Page 59 - Remembering ISTEL

Remembering ISTEL

of soft- ware packages is also available through the centre as well as third-party
peripherals, printers, consumables and maintenance.

PROBE (Engineering & Manufacturing Division.)

PROBE - an acronym for PROcess Break-down Evaluator - is a package designed
to diagnose faults in machinery or processes controlled by programmable logic

controllers (PLC's).

PROBE consists of a portable micro- computer with twin microdrives, one disk

holding software for fault diagnosis, the second disk holding parameters for the
machine or process which is being diagnosed.

In the event of breakdown, PROBE is plugged into the controlling PLC. In

seconds it identifies the problems, dis- playing its conclusions at each stage of
the diagnosis. Remedial action can then take place without delay.

SEE-WHY (Decision Support Systems Division)

The world's first visual interactive simulation package, SEE-WHY has won a
British Computer Society Award for innovation.

SEE-WHY was originally developed for the automotive industry, for the
simulation of production lines. Today, SEE-WHY is used in a wide range of

industries i.e. airports, process plants, where a movement of products or
people can be simulated.

With SEE-WHY one can create a model, change it, introduce new situations and
variables i.e. plant, and then actually 'run' the plant or process to SEE what
happens and understand WHY.

Having identified any problem areas, the user can then develop the optimum
solution.

SIGMA (Commercial Division.)

SIGMA is a complete range of integrated accounting packages which can be

operated either stand-alone or fully integrated with other SIGMA applications.

Applications include purchase, sales and general ledgers through to sales order

processing and inventory control. Each is up-to-date in terms of current
management and accounting practice, and uses the latest system design
techniques for on-line operation.

SIGMA runs on the DEC VAX range of computers.

Page: 59