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	The Dynamic C Software integrated with the compact RabbitCore platform—and the support team you have—absolutely sold us. Bob Hunter, President, TrendPoint Systems

TrendPoint Systems is a Northern California-based company that provides easy-to-use, web-enabled solutions for remote environmental monitoring of network rooms. TrendPoint's products are designed to monitor essential network infrastructure—power, environment, security, and fire protection systems—and provide vital trending analysis via the Internet.

TrendPoint selected the Ethernet-enabled RCM2200 RabbitCore microprocessor core module to power its new ultra-compact, stand-alone monitoring device, the EnviroCube, which protects key network components housed in remote locations.

"Network closets, rooms, and racks really form the backbone of the network," says Bob Hunter, president and founder of TrendPoint. "If something happens to one of those small rooms, it can be every bit as devastating as if something happens to a main data center. The trouble is, the more remote these rooms are, the harder they are to control."

The company's goal was to incorporate all the powerful features of its already-successful Monitrend product—which supervises conditions in larger data centers and runs on a Windows or Linux PC or server—into a small, self-contained unit that could fit in tight spaces and operate independently of the server.

"The whole purpose was to take the power of live updating graphs that we have in our larger system and put that on a small, embedded web-based platform," says Hunter. "We experimented with several products, but when it came time to choose, we decided to use the RCM2200 RabbitCore."

Squeeze Box
After some creative tweaking, Hunter and his team came up with a configuration for the new EnviroCube that preserved all the essential functional characteristics of the proven Monitrend software. "The biggest challenge was to take a Windows/Linux-based system (basically a multipurpose platform), about a meg worth of code, and somehow or another squeeze that down onto an embedded platform such as the RabbitCore," says Hunter. "But we've more than succeeded, and we're extremely happy with the results."

The EnviroCube has extensive alarming and notification capabilities. If a customer's room or rack is in danger of overheating, for example, the unit sends out an alarm right away. Customers simply set alarm thresholds and select to receive alerts and event data via E-mail, pager, or SNMP trap.

The EnviroCube also packs powerhouse data-gathering capabilities into a four-and-a-half-inch cube. The tiny device features onboard sensors for temperature and humidity, as well as four user-selectable universal inputs that can accept external plug-and-play sensors (e.g., voltage, amperage, leak detection) and closed contact inputs (e.g., fire and security alarms). All of this fits perfectly into the RabbitCore's I/O structure.

"Thanks to the RabbitCore module, what we now have is a very small yet extremely robust system that can compare with the top-of-the-line network management or environmental management systems on the market," says Hunter. "The EnviroCube is every bit as powerful a platform as the big Monitrend platform, except that the EnviroCube is specifically for managing a bunch of individual spaces spread all over the place—which is what our customers typically have."

Flexible Platform, Powerful Software
One of the main reasons Hunter selected the RabbitCore was for its flexibility as an embedded development platform. "The problem with a lot of companies that make embedded control systems is that they're really in the business of selling products, not a total solution," he says. "It was really important to us to have a completely naked development platform with which we could do whatever we wanted . Other companies would like to believe their solution is a development platform and it's really not—it does not have the ability like Z•World's does, with Dynamic C, to literally build anything you want to on top of it."

Z•World's integrated Dynamic C software package proved to be a deciding factor for TrendPoint. "Number one was the programming language; we had to have something that had Dynamic C power," says Hunter "We think the Dynamic C language as a development platform is clearly superior to anything we've seen out there. And the fact that it's integrated with the hardware, that is an absolute requirement for us."

Trendy Data
Each EnviroCube comes equipped with TrendPoint's Monitrend software, which is embedded in the system. Data trending can be expressed as 1-hour, 24-hour, and 30-day values for each monitored parameter, with live updating every 15 seconds.

"What the marketplace has really been after is a stand-alone module—IP-based, web-based—that has the ability to do long-term trending, not just nuisance alarms," says Hunter. "If you send somebody an alarm saying it's too hot and it's 3 a.m., well, do they know if it's getting hotter? Or has it leveled off?"

To provide historical trending, Hunter had to make room on the RCM2200 for database support. "You really need to have a database; it's not good enough just to see live data points without historical background," he says. "It was a big deal to be able to create a database on a small processor, but we were able to do it."

For TrendPoint's customers, the advantage of having access to trending data is clear. "You need the historical trend, so you can know how badly out of tolerance you are," Hunter says. "Our competitors give you a single data point, and from that you have to somehow diagnose the problem and fix it. That's very hard to do. So when we give the customer a live trend, it really is a situation where a picture is worth a thousand words. They know how serious the problem is, and they're able to resolve it with real information rather than guesswork."

The EnviroCube utilizes 10/100 Ethernet connectivity via the RCM2200's RJ-45 jack to communicate E-mail alarms and trending data to the customer. "We use Dynamic C's standard drivers and E-mail client, as well as an SNMP trap," says Hunter. "The E-mails include a graphical attachment link, which shows the last hour up to and including the alarm event. We can also send information via pager, with a full text printout of what's going on."

The RabbitCore also provides an expansion serial port for the EnviroCube, allowing customers to double monitoring capacity by plugging into TrendPoint's server-based Envirocom module. Quick Development, Swift SupportWhile the design process required some rather unique innovations by Hunter and his team, total development time for the EnviroCube was less than six months. "The challenge that we faced was how we were going to take a live feed that's constantly updating graphs in real time, create the databases, and get it all to run on a 20 MHz processor in a very small amount of RAM," says Hunter. "But we found Z•World's platform to be very flexible in achieving that."

Z•World provided friendly and useful support throughout the development process. "We got great tech support," says Hunter. "When we ran into a couple of things, they just said, 'Work with us and let's get it done.'"

Z•World's rock-solid service and integrated approach to embedded control seems to have made a lasting impression on Hunter. "The Dynamic C software integrated with the compact RabbitCore platform—and the support team you have—absolutely sold us," says Hunter.

Expressed interest in the Envirocube has TrendPoint projecting sales of over 1,000 EnviroCube units over the next 12 months.

www.trendpoint.com, 925.855.0600

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