Rennline Manufacturing is a custom fabrication provider based in Milton, Vermont. They specialize in waterjet cutting and metal fabrication services, serving industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive, and industrial sectors.
Like many manufacturers, Rennline relies on computer numerical control (CNC) machines. A CNC machine is a programmable device that uses computerized instructions to produce physical objects. For example, an engineer can create a digital diagram of an automotive part, then feed the design into a CNC machine, which will produce the part from a piece of steel.
CNC machines are amazing devices, but they are expensive. Depending on the model, industrial CNC machines can cost $100,000 or even more. Manufacturers like to keep their old CNC machines running as long as possible, since they can be so costly to replace.
One challenge with this approach is that CNC machines often come with an embedded computer that isn’t easily upgradable. These internal computers often run old, end-of-life (EoL) operating systems, such as Windows 7 or Windows XP. Normally, it’s a big IT no-no to keep EoL systems running. Out-of-date systems can have serious security vulnerabilities, and it can be difficult to keep software running on these systems due to compatibility issues. In the case of CNC machines, however, the cost of replacement makes it necessary to find ways to keep these old computers running.
Like many companies, Rennline wanted to move to a cloud-based data storage system. The company had recently been sold to new owners who were ready to modernize their IT infrastructure. They wanted to be free of the burden of purchasing, maintaining, and backing up on-premise servers, while also allowing team members to work from home. However, any cloud system also needed to be compatible with their CNC machines, including those with out-of-date operating systems. Rennline’s dream was that an engineer could create a new design on their laptop at home, and have an operator on-site instantly run the design on one of the CNC machines.
This was a huge challenge. It’s hard enough to make end-of-life operating systems like Windows XP work with a modern server. Making an old OS work with a modern cloud system seemed nearly impossible.
Rennline began to seek consultations and quotes from various local IT providers. At first, the results weren’t encouraging. Responses ranged from insanely expensive quotes to blunt declarations that what Rennline wanted wasn’t possible.
Here at Green Mountain IT, we have a few vendors that we really, truly love. One of those is Egnyte. Simply put, Egnyte is the best cloud storage system we’ve ever used. While other tools like SharePoint, Google Drive, and Dropbox have their place, none of them can compare to Egnyte for flexibility, reliability, and ease of use. Egnyte is especially well-suited to engineering work, where users have large CAD files and hybrid cloud/on-premise systems. That was two major boxes checked for Rennline.
When I first met the team at Rennline, I knew Egnyte would be the perfect solution for them.
Even the power of Egnyte wasn’t enough to directly address the challenge of supporting end-of-life operating systems on the CNC machines. I mean, Windows XP has been unsupported for over 10 years! It’s not reasonable to expect a vendor to support an OS that old.
The solution was to install a small mini computer as a “server” that would serve as a go-between. The computer would connect to Egnyte and, in turn, present the Egnyte files to the CNC machines. The old systems would think they were accessing a regular Windows server, when really they were connecting to Egnyte’s cloud storage.
Briefly, the solution basically entailed:
To mitigate the risk of running end-of-life operating systems, several security measures were taken, including:
After initial testing, Green Mountain IT helped migrate Rennline’s data from their on-premise server to Egnyte. The new system worked perfectly. Now, Rennline’s engineering team can access their files from anywhere, thanks to Egnyte’s cloud-based system, while still allowing their on-site machine operators to access their files easily.
Green Mountain IT’s unique solution to Rennline’s challenge hit the mark for both results and budget. Rennline was able to meet their goal of migrating to the cloud and offering work-from-home capabilities, while still maintaining compatibility with their CNC machines.
Facing a unique IT challenge? Contact Green Mountain IT Solutions today for a free consultation.
