Metacom, an industrial telecommunications provider, has announced the release of its MC401 Intelligent Modem. The MC401 is a new wireless communications device that offers innovative new technology to reduce network downtime, and diagnose and repair common errors itself. This is a reliable connectivity device for industrial and commercial applications.
“We’ve distilled all the lessons learned over the past seven years in the field into this device,” says MD Réan van Niekerk. “The most important innovation is that we’ve included onboard intelligence so the modem can restart itself if there’s a problem. All modems hang up occasionally – it’s just one of those things that happens – but now there will be no need to send out a technician just to turn it off and on again.”
Van Niekerk says the MC401 includes both hardware and software watchdogs: “We’ve built in enough intelligence that the modem can think for itself and deal with most error conditions automatically.”
The MC401 Intelligent Modem also comes with dual chip SIM and dual standard SIM capability, for a total of four SIMs to provide extremely reliable connectivity as well as fraud prevention capacity.
“The chip SIMs alone provide some protection from fraud, but we have also added numerous other fraud prevention features for clients who use our SIM cards or Virtual Private Network (VPN) service,” adds Van Niekerk.
The MC401 also has full GPS capability so that each modem can be precisely located at all times, and can be configured to send an alarm or stop working if it is moved more than a certain distance from its designated point of installation.
Metacom’s key clients include utilities such as Eskom, which uses wireless modems extensively throughout its distribution network, as well as municipalities, banks, retailers and other industrial, commercial and financial transaction processing clients.
“The MC401 Intelligent Modem is ideal for use in any large, geographically distributed system that needs to be constantly monitored,” says Van Niekerk. “That includes traffic control, oil pipelines, railways, water reticulation, telecommunications networks and more.”
By Angela Meadon
