Customer's Girlfriend Sends Mike an Email

Hey Mike,

This is the hapless girlfriend who shares an email account with a techie who subscribes to your newsletter.

The amount of dry poopey emails that we get in our inbox is criminal, and it's pathetic that the other electronic types are perpetrating the geek image that's out there by doing these incredibly boring emails. I mean come on? 'All you've ever wanted to learn about C++, Extensive Layer Management Plug-In for mental ray Pipeline? BRUTAL! Thank you for the sense of humour in your newsletters.

Mike - I think you need to start a 'how to write a cheese free newsletter course' I can think of many companies that need your help!

Signed,
Disgruntled Dish

My 2007 Industrial Data Christmas Poem

It's been awhile since I sent you a Christmas poem - we're long overdue.  Those of you who hold the civilized world together with RS-232 cables and duct tape and emergency trips in the dark of night will relate to our hero, Steve......

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at his nose
Steve's family listening to a choir
His overtime maintenance duty blows
 
Substation fires a circuit
The whole town plunged in black
Steve is now called to fix it
By a boss - already in the sack

Miles fly by as he drives thru the night
He's got no choice but to get there
Snowplows stuck & road curves tight
He must now fix the hardware

1 a.m. he arrives on the scene
Equipped to restore happiness
He sniffs out the subroutine
That originally caused this mess

Two lines of code at fault today
Caused a system overload
Breaker settings got in the way
Too much voltage at each node

Problem solved and attaboys
Are fine so far as they go
But still Steve is so very annoyed
To drive back through the snow

High tension lines traverse the land
With fiber cable properly exploited
If the right data was in my hands
Maybe this trip would be avoided

But an RTU at 1200 baud
Is very much too slow
When equipment goes on the fritz
Too long before we know

Missing data leaves us dry
Wondering what to do
Connect the dots and analyze
When Ethernet links RS-232

Now we know the status of
Every single transformer
From far away we know and love
Voltage, current, and temperature

Serial Servers, DIN Rails and
Fiber optic cables
Light speed travels across the land
To tell you all your data tables

Now we check our status lights
From the safety of our home PC
And instant data when regulators come
From Washington DC.

- An industrial-grade Fiber to Copper converter puts the data on the ever-familiar Blue Ethernet cable. http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?familyid=188

- A family of 3- 5- and 8- port Industrial Ethernet switches distribute the data throughout the substation. http://www.bb-elec.com/product_multi_family.asp?multifamilyid=68

- Serial Server converts Ethernet to RS-422/485, extending Intranet access to all the serial devices. http://www.bb-elec.com/productsubcat.asp?MainCategoryId=57

- An RS-232 to RS-485 converter allows multi-drop communication to SCADA devices with RS-485 ports. http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?FamilyId=302

- Serial over Fiber Optics, total noise immunity and range up to 9 miles on single mode fiber. http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?familyid=103

- For some devices, we need up to 2,000 volts of isolation. These devices defend your equipment from trouble. http://www.bb-elec.com/product_family.asp?familyid=12

Got questions about this stuff?  Email support@bb-elec.com or call (815)433-5100.

Whether you're driving through ice and snow to save civilization next week, or merely punching the clock on New Years Eve, all of us at B&B Electronics wish you a VERY Merry Christmas (yes, can you believe the gall?  I just said the "C" word!) and a delightful new year.

To your success,

Mike Fahrion
B&B Electronics
support@bb-elec.com
+1 (815)433-5100