CBL exchange of software and technology expertise

Press, 27 September 1983, Page 22

CBL exchange of software and technology expertise

An enterprising development by CBL Holdings, Ltd, in Christchurch, has led to the signing of an agreement for an exchange of software and technology expertise between CBL and MSI Data Corporation, a United States company that is the world’s largest manufacturer of hand-held data collection systems. This month, two programmers from MSl’s head office in Costa Mesa, California, visited Christchurch to learn about CBL’s developments and, in December, it is expected that two CBL personnel will visit Costa Mesa.

CBL has developed tools that make the programming of the hand-held terminals a significantly faster process. MSl’s hand-held terminals look like a larger pocket calculator. They have a set of keys that allows the user to key in numeric characters and other types into the memory of the terminal.

Typically, the terminal will have 48K bytes or more of memory, which is used to store the data that has been captured (and the program that manages the data capture). When the required data has been keyed into the terminal, the user will connect the terminal to a modem, dial up a central computer and send the computer the data held in the terminal.

Typical users of handheld terminals in this country are chemist shops. They are provided with'terminals by a pharmaceutical company. The chemist walks around his shop and keys into the terminal a product code and quantity for those products that need reordering. When finished, he rings up the supplier and his terminal sends the order to the supplier’s computer. More than 60 per cent of all chemist shops in the North Island use MSI handheld terminals for their ordering. Today’s hand-held terminals are, in fact, small computers with up to 128 K bytes of memory, a twp-line alphanumeric display and optional features such as the ability to attach a penshaped bar code reader to the terminal for bar code input. MSl’s two models of hand-held terminals are programmed in a Forth-like language called ADL. The program prompts the user for input, checks the input data for obvious er-

rors, stores the data in the memory of the terminal, and manages the transmission of data between the terminal and the central computer. Because they are computers, it is possible to carry out other data processing functions in the terminal as well. Hellaby Peach Products, Ltd, makes extensive use of terminals to manage the sales and distribution of its products. Hellaby’s salesmen key their orders directly into a hand-held terminal as they talk to the shopkeeper. The company’s truck drivers have a hand-held terminal which contains a record of the stock in their truck. I Also in the truck, there is a computer printer which can be plugged into the terminal. The truck driver delivers stock to a shop, updates the record in his terminal and prints an invoice on the spot. Back in the local Hellaby’s warehouse, another hand-held terminal keeps a record of the stock in the warehouse. At the end of their rounds, the salesmen and truck drivers’ terminals communicate with both the central computer and the warehouse terminal to keep all stock records up to date and submit orders for processing.

For Hellabys, the terminals provide an inexpensive way to maintain a perpetual inventory, with full control on stocks in the warehouses and trucks. The terminals reduce paperwork, eliminate key-punching into the

central computer and save the cost of transmitting documents between the warehouse and the computer. “The Hellaby’s system paid for itself in the first month,” said Mr David Page, general manager of CBL Holdings. The “innovation” group at CBL Holdings writes programs for the MSI terminals on behalf of Datacomm Equipment, Ltd — the CBL subsidiary that markets the terminals.

Initially, as is the case in the United States, the programs were developed on a Cromenco microcomputer, tested using a simulator on the Cromenco, then loaded into ROM or RAM in the MSI terminal.

Reliability problems with the Cromenco forced the group to look at alternative ways of developing the ADL programs.

Mr lan Viney, of CBL Holdings, then masterminded the transfer of the application development system on to CBL’s PDP-11/70 timesharing computers. Under the multi-user PDP-11/70 environment, CBL programmers can now compile ADL programs and test them on a simulator before transferring them to the MSI terminals.

Earlier this year, MSI began to take an interest in the work being done by its New Zealand agent. “It looked like a good idea to implement on our VAX system,” said Mr Nick Piazza, one of the two MSI employees who visited Christchurch recently.

CBL transferred the new development system from, the PDP-U/70s to a VAX and delivered it to MSI. Mr Piazza and Mr Andrew Spirka came to Christchurch to learn what CBL has been doing and receive training in the development system. Another MSI employee, this time from West Germany, also visited CBL this month to learn about the system. “CBL has got a very good system set up,” said Mr Piazza. “It seems to be running quite well and is a very enterprising project to get involved in.” For CBL, said Mr Page,

“the system has enabled us to write programs more efficiently and effectively and makes it possible for us to retain our dominant position in the supply of this technology.” Other large users of MSI hand-held terminals are Woolworth Variety stores, for stocktaking and recording, General Foods, and Foodstuffs grocers. It is planned that Foodstuffs grocers will soon be able to use the terminals to place orders with grocery suppliers directly, as well as the Foodstuffs warehouses.

MSI has sold more than 200,000 hand-held terminals in the 16 year history of the company. “Their uses are limited only by the imagination,” said Mr Alan Townsend, product manager for CBL Holdings. Depending on the amount of memory in tls terminal and the features provided, a terminal will cost from $2OOO to $3500. A bar code attachment costs an extra $640.