I am working for a company which is specialized in making remote control for computers on a wide range of OS's such as Windows, DOS, Linux, etc. We also make products that support Windows/Linux embedded, Windows mobile and Windows CE.

We have had a few requests for remote control of hand scanners running Windows and Windows CE, as well as other machines from various segments.

I know this is a very open question, but I would like to know if there is a general need for remote control, file transfer capabilities, remote diagnostics, etc. within the automation segment.

From our point of view, we just need an operating system such as Windows or Linux and a network connection, and then we can probably remote control it.

Any help and assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

Hi,

Remote control has very little meaning as far as LINUX is concerned, as it is simple to ssh into any machine anywhere and it's just like being there.

Marc Sinclair
Germaine Systems
www.germainesystems.eu

 

From your description, its hard to see what you are doing that isn't already built into standard Linux distributions, or that isn't already offered by several well known third party products for MS Windows. Unless you have something special in this regard, I'm not sure what you are asking. People do sometimes use these things for remote diagnostics. If people haven't been doing more of it though, it isn't because they lack the means to do so.

 

Hi
Thank you for your reply. Is Linux very common in this industry, or is it mostly Windows?

We do experince in other industries that our tools are used for Linux also for a number of different reasons.

 

Hi, and thank you for your answer.

My company does provide some extra functionality even compared to other 3rd party products on the market today. I am interested in knowing what kind of features would be useful in this area regardless of operating systems.

Could it be somthing like connectivity behind firewalls, automatic transfers of files, remote monitoring, diagnostics or some other things. We are in a position to develop what is needed, so our challenge is to find out what the need may be.

Again, all help is appreciated

 

You probably want to talk to OEMs of standard equipment. That is, equipment where they sell more or less the same thing to multiple customers around the world. They often need to provide extra technical support to customers all over the world. They are also more likely to use computers, as opposed to PLCs.

I would suggest contacting companies involved in semiconductor equipment, electric motor manufacturing equipment, balancing equipment, and printing presses, plus perhaps some of the larger and more sophisticated machining centres.

Machines which are made on a one-off basis by companies which are local to the customer are probably not a good target for you. Generally, the customer just fixes it themselves, or the original builder can just nip around the corner to have a look at it if need be. They also use PLCs, which are a closed system.

I would suggest that you find out who puts on relevant trade shows where equipment is exhibited, and start travelling to them and exchanging business cards with people. Usually a few big companies put on most of the exhibitions, so once you find one trade show you can find more of them.

Having said that though, I don't know what trade shows are like lately. I haven't gone to any in a few years because there was very little to see that was new to me.

 

Hi, and thank you for your input.

Your suggestions are very valuable to me, so this is great. Could you, or anyone else tell me what the need of these kind of companies would have?

If I know which needs they have, and their everyday challenges, it would make it much easier for me to contact them.

For example: "I know that your type of business in general have these issues,and we have a remote control tool to help you with this".

I do appreciate that this may be a vague question to ask you, but if anybody could help me with that, that would be absolutely great. I really appreciate all the input.

Just another question. Is there a need for remote support of these devices on different networks and behind firewalls?

Again, thank you very much

Best regards,

Carsten

 

For what it is worth:

I find myself using Radmin for Windows frequently lately. In situations where I need to see what is happening on a remote HMI machine, but don't have the full app stored on my laptop, it is quite simple to use Radmin to log in and check the activity on the HMI, then log back out again when finished. Also, this makes it easy to view several different systems from one PC without having to store and update all those apps on my laptop.

My 2 cents

--Joe Jansen

 

Hi Joe,
Thank you for your input, it is worth more than 2 cents to me ;-)

I hope other people will be able to share other experinces in the same way.

Thank you

 

Does anybody have any more input?

If not, then thank you to everybody for their input.