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We are holding a Proxim Wireless Seminar in Auckland - March 2011. I want to come please

Hello Everyone, Well it is a beautiful summer and who wants to work?? smile except for the rain amazing!! To start the 2011 year off, I want to discuss something of a perennial issue for short run engineering companies in the APAC area -- let say less product runs less than 1000 to 5000 items to be produced. So this note is directed to development teams and managers of these types of teams. We are still seeing a considerable amount of working going on in hardware and software development where there is a reinventing of the wheel. So please ask yourselves this question. Are we developing something new or is this just standard jelly bean technology that you can buy for very low cost off the shelf?? or Are there parts or sub assemblies inside our new device that are really just jelly bean technology and can be purchased for very low cost off the shelf?? For example: If you are interested in Zigbee, please don't buy chipsets and build your own. The same is often true for embedding - micros, almost always true same for most wireless and DAQ etc etc If you spin your own, the development learn curve is most often long and the end result may be less than optimal with time constraints and budget and also the result may not be compliant or will have to gain compliance. The cost of embeddable modules ( wireless, micro, daq, comms etc) are very low and it will take a long time to recover any development dollars spent, especially if the production runs are low over time. Purchasing off the shelf product as a commodity also shifts responsibility out of your company to a larger company to maintain this technology. Freeing resources and time. Also by partnering with a large company that spend all their day just making software tools and hardweare sub components, you get many spin off gains. The product you buy will not only work and be compliant but it will integrate with all the other products the company makes and other manufacturers. It will also stay current and as standards change it will migrate. If you take someone like Digi for instance, this is true for all their embeddable micro and wireless products and all these products know Zibee inherently, + Wifi and will connect to their Gateways and Routers so also, without going through another long learn curve. This gain even extends in some cases right up to SQL corporate databases. These types of software tools will provide an integrated solution across all products, freeing the development team to be truely innovative and add your own special knowledge value to the base technology to make it sell at a value added price. This applies to all wireless, especially zigbee, and micros, DAQ, PAC, Comms etc. Stay in core competences. If you make irrigation systems, make them truly innovative by spending your time inside that knowledge of irrigation. Also sometimes you get something for nothing almost. i.e. The new Digi XBEE ZB Zigbees can be programmed now. This added programmability costs on average about $1 to $2USD to get. Try and build a micro system to do that. This programmability may be sufficient for your project. Also some of the other advantages from Sub component makers are solid design and no compromises. For instance, the Digi way of adding programmability to Zigbee and Wifi are very clever. You can't mess with the Zigbee Wireless compliant side. So if your program runs a muck, when you repower the module, it is still a compliant Zigbee module, it just has a messed program that you can fix. You never loose compliance. This product line will also go through upgrades revisions to make it slide with time and technology and compliance changes around it. Also often this technology comes in a SM form facto, so easy manufacturing and lower cost again. This type of story can be repeated across hundreds of products. -- ARM and Rabbit minicores is a good example. Why should a development team have the responsible for a microprocessor design any more? It is a very old idea and has passed it use by date, unless it is a very special Micro and even then, make the special part and mate an off the shelf core module to it, to make the special part for the micro, this is value add. Please use your hard earned money inside your company to be innovative and not to make base off the shelf jelly bean technology. Smiles all round. Just in from Measurement Computing and IOTech NEWS Jan 2011 The Value Leader in Data Acquisition Dear Customers, Measurement Computing is excited to announce that MasTec Ltd. is now the distributor for all iOtech products in New Zealand. MasTec has been selling and servicing MCC products for many years and will now represent the iOtech line as well. iOtech data acquisition products are ideal for direct signal measurements including temperature, strain, pressure, voltage and more. Portable systems are available with 8-256 channels. Each system also includes easy to use software. You can view the full iOtech product line here: link Also have a look at the latest MCC Info: link Focus for 2011 During 2011, MasTec will be focusing on bringing a better awareness to the NZ and APAC market place of our most important companies. Aaxeon, ADlink, Advantech, Array, Artila, Asian Electron, Atten, Avoisys, Axiomatic, Belotti, Belval, Commell, Dataforth, Deeter, Digi, EP Solar, Frequency Devices, Gamatronic, GW Instek, Handy Wave, Hellicom, iBase, ICOP, ICS, Infranet Systems, IOTech, IREM, Jumo, Keyspan, LabJack, Lanner, Lascar, Longwave Microsystems, Maestro Wireless, MasTec Products, Measurement Computing, Meter Drive, Micronor, Omega, Opto 22, Panasonic Batteries, Pencomm, Powercom, Power Kinetics, PowerVar, Power-io, Proxim, Quatech, Rabbit Semi, Sealevel, Soltec, Sterling Power, TrippLite, Wireless Plug and many others. These are MasTec's premier companies. Over the 2011 issues of its eNewsletter we will focus on clusters of similar technology from various manufacturers i.e. DAQ look at all the DAQ manufacturers and options MasTec has, then Wireless, then Sensors, then Power, etc We hope this will expand the awareness of our offerings to help you choose better solutions. This replaces the old way of just making announcements as the manufacturers release product. We feel with this new way of presentation will benefit you our clients, rather than information just appearing as a random release of information on diverse technology and products. A better tighter focus. We will still have our new companies and highlite for Company of the Month each month also. Announcements for 2011 Proxim, a world leader in point to point and point to multi point high speed wireless backhauls. We are holding a Proxim focused Seminar in Auckland - March 2011. I want to come please and also IOTech, the world leader in high channel count Recorders, Loggers and DAQ systems. IOTech make direct real world signal measurement Recorders, Loggers and DAQ :- temperature -(RTD, TC, Thermistor, Silicon), strain, pressure, vibration, voltage, current and more. So no conditioners required. and also Deeter, a UK based manufacturer that has an extensive range of sensors including Stainless Steel Float sensors, leakage sensors, even wireless ones. Have a look at this site, you will be surprised at the range of product and vertical markets touched. Deeter specialises in the design, development and manufacture of electronic sensors, instrumentation, control and process equipment

	" Little Bites eNewsletter " ©
Proxim Seminar	IOTech - an MCC Company New Company	MCC New Products
High Speed Wireless Backhauls	Real World Signal Recorders, Logger and DAQ	Wireless Sensor System
The seminar is directed at all CIO and IT Managers in companies that have a need for moving large amounts of data on a private wireless network or ISPs that are making public wireless WiMAX systems. The data can include:- Pure Data, IT Traffic, Emergency calls, IP Phone, Security Data, HDMI or CCTV data. Typical applications will need high data rates of 300MIPS, full duplex traffic. Companies that have a campus or buildings or clients close together and want to have private networks that easy to manage and install. We envision this being of interest to Government, Infrastructure, Educational, Defence, Utilities, Security, Emergency, Police, All Councils, Telcos + Large Corporates and ISPs -- did we miss you?? If you are in these areas and want to see the latest technology for these types of jobs come to the morning or afternoon seminar. The other category of companies that will be interested in this seminar, are technology companies that would like to become resellers and installers of such equipment. We are planning separate sessions for each type of interest - end users and resellers. If you are servicing any of the customer base above then you are welcome to join and become part of the NZ Proxim team on the ground floor.	MasTec has a new company- iOTech for 2011 iOTech ha been in business for many years making GPIB and DAQ products and was recently merged with MCC. MCC has just given MasTec the rights to sell iOTech in NZ, see the letter and announcement above. These IOTech products fill a very important niche MasTec didn't really have covered, making IOTech quite special in the DAQ world. If you look at the list of products, immediately you notice they are real world signal ready. Most transducers will connect directly with conditioners, filters, sample and hold etc built right in to the product. This is so important as you get excellent matching of characteristics, low SNR, high CMRR, low noise and the right ADC for the job. So for engineers and Researchers who need a recorder or a strip chart or large channel count DAQ, iOTech is the logical choice. There is a huge range of product, check the site You can view the full IOtech product line here: link	The Deeter Wireless Sensor System enables remote monitoring of level sensors in distant or difficult locations, without the need for long cable runs between sensor and control room. The sensors can also be battery operated, thus eliminating the need for power cabling too. The system now makes possible what would have been impossible or impracticable not so long ago. Where it was too expensive to run cabling or where physical barriers were in the way, such as rivers and roads, Deeter Wireless radio telemetry now makes remote sensing possible at reasonable cost. The simplest system consists of a Base Station and a sensor node. There are currently two types of sensor node: an 'LVCS-RF' (Liquid Vertical Continuous Sensor - Radio Frequency), and a general-purpose 'Sender'. The Sender enables remote sensing of: •up to four switch inputs •an analogue input The analogue input can be either a 4-to-20mA current-loop circuit or a resistive input (such as a Deeter LVCS). The Base Station has the following process control outputs: •four open-collector transistors •a 4-to-20mA current-loop driver The current-loop output responds to the analogue input at the sensor node. The transistor outputs can either reflect the state of the switch inputs or they can be configured to turn on and off at analogue input set points. The system communicates using the IEEE 802.15.4 (zigbee) wireless network protocol, in the internationally approved, licence-free, 2.4GHz frequency band. Wireless range can be up to 1km, subject to environmental conditions, antennae location and interference from other radio equipment. For greater range, or where the link quality is not sufficient, up to four Deeter Wireless Routers can be added to the system. Link and more
	" Little Bites eNewsletter " ©

Product Focus	Sensors, Transducers, Gauges	Interfacing
Companies List	Parameters Measured	Intefacing Methods
The Companies List for sensors-gauges-transducers is extensive but not exhaustive. If you need something special let us know we can get almost any product. Have a quick look at the Industrial section Have a quick look at the camera section Have a quick look at the Medical & Biomedical section Omega USA has 100K products just for this area. temperature, strain, pressure, chemical etc is their focus However they do not cover everything,so we do need a range of speciality companies to cover all the measurements, like our new company Deeter UK that has focused just on Level and Leakage and in quite tight vertical markets. Micronor of Switzerland is one fo the leaders in encoders for rotary position. Belval of France is the world leader in long distance linear measurement. Unimeasure USA is the world leader in cable or string gauges for shorted linear measurement, One of the most impressive is Lion Precision USA that measures tiny distance using capacitance. I have used these down to nanometers. DSE, (Denmark Scientific) is a very specialised Laser displacement gauge maker as is Keyence Japan, both making almost unbelievable products. Bio Medical leader ADI Australia supplies a vast aray of transducers, electrodes for R&D as does Vacumed. And the list just goes on. Penny & Giles USA part of the Curtiss Wright company, that is the Wrights Brothers who flew so long ago and Curtiss who was close behind them, yes their companies combined and still exist making amazing stuff. We mainly sell Linear transducers for hydraulic ram displacement or position. And the list just goes on. Karl Deutsch Germany is one of those leading companies in metalurgy and other material handling that looks for flaws and faults and measures them. Eltrotec Germany makes colour measuring systems + other very advanced linear gauges.. Very impressive is Microstrain, have a look. For any R&D Work, or Project or OEM work where you need gauges, transducers and sensors, please speak to us We do supply these products in bulk to machine and systems builders	There are many more to look at. As you can see MasTec's range covers almost all types of real world physical, electrical, radio, chemical, bio and medical measurement with a myriad of gauges, transducers and sensors from the worlds best makers. Gauges usually give a proportional signal out representing the physical parameter they are looking at, such as 4-20mA, 0-10V and digital data streams. e.g the Tank is 52% full. Sensors are traditionally binary devices On or Off like proximity and level switches from Pulsotronic Germaany or Infra Italy. They give the limits of the physical parameter like the tank is full or empty. Transducers and Gauges are basically the same thing just another word that is descriptive. One of the most exciting gauge types to appear recently are the new micro silicon: Accelerometers, strain gauges, pressure, temperature and tilt gauges. The main advantage of these is the low cost and mass production ability. We market these also from Freescale and other silicon innovators	The interfacing to these gauges, sensors and transducers is always very interesting, often requiring very special amplifiers, counters, DAQ units etc. And of course this is MasTec's long heritage of connecting all these devices to Computers, PLCs, Micros for data collection, storage and analysis and reporting. More and more gauges, sensors and transducers are becoming digital devices and therefore connection is simple, RS-232, 485, USB, Ethernet and in the case of Cameras - Firewire or USB 2. Wireless is becoming important also and as you will have seen, you can measure Thermocouples and Tank Levels, 4-20mAs. 0-10 volts etc remotely using Zigbee, Wifi and Bluetooth etc. There is though a lot of special niches that always need some type of special interfacing method. Example:- Cameras with super high speed DAQ, USb etc and Encoders, they require Quadrature Counter interfaces, so displacement and direction can be read, using biphasing or out of phase signals. Many devices are still in the analog world, and very common still is 4-20mA loops and 0-10V which of course connects to almost all PLCS and DAQ units. When it comes to raw gauges like TCs, RTDs (PT100s) Strain Gauges etc, speciality conditioners are required that can excite and amplifier very low level signals in many cases sub microvolt to 4-20mA or +/- 10VDC. That is why we have such a strong signal conditioners section and also filters, to get rid of noise. I have started the 2011 with the real world raw signal translators :-- the sensors, gauges and transducer because it leads naturally to all our other Instrumentation and Automation products:- Conditioners, Filters, DSP, Instruments, Loggers, DAQ, Recorders, PLC, PACs, Micros, Industrial computers, Proportional Controllers etc Next month we will look at the next level of devices that connect to Gauges, Sensors and transducers. Any question send MasTec a mail. By the way this technology of gauging, transducing and sensing started hundreds of years ago and has evolved, with the steps beng mechanical, electrical, tube and silicon electronics, analog and digital computers - bring us a huge revolution in this time. Pre digital computers, everything was analog, with analog computers ( love them) and closed loop controllers, analog servo controllers, Op amps, analog filters, paper recorders, analog tape recorders, oscilloscopes, and high speed photographic light pen recorders. Digital computers changed it all, but not instantly, it took years of evolving the technology. Now it is very easy, everything is available. The main ingredient, the human mind still makes the system out of the bits and pieces though and that is the joy of it all, creating new things.
	" Little Bites eNewsletter " ©

We are also holding a Digi + Rabbit Product Road Map Seminar in Auckland - April 2011. I want to come please

MasTec Staff Contacts :-
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OEM Buyers
Automation - Instrumentation - Infrastructure - Embedded - Wireless	loyal.noronha@mastecnz.co.nz
Signal Conditioners - Isolators - Gauges - Transducers - Sensors	loyal.noronha@mastecnz.co.nz
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Spot Buyers
Automation - Instrumentation - Infrastructure - Embedded - Wireless	loyal.noronha@mastecnz.co.nz
Signal Conditioners - Isolators - Gauges - Transducers - Sensors	loyal.noronha@mastecnz.co.nz
AC - DC - Alternative - Marine - Mobile Power	taran.singh@mastecnz.co.nz
All Lighting including LED Lighting	taran.singh@mastecnz.co.nz
Power and Lighting sub distributors and dealers contact	taran.singh@mastecnz.co.nz
Telemarketing and PR for Power Dealers	jacqui.carston@mastecnz.co.nz
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