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PAGE 10 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESOAY, DECEMBER 31 â€"Business Week â€"BMDUISIMeSS V C Chronicle Special When Mike Lazaridis, now in the last year of a computer engineering program at the Uniâ€" versity of Waterloo (UW), finally graduates he certainly won‘t have to worry about a job. Throughout his career as a student he has been busy (with two associates) building up his own high tech enterprise in the City of Waterloo. The company is called Reâ€" search in Motion Limited (RIM) and it provides custom electronic and software engineering serâ€" vices. It has developed a line of customized display systems, curâ€" rently being marketed across Ontario. RIM initially offered a line of electronic signs that used TV screens; these were intended for merchants, for the most part, to help attract customer attention to goods and services â€" in shops, stores, plazas and malls. These electronic signs, known as ‘"Budgies,"‘ are currently being marketed to Europe. More recently, RIM has collaborated with Corman Custom Electronics Corp. (CCEC). CCEC is also a UW spinoff company, operated by a former engineering stuâ€" dent. RIM‘s new product is an ‘"inâ€" dustrial display‘"‘ system. The signs are used in noisy, busy industrial plants . . . to commuâ€" nicate plant information and production line status to the workers. If problems arise in one part of a long assembly line, for instance, workers along other parts can be warned to shut down, or take appropriate acâ€" tion. The largest application for this system is as a replacement for the industry standard "marâ€" quee‘"‘ display. A marquee is an array of incandescent light bulbs that are turned on or off under direct control of a programmâ€" able logic controller used on the factory floor. Each bulb illumiâ€" s 8 e s W# P ze Thm: omm WB (zisenr couron at ruat or setrec HBHHE HERtD NB on your choice of a traditional, nursery, spring, or fall background Market just beginning to open for busy UW spinoff company 2â€"8x 1051, 3â€"5x7s and 15 wallets® plus a free JANUARY 10 ONLY WITH THIS COUPON At Sears, no intment is necessary to get quality photographic oneails, we welcome uduh; 9{‘."1‘_'!‘_3;1?29&9"‘ c Samonal wl'lnow”-pbopoflvd'p-&.r x 105. 2â€"5x7s and 15 wallets® nlus a free 10x 13 person is only 95¢. POSES OUR SELECTION These attractive options available in addition to this offer: White Back ground, Block Background and Double Feature Por troits. Use Sears Card! Also available: Instant k Passport m;m Not combinable with any other advertised offer â€" *Approximate sizes Studros located in Sears retail stores. and in Clearance Centers on Rexdale Blvd and Warden Avenue in Toronto New Catalogue stores located in Brampton and in the Kingston Square Mall in Scarborough ‘ 495 nates a plastic overlay with a terse message; when the bulb is lit, it means some error condition has occurred along the assembly line. RIM has updated the technoloâ€" gy for these display systems so the signs are a good deal more flexible. The company has based its work on new technology â€" notably on LEDs (light emitting diodes) â€" instead of light bulbs. Research in Motion president Mike Lazaridis, vice president Michael A. Barnstijn and vice president Doug Fregin with one of the company‘s LED display systems. The LEDs are arranged in a Motors plants. The network controller is then rectangular matrix and, instead In fact, it was GM‘s needs that attached through a standard of simply turning on and off like sparked the initial design of the communications link to one or light bulbs, they can display LED sign system. more of the factory‘s programmâ€" characters and graphics that will "Our first installation was for able logic controllers (PLCs) spell out the messages in plain GM Canada," Lazaridis recalls. that currently monitor and conâ€" English. â€" o "They wanted to be able to trol the assembly line. The PLCs Though other companies have produced similar signs, the proâ€" prietary technology used by RIM has resulted, they claim, in a far superior product. A major eleâ€" 95¢ sitting fee ment of the system is the highâ€" speed network that connects all signs to an IBMâ€"PC based netâ€" work controller. These LED sign systems have now been installed in a number of industrial plants including several in the Toronto area. Lazaridis reports the company‘s customers seem eminently satisâ€" fied with them. RIM customers include a couple of General "Our first installation was for GM Canada," Lazaridis recalls. ‘"‘They wanted to be able to transmit information to the workers and asked us if we could develop something suitable. Within one week we came back with a proposal and they placed LARGE INDOOR SHOWROOMS Preâ€"Winter Installation SUPERIOR MEMORIALS 528 Victoria St. N.. Kitchener (Beside Weston Bakeries) 7456138 SHOULD BC ORDERED NOW YOUNG DRIVERS OF CANADA DRIVER TRAINING Next Course JAN. 5/87 the order two weeks after that. Within 10 months we had delivâ€" ered a customized product." In the RIM system, the netâ€" work controller is programmed with special control information and the messages the signs are to display, when error conditions occur. All signs are attached to the network controller along a single, twistedâ€"pair wire, with a "drop‘‘ to each sign. The network controller is then attached through a standard communications link to one or more of the factory‘s programmâ€" able logic controllers (PLCs) that currently monitor and conâ€" trol the assembly line. The PLCs constantly provide status inforâ€" mation to the network controller, which determines whether error conditions exist . .. and then causes the signs to display the 886â€"2040 Free Parking Front and Rear Make Laâ€"Zâ€"Boy Your Friend ALAN RIGBY‘S Laâ€"Zâ€"Boy Gallery 46 King St. N., Waterloo Serving You For 27 Years proper messages. The software RIM provides for the network controller allows factory users to define their conditions, and even the message display methods, using a simple English description. Messages can be targeted to any single sign, or to groups of signs. In addition, messages can be assigned priorities, with higher priority messages immeâ€" diately replacing messages of low priority. ‘"‘This means people can react much faster if, for example, there were to be an accident in one part of a production line," Lazaridis explains. "LEDs are a little expensive compared to the cost of light bulbs but overall, our system costs less than marquees beâ€" cause you can simply plug a display unit into a standard electrical outlet and then connect it to the controller with a single wire," claims Lazaridis. ‘"The older technology involves large metal cabinets to hold the light bulbs, and fixed conduits with much more complex wiring." LED technology, once inâ€" stalled, is much more flexible than light bulb technology. Changing the locations of signs in a plant â€" a job that could take a week or more using light bulb technology â€" can be reduced to a single day, sometimes less. The LEDs produce very bright, highly visible lettering. Size of the lettering can vary, depending on how far from the display units the workers are located. Display units are constructed in modular fashion so they can extend to be as wide as plant management feels is desirable. Lazaridis says RIM has beâ€" come primarily a design, develâ€" opment and consulting centre. In most situations, the company only builds prototypes for its customers. In the case of the LED sign systems, CCEC manâ€" (Continued on page 11)