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Western Reserve Controls releases the W2 Series – IEC61499 Development Kit

(February 2005) - Western Reserve Controls releases the W2 Series – IEC61499 Development Kit, a high-performance and Internet-ready J2ME-compliant Java platform for industrial automation.

Akron, OH, USA and Upplands Väsby, Sweden, February 9. Western Reserve Controls, WRC, announces the availability of W2-61499-K1 and W2-61499-K2 demonstration kits for research and development of IEC61499-compliant devices, systems and applications. The Development Kits are based on Imsys SNAP-module.

IEC61499 is a new international standard for highly distributed function block controls. It provides an event-driven mechanism for proper sequencing over multiple device nodes. Function Block Development Kit (FBDK) and Function Block Run Time (FBRT) are implementation tools of the IEC61499 standard licensed from Rockwell Automation.

The units support multiple interfaces including 64 points of digital I/O and 16 each of analog I/O, 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet, UART´s with speeds up to 460 kbit/s and CAN-bus interface. The units integrates Sun Microsystems Java 2 Micro Edition and supports a certified CLDC run-time platform for embedded Java development.

For the advanced user in needs of writing native functions in C or assembler, the W2-61499-K2 offers an optional development tool, the SNAP-IDE. The tools included are source editors, on-line manuals and help system, compilers, assembler, and linker, loader and trace and debug tools. The combination of the WRC-kit and SNAP-IDE as a development platform environment ensures faster time to market and cost effective solutions.

The products will be available through WRC, www.wrcakron.com and Imsys www.imsystech.com with first shipment during February, 2005.

About Western Reserve Controls Inc.
Western Reserve Controls is a privately-held, manufacturer of industrial control components founded in 1990 as a management buy-out from Rockwell International and located in Akron, OH USA. Products range from signal conditioners to network gateway products.

About Imsys AB
Imsys is a manufacturer of semiconductor chips, board level products and software development tools.

Photos are available for download at www.wrcakron.com

Editorial contacts:
Western Reserve Controls
Jim Barlow +1-330-733-6662

Imsys
Roger Sundman +46-8-59411076