Better By Design
Only at OMNI are hardware and software designed, developed, and supported together under one roof. Other products rely on outsourced hardware design, manufacturing, and software program tools that create dependencies on third parties and undermine quality assurance. In-house product development ensures quality products, on-time delivery, and the front-line technical support on which you can depend.
When OMNI designs or enhances its flow computer hardware, our design specialists make many design and quality decisions. OMNI builds its flow computers at a premium cost. We use only the highest quality, industrial and automotive grade hardware to interface to our secure, factory-programmed firmware.
We know, from first principles of electronic design, that consumer-grade electronics and third-party software tools are neither sufficiently robust nor available to meet the project lifetime needs of mission-critical applications in a demanding industrial environment.
You are assured that every electronic component is selected for its performance, reliability, and longevity. For example, the OMNI flow computer uses hardware jumpers for the conditioning of field input signals. We made this important design choice because jumpers combine flexible configuration with the sound electrical characteristics and reliability that only hard-wired components can deliver. OMNI's goal is to protect your investment. We give you the security in knowing that your flow computer won't fail when put to the test.
Each major component of the OMNI—hardware and software—undergoes continuous development and improvement based on technology improvements and customer requirements. Over the past 25 years, every module has been upgraded, revised, or reengineered several times. Because we manage 100% of product design, development, and distribution under one roof, you can be sure that all advances in technology are incorporated by skilled OMNI electronic design specialists.
Our commitment to ongoing technical innovation never means that our older-model flow computers become outdated or obsolete. By design, today's OMNI is built to be backward-compatible with most earlier versions. OMNIs in service for many years can be upgraded at any time to meet current specifications—simply upgrade the hardware and firmware you need.
We recognize that other flow computer manufacturers, integrators, and users do not have OMNI's continuous 25 years' experience in embedded software programming. That is why you need the special training and the manufacturer's software programming tools. Only OMNI takes full responsibility for the company's software development and implementation from development to installation. Designed and developed in-house, OMNI's embedded software programming and ISO 9001 quality testing provide a risk-free resource for your project. OMNI is not dependent on third-party software vendors or contract programmers.
OMNI's operating system doesn't rely on an off-the-shelf browser, a favorite route for security breaches and hacker attacks. We do all the programming, testing, and verification for you. A traceable configuration of the OMNI's pre-programmed factory settings is all that it takes to install, operate, and maintain an OMNI. No programming skills are required. Every step is verifiable, traceable, repeatable, and recorded.
OMNI keeps separate your user- or integrator-configurable, operational, embedded firmware options—not programmed from a PC—from critical custody software processes and algorithms. Because the OMNI's source code can't be altered or edited, your operations and measurement results can never be compromised.
True embedded firmware also means there are no manufacturer-supplied software tools to make program modifications or to recompile files, nor integrator custom solutions to implement without the knowledge of approval agencies.
Flow computers with a programmable architecture potentially enable a programmer to compromise or modify the manufacturer's calculation results. Traceability to any metrological approval traceable to a standard such as OIML D31 that a device may have previously obtained can be voided during project application programming by the manufacturer or integrator. There is no risk of some obscure factor being introduced by an integrator's programmer that might influence your calculation results. Even a simple audit of firmware revision and checksum for compliance may not reveal the full extent of changes that could require the complete verification of all the flow computer's calculations and functions.
The OMNI difference? It's still the only pre-programmed device available on the market.
Call us today at 281.240.6161 to request a meeting to discuss how manufacturers and integrators can routinely breach metrological approvals.