Lantronix can already network the most basic machines. With this technology now within the reach of every OEM, the time is right for network functionality to become standard on a whole new generation of consumer and business products.”As the demand for networked products becomes increasingly widespread, Design Engineers will be frequently presented with the challenge of integrating network connectivity into their legacy designs. This is often a lengthy and time-consuming task. OEMs and System Integrators are already on the look out for solutions that will allow them to reduce the engineering risk and costs associated with adding networking capabilities to their products. Alpha Micro Components, a specialist franchised distributor of electronic components, has earned a good reputation for working closely with Design Engineers to allow them to quickly and easily go to market with networking and communications capabilities built into their products. One of Alpha Micro’s more advanced networking products comes from American franchise, Lantronix, for which Alpha Micro is a key UK distributor. Lantronix products have been Internet enabling for over 10 years and the company recently used its expertise in this field to create XPort, a serial to Ethernet adaptor that can slot into any design that already has a serial port of UART. As well as coming with built-in TCP/IP protocol stacks, XPort also features a Web server that holds six pages of dynamic or static information and can be interrogated by any standard Web browser. Christos Papakyriacou, Managing Director, Alpha Micro Components, explains, “A good example of how XPort can be used is in a vending machine application. Fitting XPort into a vending machine will enable that machine to be remotely monitored from anywhere in the world. The machine now has the ability to communicate to the outside world and could inform service teams that hoppers are running low or that maintenance is required. Head office could also configure and access operational information by logging onto the machine’s Web page. Not only will this save someone having to actually check each individual machine, but will also eliminate the need for costly site visits making the whole process more efficient and timesaving”. Alpha Micro has seen huge demand for Lantronix’s XPort device, but despite its simple design-in approach, many Design Engineers still face problems; either they lack the IP knowledge required to integrate the device into their designs, or they have the skills but not the time. This is where Alpha Micro has used its own in-house design team to come up with a solution that helps customers network-enable their legacy serial products with incredible ease. The solution comes in the form of NetPort – a “plug and play” adaptor that provides OEMs with an intuitive interface to the functionality of XPort. Just like the Lantronix device, Alpha Micro’s NetPort features an integrated web server and allows any product to which it is attached to be contacted and monitored via a standard Internet browser. However, unlike XPort, it offers a truly “Plug and Play” solution, allowing any device with an RS232 Port, such as network routers, meter readers, Lottery terminals, process control machinery and Point of Sale terminals, to become network and Internet-enabled in an instant. Alpha Micro carried out four months of research with existing and potential customers before developing NetPort. The design team looked at how typical serial devices were powered, how they connected machine-to-machine (M2M) and what key features were needed for networking data. One of the key attributes that make NetPort so unique is its ability to be powered from a wide range of voltages (5.5V ~24V DC), either from a plug top PSU or from the serial machine to which it is connected. This flexibility means that it can be used on a variety of equipment across various market sectors, including Point of Sale, engine diagnostics, access control and security. Another ‘bright’ idea from Alpha Micro was to fit NetPort with an integrated LED diagnostic system. When NetPort is attached to customers’ equipment, LEDs indicate status and speed of connection. Papakyriacou goes on to say, “On top of all this, NetPort comes standard with a nine-way D type plug but can be easily fitted with any type of serial plug, such as Mini DIM, RJ45 and DB25. An important point to remember is that NetPort has been designed to complement XPort. It’s a way for customers to ‘dip their toe’ into the IP market without engineering effort. Once they have gained the confidence with the technology, and sales volumes of their products begin to grow, Alpha Micro can help them to reduce costs further by integrating XPort into their product.” “In this Internet age, the ability to communicate with products over the web is crucial to the economic success of many organisations. But there remains a whole host of machines and devices that do not come with built-in network connectivity. In NetPort, Alpha Micro has created an extremely cost-effect, off-the-shelf product which requires little or no technical knowledge to install and can network-enable these products in a matter of minutes.” Further information can be obtained from: Tel: + 44 (0)1256 851770 Fax: + 44 (0)1256 851 771. Email: sales@alphamicro.net Website: www.alphamicro.net
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