DNC PROFESSIONAL™ 6.0

OVERVIEW

Berkshire Technology Solutions recently completed DNC Professional™ version 6.06.0000, which is the first major release of DNC Professional™ in a number of years. This release includes numerous enhancements and improvements and addresses known issues. The plant floor operator user interface, Controller, has been rewritten using Microsoft®'s latest technology, Windows Presentation Foundation. This gives Controller a modern look and feel aligning with the computer savvy workforce, improved efficiency and intuitive workflow, and longevity from a technical perspective for the foreseeable future. In addition, DNC Professional™ Wincopy capability is being enhanced and more fully integrated with the Communicator background service making it more robust. Wincopy is becoming increasingly important for use with modern machine controls.

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CONTROLLER

Controller continues to provide powerful and broad ranging DNC capability in an intuitive easy to use user interface. The user interface has been improved to become more graphical and rich. Screen layout, buttons, and tabs have been subtly changed to improve workflow and operator effectiveness. However, the changes are not so dramatic as to necessitate retraining of current users. Familiar concepts and existing tabs remain,including the file system, folders, tasks, and queue tab.

The most significant change to Controller is the underlying infrastructure. BTS is aligned with Microsoft® technology and has adopted Windows Presentation Foundation as the platform for Controller. This decision provides customers with long-term stability and assurance that Controller will be compatible with future Microsoft® operating systems.

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WINCOPY

As the sophistication of machine tool controls increases DNC Professional™ Wincopy functionality becomes more and more applicable. For this reason, DNC Professional™ has been enhanced making Wincopy more integral and enabling Wincopy to use the DNC Professional™ background service, Communicator. In DNC Professional™ 6.0 Wincopy is a machine type handled by Communicator. This change allows DNC Professional™ to apply translations to the data before sending it to the machine or apply the translations to received data before writing it to disk. In addition, pre-download and post-upload programs can be used. Of course, existing Wincopy users will not be required to migrate to this new technology.

WinCopy has been replaced by a device type that can run inside of Communicator. The new "Network CNC" device type can be assigned to a port attached to a 64-port hub and can be mixed with ports of other device types that run on a 64-port machine. When configuring a port to be Network CNC it is possible to specify a destination directory to which files will be downloaded to the machine and a Source directory from which files will be uploaded from the machine. When Communicator downloads a file to a Network CNC machine, it will apply download translations to the file (EOB, Strip Character, Start Transmission, End Transmission, Strip Comments) including calling the pre-download program if one exists. When Communicator uploads a file from a Network CNC machine, it will apply upload translations to the file (EOB, strip characters, strip spaces at end of line) include the post-upload program if it exists.

SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGY

DNC Professional can be used with the following supporting infrastructure:

_ Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows 2008 Server R2
_ DNC Professional™ is 64 bit compatible
_ Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
_ Microsoft Office Access 2007

DNC BROCHURE

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FIXES AND ENHANCEMENTS

This release of DNC Professional™ 6.0 includes cumulative fixes and enhancements that have been identified and resolved since the last release. The following are noteworthy fixes and enhancements:

Automatic Mazatrol Protocol Switch on Upload and Download: When a machine is configured to use one of the Mazatrol software protocols and the protocol is turned off, Communicator will detect when the protocol is needed and will switch it on for the duration of an upload or a download. On a download, Communicator will scan the file being downloaded before sending it and will turn on the protocol if it determines the file is a Mazatrol file. On an upload, Communicator will detect if the Mazak is sending the start sequence for a Mazatrol upload and will switch on the protocol.

Detecting Online/Offline Status for Moxa Ports: Communicator will report the port as offline if the Moxa device is turned off. If the Moxa device is turned off when Communicator starts, Communicator will display an error indicating that it cannot open the port. Communicator will check the status of the Moxa device every thirty seconds. If the port is offline and the Moxa device is detected as being online, the port status will change to online. If the port is online and the Moxa device is detected as being offline, the port status will change to offline.

Display IP Addresses: The Folder 27 Conversion program and the Folder 27 Viewer program have been updated to allow the IP address of a port that is configured to use a wireless device.

Upload E-mail Notifications: Communicator can now be configured to send an e-mail notification at the completion of an upload. This feature can be configured on a per port basis and can only be used it DNC Professional™ is not configured to do upload archiving because archiving already has an e-mail notification feature. Each port can be configured with one or more users, e-mail groups, or e-mail addresses to which to send a notification at the completion of an e-mail.

CNC Direct Directory List: The CNC Directory List command has been enhanced in two ways. If a string is sent back after the command separator and the string does not start with \\ or have a : as the second character which would indicate a directory, the string is considered to be a pattern and only files starting with that string will be listed. Second the files are listed with the complete path to the file. If a // is placed in front of one of the files and the directory list is uploaded to Communicator, Communicator will download the file.

CNC Direct Upload Notification: In the past, if Communicator found a "%1" in the Upload.cim file, it would replace it with a completion message that reported the number of bytes uploaded. Now, it replaces it with a completion message that reports the upload file name and the number of bytes uploaded. A new replaceable parameter in the upload.cim file is now supported. If Communicator finds a "%3" in the file, it will replace it with up to four lines from the beginning of the file.

.Net API: A new .Net API along with on-line documentation is now available.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Please be aware of the following related to BTS support and DNC Professional™ 6.0:

_ DNC Pro™ 6.0 no longer supports DNC 1 Hubs or Multicom cards (DNC Engine cards)
_ No support for dBase as underlying database management system for new installations
_ BTS requests that customers migrate to Microsoft® Access or SQL Server
_ No support for Oracle as underlying database management system for new installations
_ Legacy Wincopy capability will not be enhanced in the future