The amount of data that can be stored by IMAC is limited only by the size of the hard disk installed in the PC. Typically 1,000,000 messages take about 3 GB of disk space. With the large disk drives available today it is common to store the equivalent of more then 150 boxes of wide carriage listing paper on a single hard drive. The IMAC files are cyclic so the newest data is always available. Eventually the oldest messages will simply be overwritten by the newest. Some customers need the security of archiving the data for long-term storage. IMAC can back up data onto any logical drive either locally or over a network. The backup is performed automatically at a selectable time every 24 hours. The IMAC system remains on line throughout the backup, so data is still being logged. By using sophisticated compression algorithms very large amounts of information can be backed up onto a relatively small drive.
We recommend 640MB or 1.3GB Magneto Optical disk drives (product code IMAC–300). These can typically store a years worth of data on a single removable diskette. Operators are prompted to replace the diskette when it becomes full.

To recover the backed up data requires our Offline Restore software module. This takes the compressed data and recreates the original data files. Because the data files it creates can be very large, we supply a separate hard disk along with the software module specifically for this purpose. Once the selected files have been restored, the standard IMAC Client is then set to read these files. The Client display looks exactly as it would if it were displaying real time alarms except it is now showing data which was archived perhaps years ago. The data can be reviewed either on the standard Server/Client PC or by using a separate Client elsewhere, ie away from the control room.

The Email module allows Email messages to be manually or automatically generated by IMAC and sent to over 1000 addresses worldwide. This means that automated reports or critical IMAC messages can be emailed.

This is an extremely powerful software only module. If a host DCS system can print to a printer over a network, then IMAC can capture this data straight off the network just like a networked printer would. The data never has to appear as RS232, it is only ever sent as network traffic. This means that remote systems can print to IMAC without the need for additional cabling and line drivers. Even local systems can use it and eliminate RS232 cabling altogether. IMAC can have a mixture of traditional RS232 inputs and networked data inputs making it very flexible. This has been used with Honeywell GUS stations very effectively.

If the host DCS cannot print over a network then an alternative is to use a Serial Hub. These small boxes are connected to the LAN and can accept 4 or 8 RS232, RS422 or RS485 inputs. This data is sent directly over the LAN into IMAC, so the IMAC PC only needs to have a network card installed. Again this is a very simple way of reducing cable costs from remote stations to a central IMAC system.

This allows IMAC to link to any database or spreadsheet such as Microsoft Access, Excel, Oracle etc., and populate them with data in real time by using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). The heart of the module is a scripting programming language. It allows you to manipulate the data string and extract only the data you need before passing it to the external database. Using this approach means that the data in the IMAC database remains totally secure and unalterable, while the data in the external database can be manipulated and changed at will, confident in the knowledge that the external data can be recreated at any time from the IMAC database.

This module allows IMAC to send real, pre recorded voice alerts by telephone as well as being able to send SMS text messages to cell phones and pagers. A modem is supplied with this module as standard.

Text
When IMAC receives a specific alarm or event it can use a modem to send SMS text messages to cell phones and TAP compliant pagers.
This means that an engineer on site can be directed straight to a breakdown without having to return to the control room to find out what the problem is.

The SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) module allows IMAC to act as either an SNMP Manager or as an Agent.
As a manager, IMAC can gather alarms from intelligent network devices such as routers and bridges and display them in the same way as any other alarms entering IMAC.

This software module comes complete with a sound card, microphone and speakers. Up to 2000 alarms can be linked to separate sounds that have been recorded on the IMAC hard disk. The sounds or pre-recorded speech (.WAV files) can be played through the speakers or into a public address system. A number of default sounds are included with the module. The microphone allows any sound or speech to be recorded and played back. Operators no longer have to monitor the alarms and are free to perform more productive work. Maintenance personnel can be alerted to a problem via the PA system.

This software module comes complete with a sound card, microphone and speakers. Up to 2000 alarms can be linked to separate sounds that have been recorded on the IMAC hard disk. The sounds or pre-recorded speech (.WAV files) can be played through the speakers or into a public address system. A number of default sounds are included with the module. The microphone allows any sound or speech to be recorded and played back. Operators no longer have to monitor the alarms and are free to perform more productive work. Maintenance personnel can be alerted to a problem via the PA system.

For data security a second disk is installed in the IMAC PC. This secondary disk is written to at the same time as the primary disk. If the primary disk ever fails then the secondary disk can be made the primary disk and will have all the up to date data. The Module can also write the duplicate data to a Mapped Network drive on a File Server if required.

Console printers are simply printers with an integral keyboard. They must not be confused with a DCS console which is totally different. The keyboard on the printer is used to communicate with a host system. Many mainframe computers have console printers attached to them for startup and fault reporting. Our Console module allows IMAC to emulate up to 8 console printers. When a window (data line) is selected, the IMAC keyboard becomes active and will transmit data out of the selected communication port on IMAC to the host system. A particularly powerful feature of the module is that it can be run over a network. This means that the IMAC server can be in a computer room, an IMAC client can be anywhere on a LAN some considerable distance away. An engineer can monitor alarms or even re start a mainframe computer from his desk without the need to visit the computer room.