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Short Line Data Systems ROCS Update – January 2006
Website: www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings and Happy New Year!
As we embark on our fifth year of these updates (yes, for those who aren’t that tech-hip, this is a web log, or “blog”), we have a couple of announcements and a full plate of improvements on the way for the ROCS family of products. In addition to the improvements, our travel calendar is starting to fill up, and we’ll talk about some of the stops planned for this year.
New Customer for ROCS
We are proud to announce that US Rail Partners has selected the ROCS system for their new Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad (BNG), which is a BNSF short line that runs between Wellington, KS and Blackwell, OK. We are scheduled to head out to their offices at the end of the month to install and setup ROCS.
Version 10
We have been continuing with the development of the NexPath communication system. Most of the message formats have been defined, and Railinc is working on mapping the messages. We are still figuring out some of the methods that are going to be used by the system, which has slowed progress slightly. The scope of the project has grown a bit from the original premise, but in the end this will be a huge improvement to the ROCS system.
We have also been spending a lot of time working on efficiency improvements in the system, with the continuing testing of the automatic download system. The system has been working well, and we have found a couple of small changes from our original setup that really has made the system invisible to the user. We will be rolling this system out as part of the Version 10 upgrade.
GCOR Dispatch
As we announced last month, the GCOR version of ROCSDispatch has been finished and is now available. We have sent out demo versions to some potential customers that have expressed interest in to the system, and if anyone would be interested in an online demonstration or a copy of the demo please give us a call. NORAC Dispatch
A new feature in the NORAC version of ROCSDispatch is a subform on the main screen that shows all Forms D in effect for the entire system. If the form is for taking a track out of service, the highlight of the record will be the same color as it appears on the main track display. The form is updated every time the screen is refreshed, and we will be making a couple of further tweaks to the subform as we get more experience with it. We do plan on adding similar forms to the GCOR version of ROCSDispatch as we get more experience with that system.
We are also starting to work on the employee management features of the dispatch system. When we created the system a year ago, basic employee management features were put in the system, and it has always been our intent to expand on the offerings in the system, and now we should have time to work in this area.
Travel Schedule
With the new year comes a continuation of our travel all over the country, and right now our schedule for the major meetings is as follows:
February 15-17 – CSX Short Line Conference, Jacksonville March 8 – Railroad Day on the Hill, Washington DC April 10-12 – TransAction 2006, Atlantic City April 23-25 – ASLRRA Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Orlando
In addition to the above meetings, we will be traveling to see our customers for installations and maintenance visits as needed. If history is any indication, we will be making 40-50 total trips during the coming year, and look forward to seeing everyone.
Well, that’s all for now, and we’ll be back with more at the beginning of February.
Stay safe (and warm),
Steven Friedland President |
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