News from 2012 through 2015

12/21/2015
Relay Response Time Tester			The Relay Operation Time Tester is a small, compact device that will activate DC relays and measure the relay activation time. Commonly used for Power Industry Protection Relaying and Transfer Trip testing as well as verifying packet netework delays vs TDM performance. If you don't need all the fancy features of a Megger or Doble test set, this $595 unit is a great alternative for bench top timing tests. Read the data sheet here.
9/11/2015
MAP95 Version 2.0 Released			Version 2.0 of our award-winning MAP95 visual cross connect mapping tool is now released and available for download. This version supports the new Loop O-9550 as well as the current O-9500 products. Download the legacy or new version from links on the MAP95 product page here.
8/11/2015
Windows 10 Update			DCB hardware products are compatible with all PC operating systems. However, our workstation software products (UT-Soft, FT-Soft, MAPxx ) are dependent upon the workstation operating system. These are not yet certified to operate on the newly released Windows 10, and you should not upgrade your workstation to Windows 10 if these programs are critical to your operation. You may contact our support staff to obtain information about availibility or a copy of the latest firmware for your products using the contact form, the telephone, email, or your normal contact method. We will also announce the availability of Windows 10 versions here, and on the product update page Click here for details about the latest firmware versions
3/9/2015
New CIPS FERC & NERC Features			Additional features have been added to our enctyped products that enhance security and insure compliance with future FERC / NERC CIPS requirements. Password enforcement rules, user-defined logon banner, session type authentication with logout features, status display of all open and listening IP ports, the ability to disable individual ports, remote syslog, and NTP client support are all features that have been added to various models in our encrypted bridge-tunnel products. Due to government regulations, we can not make this firmware available on our public web site. Customers should contact our support staff to obtain a copy of the latest firmware for your products using the contact form or your normal contact method. Click here to see which features were added to your encrypted tunnel product.
12/15/2014
DCB will train your Technicians!			Future Proof Your Technicians Without Busting the Budget.   Use On-Site Training by DCB. Many utilities are bringing their engineers and technicians up to speed on the new technologies by utilizing DCB's on-site training services. As telco vendor TDM technologies such as DS0, DS1, and 4-wire circuits are being terminated by sunset provisions, utility operators are forced to move into technology realms that are frequently unfamiliar to their front-line people. Packet switched networks, carrier ethernet, MPLS, SDH, and SONET high speed networks require a different mindset and training. DCB offers on-site training with our technology experts delivering interactive hands-on collaborative learning. Click here for more information.
10/7/2014
ShellShock Report			Recently, the Shellshock family of security bugs (also known as Bashdoor) made the news when it was reported that numerous operating systems and products in the industry were vulnerable to exploits based upon the Shellshock vulnerability. We are happy to report that no products manufactured by DCB are vulnerable to the Shellshock exploit. We don't even include BASH in our product firmware. Click here for a printable document.
6/12/2014
New Map34 Version Released			Version 1.14 of Map34 has been released. Map34 DS-O visual mapping software for Loop AM3440 products is being well received in the telecommunications marketplace. This innovative software, which runs on any Windows PC, saves hours or days of technician time when mapping AM-3440 DS-0 channels. Versions are also available for OEM Loop AM3440 units private labeled by Coastcom, Bayly and others. Map34 is licensed per CPU card, and has immediate ROI in technician time saved with its first use. With Map34, mapping and documenting an installation takes minutes instead of hours or days. Read more here.
6/6/2014
Friday Fail! No Phones No Email			This is really a "Failure Friday" for us at DCB. All phones are out, Most Internet (other than our off-site web site) is down, and we have no email. What a sad state. And rare that these problems are, they really point out the need for redundant redundancy. We have phones provided by two paths, a bunch of plain old POTS lines and a T1 connection. We have Internet from at least three providers. Since we last visited this situation, the phone companies AND two of the Internet providers have, ummm, rearranged things to deliver it all via Frontier fiber. All phone lines, and the AT&T Internet are now provided to the local CO over the same fiber bundle. It seems that the second ISP's backhaul is over the same bundle. And, yep, today they had a fiber cut. We've been without phones and email most of the day with a ETTR sometime between close of business Friday and Saturday afternoon. It can happen to anyone, but backhoes sure seem to like Frontier buried plant, and they sure seem to take a while to get fixed. If we were unable to you today, please try again Monday. We'll be back at work, listening to the phones ring (we hope).
5/30/2014
A Decade of Security!			It was back in 2004 that DCB introduced our first true communications security product, the ET-6600 encrypted ethernet tunnel. By today's standards, the performance wasn't great, but "in the day" it was quite a performer. Since that initial ethernet encrypter, we've added multiple ethernet layer two and layer three tunnels that meet various FIPS requirements along with the most popular serial encrypters available in the critical infrastructure market. We led the way with innovative features designed for the SCADA and ROIP/VOIP marketplace. Our modestly priced encryption products perform as well as high end, big-name products and provide additional features with easier configuration and installation. Learn more about our security products here.
4/9/2014
Heartbleed Bug? Not Here!			The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library that allows compromise of information, secret keys and security certificates. We are pleased to announce that no DCB products are vulnerable to the heartbleed bug. Our FIPS 140-2 FT products as well as the UT and ET encrypted tunnel series products all use a version of SSL/TLS that is immune to this problem. Read about the problems this is causing other vendors here.
3/11/2014
New C37.94 Applications Note			The Loop C37.94 card is available with a single duplex port or four duplex ports. This paper demonstrates how to configure mode, bandwidth, ALS, and mapping features. Download the note in PDF format.
2/28/2014
New RADIUS Applications Note			Some Loop Telecom products incorporate RADIUS authentication and authorization, as well as logging capabilities. This paper demonstrates how to configure those features on the AM3440, IP6510-LN, and V4150 models Download the note in PDF format.
1/7/2014
Happy New Year and a snow day!			The new year started out nicely for us at DCB. That is until the blizzard of 2014 brought below zero temperatures and knee-deep wind driven snow on January fifth. We don't have many snow days at our offices, but with white out conditions and snow drifts of three to five feet covering all roads, we had to call one for Monday. Today's good news is that the roads are somewhat open, UPS and Fedex deliver again, and we're back helping our customers solve communications problems. Our apologies if you tried to phone us on Monday. By noon Tuesday, all phone calls should have been returned, so if we didn't get back to you this morning, please accept our apology and give us another call.
11/12/2013
New VOIP AVA Option			A new interface option is now available for the Audio Voice Adapter AVA product line. The new 10/100baseT ethernet interface provides a direct connection to an ethernet network allowing VOIP (voice over IP) connections betwen multiple AVA units. The AVA was designed to allow standard audio transmission over low bit rate serial paths as well as higher speed asynchronous or synchronous connections. This new interface option provides for full quality audio using ADPCM or PCM as well as the lower bit rate options for FXS, FXO, E&M, and raw audio interfaces. Read more here.
8/6/2013
Map41 V4150 Mapping Software			Map41 visual mapping software for Loop V4150 runs on any Windows PC. Save hours when configuring and documenting V4150 cross connect maps. Read more here.
3/20/2013
Motorola VoIP VPN Solution Guide			This Motorola produced MIP 5000 VoIP Radio Console VPN Solution Guide features a virtual private network (VPN) solution that has been tested with MIP 5000 VoIP Radio Console. The VPN solution uses a pair of encrypted Ethernet bridges to provide a secure Ethernet tunnel between the dispatch center and a remote MIP 5000 console. The secure Ethernet tunnel supports a remote console operator receiving audio from and transmitting audio to radio channels and other MIP 5000 consoles using AES encryption. Read more here.
1/15/2013
New E&M Wink Start Adapter			The WS-1 is a wink-start adapter for channel bank Type 5 E&M ports. The WS1 is used when wink start is not supported on either the channel bank E&M board or the attached user equipment, but wink-start is required by equipment remotely connected via T1 or E1. Read more here.
12/20/2012
Map95 O-9500 Mapping Software			Our newly released Map95 visual mapping software for Loop O-9500 products is being well received in the telecommunications marketplace. This innovative software, which runs on any Windows PC, saves hours or days of technician time when mapping Loop O9500 cross connects, DS0s, and SNCP/UPSR mapping. Map95 is licensed per CPU card, and has immediate ROI in technician time saved with its first use. With Map95, mapping and documenting an installation takes minutes instead of hours or days. Read more here.
11/27/2012
New Multi-Port Serial Servers			DCB is now stocking multi-port serial servers manufactured by Atop Technologies, Inc. These feature rich 8 and 16 port serial servers are now available to the USA market with fast delivery from our on-shore stock. Atop, a manufacturer of ethernet connectivity products since 1989, has been a DCB partner for over a dozen years. Their multi-port servers inter-operate with DCB designed EtherPath Industrial SCADA serial servers and provide a port-dense complimentary product for the host end. Read the data sheet here.
10/23/2012
Inter-Vendor Compatibility			Multi-Vendor Channel Bank Async Serial Channel Compability An analysis of how to achieve asynchronous serial port compability between different vendor's channel banks. Read more here.
8/1/2012
New Loop AM-3440 Products shipping			DCB recently developed a number of add-in and accessory products for the Loop International AM-3440 and O-9500 products. These include the award-winning Map34 graphical mapping software, an internal ethernet switch card, a convenient HD-44 to RJ-45 cable replacement connector, an internal 3-port Rs-232 to fiber interface card, and a -48 Volt output 120VAC input power supply. If you use the Loop 3440 or O-9500 Integrated Access Devices, check these out. They save rack space, intallation complexity, and technician time. These are now shipping from inventory for immediate delivery. Read more here.
3/13/2012
MAP34 AM3440 Mapping Software			The new Map34 DS-O visual mapping software for Loop AM3440 products is being well received in the telecommunications marketplace. This innovative software, which runs on any Windows PC, saves hours or days of technician time when mapping AM-3440 DS-0 channels. Versions are also available for OEM Loop AM3440 units private labeled by Coastcom, Bayly and others. Map34 is licensed per CPU card, and has immediate ROI in technician time saved with its first use. With Map34, mapping and documenting an installation takes minutes instead of hours or days. Read more here.
2/8/2012
New UDP Packet Repeater / Duplicator			The PR-6602 replicates UDP packets through any IP network. Containing three Ethernet LAN ports, this product duplicates UDP packet streams from one source to multiple destination IP addresses. Used in SNMP, netflow, SCADA, streaming audio, streaming video applications, as well as unicast to multicast or multicast to unicast conversion. Read more here.
1/3/2012
New RS-232 to Fiber Converter			The new DCB RS232 to Multi-Mode fiber optic converter is a compact, serial copper to fiber converter. The converter is externally powered, available in a 12, 24, or 48 VDC and 120 VAC versions. The unit bidirectionally converts RS232 to Multi-Mode fiber. The small stand alone box is easily mounted in a 19" rack with four units per 1U shelf bracket, or more commonly mounted using DIN rail clips. All of these units are industrial temperature rated and will interoperate with many competing products. Read more here.

Check the "What's Old in 2011" page to see other news items from 2008 through 2011. Follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Old in 2008" page to see other news items from 2005 through 2008. Follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Old in 2004" page to see other news items from 2003 and 2004. Follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Old in 2002" page to see other news items from 2001 and 2002. Follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Old in 2000" page to see other news items from 2000. You may want to follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Old in '99" page to see other news items from 1999. You may want to follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Old in '98" page to see old news items from 1998. You may want to follow this link to research a subject or find background information on a product.

Check the "What's Really Old" page to see the news items from 1997 and earlier.