PEACHTREE
CITY, Ga. — A new
application of Microsoft technology will help MetalForming Inc. (MFI) roofing
customers improve their efficiencies and their communications. Designed with the
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), MFI’s newest network, OnLink,
will bring the remote service capability of the company’s top European-designed
machines to a new advanced level.
“The impact on the roofing industry will be similar to what satellite
technology has done for the car industry,” said Bill Wilkins, MFI executive vice
president and chief information officer. “It will offer a variety of
communications tools such as voice, video, health monitoring and productivity
reporting from the machine directly to MFI’s unified communications (UC)
infrastructure. This will allow MFI to provide instantaneous servicing,
training, and troubleshooting support for its broad customer base.”
This technological advance is made possible by next generation software
based on the Microsoft.Net 3.5 framework. The system allows total compatibility
and connectivity to a wide range of other computers and software.
Through its Microsoft Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007 R2 platform,
MFI is able to work with Level 3 Communications, a leading international
provider of fiber-based communications services, to perform Direct SIP Trunk
testing (using the SIP over TCP protocol)
Level 3 Communications’ network services are supporting the launch of
OnLink. MFI has also become a Microsoft Metro Program developer to allow further
beta development and testing of Microsoft’s Wave 14 OCS platform, its next
generation UC product.
“We recently asked some of our customers to view a beta version of
OnLink at the International Roofing Expo, in New Orleans this February,” Wilkins said. “The
customer response was overwhelming and positive. OnLink combined with a
high-quality Level 3 infrastructure now provides the needed competitive
differentiator that has reinvented the stand-alone machine into a fully
networkable and remote servicing system.
For more information, please visit
metalforming-usa.com
