If you're near Mobile, Alabama, or the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, join us next week for the 3rd annual Allied Electronics Mobile Technology Day.

You'll see some 25 Allied suppliers at the Expo demonstrating the latest tech products and ready to answer your questions.

Be sure to look for Opto 22's Dan White. Dan will be there to show you how easy it is to build your own mobile app to monitor and control Modbus/TCP devices, OPC UA systems and equipment, and of course Opto 22 SNAP PAC controllers. 

Say you've got a dry contact switch you want to monitor so you know when it's closed. Could be a level sensor or pressure indicator, a magnetic reed switch or snap-action micro switch, or maybe a relay contact.

There are lots of ways you could do that, but often the best way is to use a SNAP-IDC5-SW digital input module. Why?

• It supplies 15 volts of power to an external dry contact switch.
• You only need 2 wires to connect the switch to the module.
• You can monitor 4 switches from 1 module.

Ben Orchard raves about this module in his recent blog post on monitoring water usage, and with good reason: it makes life easier by saving wiring time and complexity.

You'll get three great new features (and more) in our latest PAC Project release:

• Use either a hostname or an IP address to identify your control engine (you'll really appreciate this feature if you have multiple controllers)
• Upgrade legacy systems by replacing the SNAP processor on a B-series mounting rack with the new SNAP-PAC-R1-B.
• Change the unit type on an I/O unit, for example if you replace a SNAP PAC brain with a rack-mounted controller, or an Ultimate I/O brain with a SNAP-PAC-R1-B.

Every application is different. But some things are similar:

• You have to monitor and control equipment.
• You don't have enough time in your workday.
• Your budget is seldom enough for what you have to do.

Watch the video and see how groov can help you save time and money in facility management. A groov mobile interface lets you keep moving while you monitor systems and equipment. 

Join us for the CSIA Executive Conference, April 29 through May 3 in Washington, D.C.

At this annual conference you'll get practical workshops on every aspect of a system integrator's business.

Plus you can network with other integrators and explore at the Expo, where over 60 industry suppliers, manufacturers, and service providers will demonstrate the latest in automation.

And the answer is: YES

I know it sounds like an April Fool's joke, but it's really true: you can build a groov mobile interface for your older Optomux system.

So you can monitor and control it from your smartphone or tablet. 

It works in spite of the fact that Optomux has been around since 1982, while groov is all about today.

A new series of blog posts by Opto 22 Application Engineer Ben Orchard gives you a front-row seat.

Remember filmmaker and explorer James Cameron's dive to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench, just three years ago? 

Ben spent 4 months with the Deepsea Challenger team, in Australia, Guam, and at the Trench.

Today's tech tip is for anyone spec'ing new I/O for your system. It's a "hidden gem" on our website: the SNAP I/O Configurator.

This fun tool helps you build an I/O unit—mounting rack, I/O processor, and SNAP I/O modules.

Pick a rack-mounted controller or brain for I/O processing. There it is, on the rack.

Need a Factory Mutual approved, channel-to-channel isolated, digital input for DC voltage? Piece of cake. Check the boxes and choose the one you want.

Add all the analog, digital, and serial modules you need. If the rack is too large or too small, just click to change it. 

If your building automation system uses BACnet—and many do—you can integrate it with your SNAP PAC System using our free BACnet Integration Kit for PAC Project.

We've just updated this integration kit to include:

Older wind farms still produce clean energy, but many weren't built for modern monitoring and control.

This lack of remote visibility causes problems for utility companies and other owners, who must immediately respond when regulators call for changes in production.

That's because the electrical grid has to be a Goldilocks kind of system: not too much electricity, not too little. It has to be just right.