Activities on the DrillWell project are starting with having two PSA specialists onsite for multiple weeks at the customer’s facility. The DrillWell project is being developed for a worldwide leader in supplying components for land and offshore drilling rigs. PSA Business Analyst and System Architect will review details of requirements and architecture design of the web based reporting application to be developed.
The DrillWell application will improve receiving and importing summary report data electronically from every oil rig with synchronous automatic update of a Company’s central server.
B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company awarded a new project to PSA, Inc. This project for the development of a wireless gateway was kicked off today and will be delivered at the end of 2010. The scope of these projects includes detailed design, implementation and full QA testing.
The project objective is to design, develop, and test software and firmware for a Zlinx wireless gateway device which is a gateway for existing and future Zlinx products. Zlinx devices collect and control a variety of pieces of data from remote locations using the latest wireless technologies.
The gateway will bridge a Zlinx network to a wide area network and will allow a user to monitor and control remote analog or digital inputs/outputs from a web browser. Previously PSA performed a project on defining functionality for the wireless gateway through detailed review of its Functional Requirements and preparing the Software Specification for the gateway device.
Today PSA has signed a contract with a worldwide leader in providing components for land and offshore drilling rigs. The project includes implementation of a web based reporting application design what will improve receiving and importing summary report data electronically on oil rigs and automatically update a central server.
Development activities for the project shall take one year to complete and shall require approximately 18,000 man hours of development. The selection of PSA to compete this project is a continued indicator of PSA’s abilities to meet the requirements of its most demanding customers.
Continued expansion of Company development activities and new business contracts required the addition of new positions within the PSA’s Development Center located in Minsk, Belarus. This week PSA has welcomed six new software/firmware developers, QA, and hardware engineers to the team.
Diverse skills of these qualified specialists include printed circuit board and microcontroller designs, development of firmware for embedded and wireless devices, knowledge of Open Source OSs and C/C++, ASM, VHDL/Verilog programming languages, and experience with RS-232\485, I2C, SPI, MMC/SD, 1-WIRE, and USB.
These new team members to the PSA development and QA teams along with the addition of a new Business Development Manager will allow PSA to shorten implementation time for projects, increase marketability of PSA, and contribute to better satisfaction of client requirements for technologically innovative software solutions.
PSA completed functional testing of a Zlinx Xtreme wireless device and today made a project delivery which consisted of a full test report and updated product documentation. Zlinx Xtreme is a new product for transmitting digital or analog data across a wireless network. Project tasks required creation of test cases for testing device functionality and execution of the prepared test cases for the new product. The integral part of the project was also the update of the product documentation including a Quick Start Guide and Instructions.
The Stream Media Player application has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since its initial publishing six months ago on the Android Market. The Player was developed and released by Professional Software Associates, Inc. and can be installed at no cost on any Android phone.
Since its first release in late October 2009, there were seven releases of the product. The recent Pro version 2.1 is located at the Android Market and contains new features like ability to override aspect ratio, links sharing function, extended Internet Radio support. Today the Stream Media Player is available for downloading in two versions, Free and Pro. The Free version includes the same functionality of the Pro and includes the display of promotional banners.
PSA, Inc. continues its engagement with development of a Graphical Control Module (GCM) with Southwest Microwave, Inc. in respect of the deployment testing of the GCM application. Deployment testing started with having a Senior Quality Engineer onsite for three weeks at Southwest Microwave, Inc. facilities. Southwest Microwave, Inc. is a technology company specializing in perimeter security, communications, and microwave adapters. The goal of this trip is to perform onsite testing of the Perimeter Security System in an actual environment as would be deployed on customer installations.
At the completion of this deployment testing the GCM application will be ready for internal release to Southwest Microwave marketing and sales team and for deployment to customers. PSA Quality Assurance specialist will help in identification of features and capabilities that should be included in future product releases.
Project with the new customer on website appearance rebranding started on April 23, 2010. PSA, Inc. will enhance the existing customer website with contemporary web 2.0 features.
Activities on website refactoring will consist of three steps as follows:
- - Migration of all the customization elements of JavaScript and HTML and moving them into the style sheet
- - Creation of a Reference Guide on how to modify the style guide to customize the website for branding
- - Provision of the updated restructured site with a complete facelift with a new look by modifying the source style sheet
MS Visual Studio 2005, Eclipse IDE, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, CSS, and Java Script will be used by PSA web developers for website refactoring and theme refreshing.
B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company, a long-standing PSA partner, awarded PSA a project to the functional definition for a Wireless Gateway.
Project activities will be focused on the review of existing Marketing Requirements on the Wireless Gateway and prepare Functional Specifications including a complete Software Specification for the Wireless Gateway. Deliverables for the project also include a Risk Assessment on the design and implementation phases, project plan with resourcing assignments, and proposal with cost estimates to design and implement the Wireless Gateway product.
On April 19, 2010 PSA launched a new project of porting an iPhone Application to Android and BlackBerry platforms. The project request was received from a new customer, which is a provider of advanced software solutions and value added services to mobile technology companies worldwide.
In the course of the project PSA will develop a mobile application with the ability to capture and transmit a bar code image using phones camera, the image will be sent to a web service and processed with a reply. Based on the reply, the application shall be able to show a video related to the product and an additional HTML web page with a customized web browser screen with information on directing the user to a location to purchase the product.
Such tools as Eclipse IDE, Java2ME and Android SDK will be used for Mobile Reader implementation. The project is expected to be finished by the middle of July 2010.
Feasibility study on the ability to develop an intellectual property library for Light Duty Vehicle Streamer 2 was assigned to Professional Software Associates, Inc. (PSA) from B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company on April 7, 2010. The intent of the feasibility study is to assess the ability to implement a portable software solution for the Streamer 2 version of the Light Duty Vehicle Streamer hardware solution which was successfully developed by PSA in early 2010.
The Light Duty Vehicle (LDV) Streamer is a hardware device that enables OEM customers to retrieve the most commonly used vehicle parameters from the diagnostic bus of a Light Duty Vehicle. The goal of the current project is to assess the feasibility and prepare preliminary designs for porting the Streamer 2 firmware to a stand-alone library ready to integrate on a custom OEM hardware.
PSA specialists will determine feasibility and deliver a preliminary design to develop a software only version of the LDV Streamer Telematics Interface that can be run on custom IEM devices. The objective of the final solution will allow OEM customers to switch between a boxed hardware solution and the embedded libraries with minimal change to their software. Implementation will allow customers of the Intellectual Property Library to lower system cost with additional minimal expense of hardware integration.
B&B Electronics and PSA agreed that the library shall expose interfaces that can be used in the application developed in the C/C++, C#, and Java languages.
On March 29, 2010 PSA released a delivery package for the POS .NET Library project for Partech, Inc., an industry leader in systems and service solutions for the hospitality industry.
The project was focused on development of a special .NET communication layer for point-of-sale (POS) systems to allow ParTech peripherals to function within a .NET environment. The warranty period for the project has started during which the team will quickly resolve any defects found during customer testing and use of the library developed.
In the course of the project PSA developed an architecture design for the POS .NET Library, defined its business logic, and performed functional and unit testing. As a result the customer received a reliable program interface to work with different types of ParTech peripherals in a .NET framework.
PSA took part in CeBIT, the world's foremost tradeshow for the digital industry in Hannover, Germany on 2-6 March, 2010. 4,157 companies from 68 countries exhibited at CeBIT 2010.
At CeBIT 2010 PSA demonstrated its IT services such as development of mobile, desktop, web, and embedded solutions, quality assurance, and technical support capabilities. PSA presented a special offer on free development services for selected new partners to extend their mobile development facilities on fast growing Android platform. “This offer is our investment in our new partners which will allow them a relatively easy entrance into the new market with minimum efforts,” states Alexei Belous, Executive Director of PSA.
The “Security World” sector was presented at CeBIT for the second time. IT security was among priorities at the world tradeshow and PSA was happy to share its unique experience and know-how in this area during many constructive discussions with representatives of other leading companies in the IT security domain.
In Hannover PSA came into contact with potential partners from Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and the Unites States and has already begun negotiations with several exhibitors about new multi-year contracts.
In February 2010 PSA started a new project, the Graphical Control Module (GCM) deployment project. This project is the continuation of the development project with Southwest Microwave Inc., a technology company specializing in perimeter security, communications, and microwave connectors/adapters.
The initial project was to develop a GCM application to monitor and administer the perimeter control for the Interpid system which is a collection of outdoor perimeter security sensors and devices. At the request of Southwest Microwave Inc. senior management PSA was asked to assist in the deployment of the GCM product to initial customers.
The scope of the GCM deployment to the first customer site will include the following activities:
- - System and production testing;
- - Incorporation of product usability improvements;
- - Preparation for marketing and sales activities;
- - Creation of documentation such as system integrators manual, configuration instructions on remote desktop, development process improvement recommendations, requirements for GCM client functionality;
- - Support of product deployment.
It is planned that a PSA specialist in quality assurance will visit the customer as a consultant to perform system testing and define testing procedure for the entire GCM system. As a final step PSA will perform a solution technology transfer to Southwest Microwave Inc. personnel.
Partech, Inc., an industry leader in systems and service solutions for the hospitality industry, became the first new customer for PSA in 2010. In January PSA was contracted to perform its POS .NET Library development project.
The project is to develop a special layer which will allow communication of point-of-sale (POS) systems with ParTech peripherals within a .NET environment. POS systems are widely used in ParTech’s solutions for back office, operational reporting, wireless ordering and payment, kitchen management, and food safety.
In the course of the project PSA will develop an architecture design for the POS .NET Library, define its business logic, and perform unit testing. As a result the customer will get a simple and reliable program interface to work with different types of ParTech peripherals in a .NET framework.
In the end of 2009 Professional Software Associates changed the artistic design of its corporate website. The content of the website is also in process of gradual update. The ‘Solution’ section became the first part of the website with the updated content.
Since the middle of January 2010, visitors of the PSA web site can grasp more details on the projects performed by PSA. They can see the list of completed projects ranged by platform category, technology or industry. The website navigation has been improved and now visitors can easily take a look at the PSA experience in the area of their interest.
The updated ‘Solution’ section now shares more comprehensible and eye-catching information about skills, capabilities and expertise of PSA team.
The Android Slide Show application was designed by PSA as a tool for showing self-created presentation with images, voice, and text. It can be also used as an effective tool for creation of diverse multimedia tutorials on different subjects including software applications.
As a freeware product, the Slide Show application is designed for Android phones and available for free downloading from the Android Market. Within one month after it was published, the application download rate exceeded 2,000.
The first update of the PSA Slide Show application dated January 15 provided the solution with the mute mode feature allowing you to turn on and off the built-in speaker. Additionally, the updated version contains updates which were performed based on the feedback from the users.
PSA specialists will go on improving the current version of the Android Slide Show application.
In January 2010, the number of downloads of Android Stream Media Player exceeded 50,000 mark. This media player is a proprietary freeware PSA product that allows a user to play streaming video on Android phones. The application was published to the Android Market in October 2009 and from the outset gained high popularity among Android device holders.
PSA has published four releases of its media player during this period. The two January updates included the following features:
PSA team receives positive feedback and suggestions from users of Android phones who discuss this application on the Android forum.
The Android Stream Media Player is still free for downloading from the Android Market. The detailed information can be found at the Stream Media Player product page of the PSA website.
PSA started another year of technical support rendering to Adaptive Micro Systems LLC., a leading supplier of indoor and outdoor programmable LED electronic display systems. Adaptive Micro Systems has been PSA partner since 2006 and the cooperation throughout these years proved to be very productive. In December Adaptive Micro Systems LLC signed a new Service Level Agreement with PSA for H1 2010.
During the year of 2009 PSA provided a complete support of Adaptive’s ooh!Media Pro and ooh!Media 2009 products. Recent months were marked by intense activity to issue two major releases of ooh!Media applications that are planned for 2010. The releases include full support of Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit) and Windows Vista OS, updates will include United States and European subversions.
Maintenance, Verification and Validation, and New Features Implementation are the three main areas in which PSA provides software development services to Adaptive.
Leading manufacturer of residential generators chose PSA for implementation of its Embedded Ethernet Library project. It is the first project of PSA with this customer. Its scope includes development of a library which encapsulates TCP/IP networking functionality and security.
The Ethernet library will be designed to provide simple API for network communication and additional network services for easy remote configuration of company’s products. It is anticipated that the library shall be developed in such way so that it can be reused in other customer’s products.
On December 18, 2009, PSA published its newest proprietary product the Slide Show Viewer to the Android Market. It is a freeware Android application capable of displaying a sequence of images with specified delays, text, and voice commentary or background music. The Slide Show Viewer allows you to share your pictures and video with other people in a form of media slide show.
This new viewer can be used as an effective tool for creation of multimedia tutorials on different subjects including software applications. Any user can easily create their own slide show using step-by-step "how-to" instructions. Ability to insert voice and text comments inside a tutorial will enhance training effect of any slide show.
Slide show files are available for downloading from the Slide Show Viewer product page of the PSA website, including the educational slideshow titled "How to Create a Slideshow". Also the page contains the link to the Android Market page at which the Slide Show Viewer application is available for Android users to download for free.
In October PSA published its free Android Stream Media Player to the Android Market. The product was warmly welcomed by the Android community with over 25,000 downloads during the first month.
PSA has taken into consideration feedback from the Android Market forum on improvements to be made to the Stream Player. In the beginning of December an updated version 1.1 of the application was released and published to the Android Market.
The major change included optimizing the player for Android 2.0 devices. PSA added possibility to filter WMV files while opening, implemented hiding status bar for full-screen mode, and fixed minor defects.
PSA will continue improvements to the Stream Player based on Android Market forum feedback. Future plans call for features such as saving streaming content to the SD card for subsequent playback, introducing of a links database, adding improved webcam support, Internet radio and TV streams, and adding support for AVI and DivX codec.
The Stream Media Player product page contains link to the Android Market page where Android users can download the latest version of the Stream Player.
The experience of PSA software specialists in the development of Android applications allowed PSA to develop its proprietary product named Stream Media Player. On October 30, 2009, it was published to the Android Market as a free application. Users of Android phones can download and install the Stream Media Player directly from the Android Market. The application is also available for downloading from the PSA website.
The Stream Media Player is an application that provides an ability to play video from different web cameras, watch Internet TV, and play locally stored files. The supported file formats are JPEG, MPEG, and Stream. The application saves links to in history for recall automatically. The media player also contains pre-configured links to start easily.
First three days brought an astonishing result with 3,000 downloads from all over the world. The Stream Media Player is gaining popularity among Android phone users. In the Guest Book of the product the major part of comments are positive with some practical suggestions on improvement. PSA professionals are going to publish the updated version of the Stream Media Player in the nearest future.
On October 20, the E-Training Manual Update project was finished for Alcon Labs, the most respected and trusted eye care company in the world. A PSA documentation specialist updated the electronic manual for a computer based training application which will allow Alcon Labs to train new employees on the operation of production floor equipment.
The following technical writing tools such as Adobe Captivate, Adobe FrameMaker, WebWorks, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, and Java Script were used to complete the project. It was the second project completed by PSA for Alcon Manufacturing, Ltd.
B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company requested a new project for testing that will be performed by PSA quality assurance team.
The project is to add test cases for a new Zlinx ruggedized wireless platform and perform product testing and prepare product documentation. The new Zlinx Xtreme product is a device for transmitting digital or analog data across a wireless network. Previously PSA performed testing of a similar wireless device which has since been improved to included an improved version of hardware and extended functionality consisting of an updated analog module with increased accuracy, modem module, and a new temperature module.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of December 2009.
PSA released a delivery package for the Effective Rights Single Server and performed the delivery to NetVision on October 14, 2009 which successfully met the project deadline.
The Single Server application will be used for displaying effective rights for access to objects on a single file server system. The product developed for NetVision includes such features as scanning file system and Active Directory, and generating visual reports for an application user. Development was performed using technologies and tools such as .Net 2.0, C++, SilverLight, MS Visual Studio 2005, MS Office, and Subversion.
The project was a continuation of a project that PSA successfully performed for NetVision Inc. in the spring of 2009.
Software solutions offered by PSA to numerous companies also helped NetVision to find its immediate customers needs being met. PSA efforts in the development of NetVision Access Rights Inspector facilitated the ability for NetVision to publish a press release on October 7, 2009.
"The release of NetVision Access Rights Inspector with enabled support for NetApp file storage solutions was a response to pervasive customer demand", remarks NetVision CEO David Rowe in the press release. The new product determined user access rights on a Windows file system and provided a reporting interface to convey the results.
The Access Rights Inspector was implemented with participation of PSA Inc. at the request of NetVision Inc. The solution included a set of scanner services to scan a file system and active directory repository with all results moving to the database on the server. Web based user interface based on SilverLight technology allowed managing the system, generating reports, and getting quick information on user rights for a particular object.
Project Manager from the PSA Development Center in Belarus obtained an H1B visa and is moving to the United States to have a closer contact with PSA customers. This step will increase number of PSA Project Managers onsite and enhance role of PSA as a United States based software management provider. PSA will also increase quality of its services with enhanced ability to directly reach the end customer.
The advantage of the chosen individual is that she is familiar with internal processes set up in the PSA Development Center and has a first-hand experience in communicating with numerous PSA clients. To retain productive working relationships with customers, PSA makes every effort to maintain a high level of client satisfaction.
PSA released an updated version of the Commissioning Tool application originally developed by Universal Lighting Technologies. PSA was contracted to resolve defects identified during a Quality Assurance testing project also performed by PSA on the Commissioning Tool. All defects located during the Quality Assurance project were resolved and an updated Commissioning Tool application was delivered to Universal Lighting Technologies. Technologies used during the project included Visual Studio 6, Wise Installer, Seapine TestTrack Pro and TestLog. This project was the second project performed by PSA for Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc., a global leader in ballasts and controls for commercial lighting applications.
PSA completed its work on Top10 SKU application. The application is used to perform automated testing of embedded control devices manufactured at B&B Electronics locations in China and the US. Visual Basic .NET was the core technology used for implementation of SKU project.
The demo version of Mobile Interoperability Workstation developed by PSA was publicly demonstrated by Mutualink Inc. at the APCO International 75th Annual Conference held on August 16-20, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The solution was introduced under the Smartphone Commander trademark, as announced by Mutualink, the IP based multimedia interoperable communications company. In August Mutualink received a delivery of the demonstration version of Mobile Interoperability Workstation designed to demonstrate Mutualink technologies on a mobile platform. The application is designed to create networks of interoperable communications that are capable of sharing voice, text, radio, data, and telephone communication in a secure environment.The application is able to create and manage incidents, including the ability to invite other agencies and add resources. The application will allow users to participate in incidents using push-to-talk speech on radio and intercom channels and by sending and receiving text messages. The solution has been implemented using such tools as Google Android v1.5 framework, Eclipse IDE, SVN, and different testing software.At this point Mutualink company and PSA are ready to start another development project to update the Smartphone CommanderTM operating on Google's AndroidTM mobile platform with additional enhancements that will be available for public release.
PSA delivered to C-Com Satellite Systems, Inc. a Windows 64 bit USB driver to support communications between a Windows application and the iNetVu 7000 satellite receiver. PSA finished the project within 3 weeks from start to finish for the project. The delivery also included a signed driver for Windows 64 bit Vista and XP.
Successful completion of Phoenix 2 project based on SilverLight technology resulted in granting two new projects from NetVision Inc. The Single Server project suggests development of an application to select information on effective rights for access to objects on a single file server system. The solution will include scanning the file system and Active Directory, and then generate visual reports for an application user. In objective of the course Delegation Wizard project is to take the existing NetVision effective rights system and extend the existing Active Directory related reporting functionality with the capability to allow transferring of administrative responsibility for a specific administrative task from a higher authority to a lower authority.
In July the Canadian firm C-COM Satellite Systems Inc., an acknowledged leader in the deployment of mobile satellite-based technology, selected PSA to perform a driver upgrade project. The project is a continuation of project lines related to upgrading drivers for 64 bit Windows platforms. The key objective of the project is to perform porting of USB driver for running on different Windows 64 bit operation systems. Scope of work for the project includes modification of an existing drive for compatibility of Windows 64 bit platforms, driver installation upgrade, and signing the driver for installation on various Windows 64 bit platforms.
PSA has started a new project on updating a computer based training for InfinityQS application which is used at Alcon Labs, the most respected and trusted eye care company in the world. The e-training was created by PSA in the end of 2008. It is used to train new employees from a CD or online to operate on the floor through simulating the application used on the production floor. The application consists of a demonstration part where the real application was captured and the user is guided through the application with simultaneous audio narration, text captions, and quizzes. The second part is about testing the skills of the user. It allows learners to practice an actual procedure hands-on, test their performance with scored mouse clicks, data entry, buttons. Final scores are sent to the supervisor for review. E-training is a more efficient way of transferring knowledge of the applications to employees, without the need to attract a human tutor. This project is aimed at improving the end-user experience while taking the test.The project is based on such technical writer tools as Adobe Captivate, Adobe FrameMaker, WebWorks, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Java Script. It is the second PSA project with Alcon Manufacturing, Ltd., developer of electronic training applications.
In May 2009, PSA completed verification testing of the Commissioning Tool on 5 different Windows platforms for Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc. The Commissioning Tool is designed to configure programmable lighting ballast controllers for florescent lights. Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc. selected PSA to resolve defects found in the application during verification testing. The project also includes installation creation and regression testing of the Commissioning Tool. Technologies used for bug resolution and testing include Wise Installer and Visual Basic 6.
PSA's experience in working with Android Framework for mobile phones was instrumental for securing a new project with a new customer, Mutualink Inc. PSA was contracted to develop an application to demonstrate Mutualink technologies on a mobile platform. The application is designed to create networks of interoperable communities that are capable of sharing voice, text, radio, video, data and telephone communication in a secure environment. The application called Mobile Interoperability Workstation must be able to create and manage incidents, including the ability to invite other agencies and add resources. The application will allow users to participate in incidents using push-to-talk speech on radio and intercom channels by sending and receiving text messages. The Mobile Interoperability Workstation project will be implemented using such tools as Google Android v1.5 framework, Eclipse IDE, SVN, and different testing software.
On completion of the Effective Rights solution implementation, NetVision Inc. and PSA agreed to continue with the development of Effective Rights next release, the beginning of a new short-term project which is called Phoenix 2. Main activity included tuning the developed application to provide data compression, improved data analysis, and support of NetApp. The application is based on SilverLight technology with engaging .NET 2.0, C++, MS Visual Studio 2005, and MS SQL 2005.
PSA expands its business. To facilitate the company's growth, BestSoft, the Belarusian Development Center for Professional Software Associates, Inc. moved in May 2009 to new offices which are twice as large as the BestSoft's previous offices. The new office is located in the center of Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Moving to a new office will undoubtedly improve efficiency of PSA to complete projects and increase marketability of its solutions.
On 29 April 2009, PSA launched new project with Southwest Microwave Inc. which is a technology company specializing in perimeter security, communications, and microwave connectors/adapters. This project is to develop a graphical user interface module for monitoring and administrating the perimeter control for the Intrepid system. The Southwest Microwave Inc. Intrepid system is a collection of outdoor perimeter security sensors and devices. The GUI module will be developed with Qt cross-platform application and UI framework and running on the Fedora 10 operation system in the KDE environment. The Graphical Control Module project is expected to be completed by August 2009.
PSA has been awarded a project by Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc. for the testing of Commissioning Tool. PSA is responsible for testing and verifying the application developed using Visual Basic 6 which is designed for configuration and programming of a lighting controller. The project scope includes test case creation, usability testing, and functional testing on six different operation systems. This is the first project between PSA and Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc., a global leader in ballasts and controls for commercial lighting applications. Its products include electronic linear fluorescent, compact fluorescent solutions, HID and sign ballasts.
A new documentation project to improve on the Zlinx I/O product line documentation is now being performed by PSA for B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company. The project includes restructuring of the existing documentation to improve on the organization of information, quality of content being presented, and incorporate definition of new features being added to the next generation of Zlinx Wireless I/O products. Restructuring included changes to product manual and user quick start guides.Success of the project is being insured through close collaboration of technical writers with QA engineers that are also engaged in product quality testing.
In January Perdue Farms, Inc., the leading food company which produces premium fresh chicken in the eastern part of the United States of America, chose PSA for implementation of a project to improve its manufacturing departments' business process. A PSA Business Analyst visited Perdue Farms, Inc. to hold on-site discussions with Perdue colleagues and gathered requirements for the design and implementation phases of the project. PSA will develop a distributed system to support the process of Perdue business improvement. The solution will deal with counting and summarizing industrial indexes. Basis for user interface implementation will be .NET, data warehouse will be organized at a Microsoft Server 2005, and the MS Reporting service will be used for chart generation to represent the outcome industrial reports.
B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company awarded PSA the Additional SKUs project. It consists in updating an existing Top 10 SKU application to include eleven new SKUs to support relocation of these SKUs manufacturing to China. The application is used to perform automated testing of embedded control devices to insure that these devices are produced without defects and to reduce the opportunity of errors during the testing process. The core technology used to perform the Additional SKUs project is Visual Basic .NET.
On 3 March 2009, a new testing project with B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company started. It is focused on engineering testing of VESR firmware. The primary objective for VESR testing project is to move existing test specification for two VESR devices into Test Case database, define new test cases, and execute tests on 1, 2, and 4 port versions of the VESR device.
The successful completion of the My Valet project on data synchronization between Android-based mobile phones and personal computers laid the foundation of the new project with a la Mobile, Inc. which is the premier open-source technology provider to the mobile industry. PSA was asked to extend the previous data synchronization system and provide comprehensive support service for it. Besides, the project includes transferring the already deployed software to a new server version. The solution will be provided with new functions to expand capabilities of the system. The most up-to-date technologies such as Android SDK, Funambol Sync Server, SproutCore 0.9 Framework and CodeIgniter are being used in support of this project.
PSA partnership with NetVision, Inc. is driven by harnessing the comprehensive understanding of technology and processes. New NetVision Effective Rights project which has started today pursues an objective to perform implementation of a new product that determines user access rights on Windows systems and provide a reporting interface to convey the results. Additional efforts will be applied to provide high performance of the solution under development. It is caused by the necessity to process a huge amount of data. A customizable user interface based on SilverLight technology and availability of performance tuning will become specific features of the Effective Rights system, capable to function at Windows server platforms. PSA will use various tools for implementation of the Effective Rights solution, such as .NET 2.0, C++, MS Visual Studio 2005, MS SQL 2005, etc.
At the end of January 2009, PSA completed a short-term Effective Rights Discovery project. During this Discovery project a PSA specialist had on-site discussions with NetVision Inc. staff. The project included investigation activities to review an architecture design and to define high level requirements, technical risks, user interface prototypes, and testing approaches.The performed discovery work will be a basis for the upcoming Effective Rights project. Its beginning is planned for February.
At the beginning of February PSA signed a contract with its long-standing partner, B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company. Project activities will be focused on testing of new Zlinx products.B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company is a manufacturer of embedded control devices. These devices support a variety of different manufactures environments and application uses. Zlinx devices are serial wire data input/output systems for the industrial market. The system is a modular input/output design for transmission of software selectable analog and digital signals in industrial environments.In the course of the project, PSA will create a specification document including regression tests for existing functionality, define test cases for the newly implemented device, and test cases for latency test conditions. Then PSA will perform testing of wired and wireless models of Zlinx device for B&B Company. All testing activities are expected to be performed by April 2009
On January 19, 2009, PSA launched the LDV Streamer (version 2) project for B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company which is a manufacturer of embedded control devices. The goal of the project is to develop new firmware that will be used in the next generation device consisting of a new hardware platform. An onsite meeting held in December 2008 resulted in the completion of the initial discovery phase for the project. The result of these activities included a review of high level Streamer V2 project objectives and proposed architecture, updating of architecture documentation, review of new features to be introduced into the Streamer device, and implementation phase requirements defined. The specific feature of the implementation phase is in on-line teamwork of B&B and PSA developers. It is anticipated that the project will take 6 months.
Adaptive Micro Systems LLC. and PSA signed a Service Level Agreement for 2009. The subject of the agreement is rendering offshore software development services for Adaptive during the year. Adaptive Micro Systems LLC. is a leading supplier of indoor and outdoor programmable of LED electronic display systems. PSA has worked with a number of the different products from Adaptive including ooh!Media host software, ooh!Media players, installation software, and BetaBrite USB drivers. Continued support and development of Adaptive products on the part of PSA will include:
- - Developing requirements and software design specifications
- - Project reporting and reviews
- - Preparing acceptance and test plans
- - Software application implementations
- - Developing software test cases
- - Software testing
- - Product manuals
- - Training manuals
- - Package and delivery of software product
NetVision Inc. has accepted a PSA proposal to perform a discovery project. The project is to accomplish discovery tasks for determining a high level architecture and prototype concept elements for a product on the Windows platform that will expand their organizations product offerings. A PSA representative will visit the NetVision office for on-site define product capabilities, high level requirements, architecture design, technical risks, user interface prototypes and testing approaches. This project is building on PSA previous experience of collaboration with NewVision Inc. during 2007 and 2008.
In January 2008 FiberPlex Inc. selected PSA for development of the Shadow Platform Software Controller (SPSC). It is a multiplatform desktop application for configuring and managing a network of audio devices connected over fiber-optic cable. The SPSC will be used for auditoriums, concert halls, music clubs, and other performance areas.During some months of intensive work, PSA coped with all tasks on development of multiple hardware modules and their interconnection to transport various types of data, such as Analog and Digital Audio, Video, Intercom, Ethernet, and control data. Now the application can graphically represent an entire existing star network and has the ability to 'talk' and 'listen' to any module in the system. It is equipped with multiview support and customizable layout. Its release is expected in January 2009.
The project consisted in implementation of Google phone widgets for weather, stock, and also one more Home widget for configuration and management of the created widgets. The widget manager is a home screen widget enabled to manage any other widgets in the phone application. Implementation was based on the modification of the Android 1.0r1 software. To verify the functionality of the widgets, the comprehensive testing was performed.
PSA has a long history of productive collaboration with Adaptive Micro Systems LLC. Manufacturing of state-of-the-industry software for advertising area has an outlook with fair promise. At present, PSA professionals provides support and update for the previously developed ooh!Media system. The system includes a desktop application to create digital media content and a sign player firmware to render this content on outdoor LED signs. PSA Support activities imply development of the new version of application to enable rendering digital content on new LED signs to be produced by Adaptive Micro Systems LLC.
Speedy and consistent work of PSA quality engineers resulted in meeting deadlines set by the B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company to perform the MESR Acceptance Testing project. MESR is a gateway for communication between serial ports and Ethernet ports. Immediately after the test area and test cases definition, the testing itself was performed. In the course of the project, functionality of MESR configuration utilities was tested in the different OS environment such as Windows 2000, Windows XP Home and Professional, Windows Vista Home and Premium, as well as Windows 2003 Server. Different types of Internet browsers were tested for each platform. The project included the following types of testing:
- - Basic hardware tests
- - Installation tests
- - Automated tests
- - GUI tests
- - Performance tests
- - Exceptional tests
In the course of the LASAIR III project, PSA developed firmware for a portable aerosol particle counter device that is used for cleanroom monitoring and facility certification. The firmware includes the customized user interface, web server, and MHT reporting. The LASAIR III device interface features include a VGA color LCD display, touch screen input, sample probe, and a built-in thermal printer. The release of the product is going to be shipped to the customer on October 28, 2008.
Jamaica Public Service Company, the predominant provider of electrical power in Jamaica, addressed the PSA for improvement of the current inventory control system. The project is based on the Oracle tools including the Warehouse Management System (WMS) module. The key objectives of the project include reduction of efforts required to perform quarterly cycle counts, establishment of the barcode system for all inventory items, and improved inventory reporting. To achieve these objectives, numerous actions are to be performed including modifications to the existing management system as well as implementation of the WMS features for improved inventory tracking. In the course of the project, mobile barcode devices will be selected and incorporated into the system. As a result, real time data updates will be possible.