Steeplechase Marks Product Innovation with VLC5.0
Ann Arbor, MI (3/17/2000) - (CHICAGO, IL) Steeplechase Software, Inc., the leading PC-based control
company, has announced release of Version 5.0 of its award-winning Visual Logic Controller™ (VLC®), a
release marked by productivity tool innovation and enhancement.
“Version 5.0 is the first PC-based control with hard real-time that is compliant with Windows 2000, as well
as backwards compatible with Windows NT 4.0,” said Jeff Fisher, VP and General Manager of the
Steeplechase Software Division. “Other Steeplechase firsts include first hard real-time PC-based control,
first hard real-time on Windows NT, first integrated motion control, and first embedded NT product to
integrate HRT control on a compact industrial PC.”
The V5.0 release contains a revolutionary new concept that allows the VLC to directly integrate its hard
real-time engine into generic Ethernet and TCPIP, the most widely used infrastructure in the world. This
direct hook increases the reliability of the VLC’s peer-to-peer communication, Ethernet I/O connectivity,
and interface to custom devices such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for high-speed material
handling applications.
An enhanced InProcess OPC server in V5.0 is significantly faster than previous versions of the VLC
software. OPC (OLE for Process Control) is a standard mechanism for communicating to numerous data
sources, either devices on the factory floor, or a database in a control room. This enhanced OPC server
allows customers to take advantage of Microsoft’s DNA for Manufacturing, a series of protocols and
technology communication between the PC-based control system and factory information systems.
“With VLC Version 5.0, Steeplechase offers its customers the benefit of our experience developing
approximately 5,000 PC-based control projects,” said David Gee, Vice President of Technical Marketing
for Steeplechase. “Along with installation of the VLC software, we provide customers with proven libraries
of specifications, interfaces, samples and screens.”
Features added to the VLC are based upon customer productivity needs, such as the On- Line
Programming (OLP) capability added in the previous version of software, which allowed users to make
changes to the flow chart programming without shutting down the manufacturing line. A new Human
Machine Interface (HMI) networking feature in V5.0
enables users to animate graphics based on data from other factory floor systems.
When Microsoft released Windows 2000 in February, Steeplechase announced its support of the new
operating system. “We are firmly committed to our partnership with Microsoft, and have attempted to stay
abreast of and support new Microsoft releases,” said Fisher. “We’ve added a new installation technique in
Version 5.0 that is 100% compatible with Windows 2000, Windows NT, and Windows NT Embedded.”
For more information, contact:
Susan Raber
Marketing Communications Manager
Steeplechase Software, Inc.
(734) 975-8100
sraber@steeplechase.com
Steeplechase Software, Inc, is the undisputed leader in PC-based logic control according to ARC
Advisory Group, and is recipient of the 1999 Frost and Sullivan Market Leadership Award for PC-based
Controls. Founded in 1993 by veterans of the PLC industry, Steeplechase provides productivity-based
automation tools to Fortune 500 manufacturers and OEMs that cut control system design, installation and
launch times, and lower machine downtime. For additional information visit www.steeplechase.com. **
For an electronic file of a 5.0 screen shot, please see contact information above.
www.steeplechase.com