New software application for cable industry.

• Author: WALCHUK, KEVIN
• Position: Brief Article

Pen Systems, a mobile software application company based in Sudbury, has developed a new custom-built application for the cable industry aimed at increasing productivity and accessibility in the field.

Launched in September, Field Cable, Pen System's newest software application, can translate information from all major CAD and database formats and integrate it into one single, easy-to-use screen of data for use on a pen-computer in the field.

With this new application, cable companies can now read each other's data and verify it in the field. The process eliminates the need for redrafting of internal field data and the need to redraw another company's base network maps, which can be a time-consuming process.

Field Cable can be adapted to all of Pen System's computer products including the Pen tablet, a hand-held computer, and the company's new wearable belt computer.

Nigel Leith, a company partner, says rolling out the Field Cable application has been a goal of Pen Systems for several years.

"We started developing the application as early as 1994."

Leith says the new application is proving most valuable as a time-saver by eliminating hours of work from the data inputting process both in the field and the office.

"We think the new application can save between 40 and 60 per cent of field time on average," Leith says, noting that the often cumbersome task of modifying and imputing data taken from field notes is...