NewsForge's Grant Gross reports that SIXNET, a hardware company that for 25 years has been making industrial automation controllers designed to function in harsh environments ranging from dusty assembly lines to outdoor pumps, is changing most of its product line from running on proprietary software to embedded Linux. Thanks to Embedded Linux, SIXNET has been able to reduce costs, improve the product's flexibility, and speed up the entire product development process. Gross writes . . .

“SIXNET, based in Clifton Park, N.Y., will release its first Linux-powered product, the VersaTRAK IPm remote terminal unit (RTU), this spring. Steve Schoenburg, director of marketing for SIXNET, describes an RTU as a 'box you put someplace else to get information and bring it back to a central place.' “

“The RTU is rated to use in temperatures ranging from -30 to 70 degrees Celsius (-22 to 158 degrees F, and Schoenburg says it can be used in temperatures even colder than that), and the unit can be used to monitor water treatment, air quality, pipelines, and also in business situations such as inventory tracking inside of holding tanks.”

“The VersaTRAK IPm will be just the tip of the Linux iceberg for SIXNET, long known for its industrial ethernet and I/O controllers. Schoenburg calls the highly configurable controller 'our first, second, 10th and 20th (Linux) product' . . .”

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