A Walk through the Clouds

Tom Jordan


Unless you live under a rock on a deserted island, chances are you have heard about, considered using, or are moving toward “The Cloud.”  It is now a prevalent and unavoidable topic of conversation that has finally made its way from computing industry professionals to the general populace.   In the very near future, “The Cloud” will have become just another term in the lexicon of technology that people accept as a part of their daily computer activity, even if they don’t entirely understand it.  Much like instant messaging, search engine, the web, and Wi-Fi, the cloud is rapidly becoming as much a part of our daily lives as the bowl of cereal we have to start our day. [...]

MailBag Friday (#2)

Tom Jordan

Every Friday, we dedicate this space to sharing Technical Support emails we have recently received.  Our hope is that this weekly feature will help to educate other ThinManager users and provide them with answers to questions they may have about licenses, installation, integration, deployment, upgrades, maintenance, and daily operation.  Great Technical Support is an essential part of any software product, and we are constantly striving to make your environment as productive and efficient as possible. [...]

The Evolution of the ThinManager Roadshow

Tom Jordan

This summer, representatives from ACP will once again embark on what has become a time-honored tradition – The ThinManager Roadshow.  For more than twelve years,ACP has been traveling across North America spreading the gospel of ThinManager everywhere they can and by any means necessary.  It is a somewhat outdated concept in a modern world filled with industry specific expos and online demonstrations, but to the people at ACP, it is just another thing that helps to differentiate them from the pack. [...]

MailBag Friday (#1)

Tom Jordan

Every Friday, we dedicate this space to sharing Technical Support emails we have recently received.  Our hope is that this weekly feature will help to educate other ThinManager users and provide them with answers to questions they may have about licenses, installation, integration, deployment, upgrades, maintenance, and daily operation.  Great Technical Support is an essential part of any software product, and we are constantly striving to make your environment as productive and efficient as possible. [...]

Configuration and Setup for a Terminal

Tom Jordan

Here at ACP we often speak at great length about all of the amazing features ThinManager has to make your facility more secure and efficient.  But while perusing our blog archives, I realized that perhaps we have neglected explaining the basics and have placed the cart before the horse.   So I have decided to dedicate this week to explaining one of the most basic processes necessary to implementing ThinManager – setting up a ThinManager ready thin client.

Terminal Configuration Wizard

To connect a new terminal to your ThinServer, you must first set the basic configuration via DHCP or via a static IP.  Once the server and the terminal are communicating with each other, it is just a matter of clicking the appropriate selection boxes as you navigate the Terminal Configuration Wizard [...]

ThinManager Platform 6 Now Shipping

Tom Jordan

News Release

For Immediate Release: May 3, 2012

ACP ThinManager Platform 6 Now Shipping



ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA—ACP (Automation Control Products), a worldwide leader in the automation industry that provides full-feature centralized thin client and terminal server management software, has released its new ThinManager Platform 6 software. This release will continue to build on ACP’s ThinManager platform for the industrial automation sector by centralizing management of all user applications and resources.  This release has several new functions and features iTMC, which allows any Apple iPad to run as a portable, wireless thin client, as well as worldwide remote access capability and improved support for a wide range of hardware and components.  The new version can be downloaded via the following link: [...]

How Does Citrix Compare to ThinManager?

Tom Jordan

With the completion of the ThinManager 6.0 Launch & Training event, we are gearing up for the inevitable landslide of reviews and requests that follow a successful launch.  Some people are just hearing about ThinManager for the first time, while long-term end users are making plans for upgrading the ThinManager centralized management platform currently running in their facility.  One of the most common questions we are asked is, “Why do I need ThinManager if I already have another centralized management solution running my daily operations?” [...]

ThinManager 6.0 Launch Event Raises the Bar

Tom Jordan
Ready for Launch!
From the moment the music started and the partition wall was removed in a backlit shroud of darkness, attendees of the ThinManager 6.0 Launch Event started thinking that this was not going to be a typical expo event.  Less than 10 minutes later as the lights came up on a large room filled with rocket shaped display booths and more technology than they could shake a stick at, that feeling was confirmed.

Immediately following, Matt Crandell, CEO of Automation Control Products, took to the stage and clearly conveyed the magnitude of this event to a packed house.  There would be no product pitch or chest thumping because the ThinManager platform could stand alone without a need for bells and whistles.  There would be no “dead time” or aimless wandering because there was something for everyone regardless of the time of day.  And most importantly, there would be ample opportunity for everyone to experience a true interactive environment.  “The best way to explain the product is to put it in people’s hands and let them experience it for themselves,” said Crandell. [...]

Juicing Up HMI Performance With ACP ThinManager

Tom Jordan

Polytron, Inc. jumped in to help a major juice processor and bottler resolve hardware and software issues with approximately 100 Human Machine Interface (HMI) terminals at their facility.  The bottler found that maintenance and replacement of failed computers, required software updates, and the multitude of applications, resulted in production downtime and overall inefficiencies.

Hardware and software complicates life on the plant floor – Environmental conditions on the plant floor and the heat generated by each individual computer caused the HMI computers to fail frequently, compromising the manufacturing plant where system uptime is critical. When an HMI computer hardware failure occurred, plant maintenance personnel would spend hours setting up another computer to replace the one that failed. [...]

ThinManager 6.0 What You Need to Know (#6)

Tom Jordan

Over the next month, we will be spotlighting some of the new features being introduced with the release of ThinManager 6.0, as well as improvements to existing features. With so many additions and advancements to our thin client management platform over the last year, we felt it was important to give you a detailed look at what ThinManager 6.0 brings to the table:

The Little Things

My grandmother was fond of the expression “the devil is in the details”.  Over the years I have heard that same expression used over and over again in many different forms, but it always means the same thing.  Most ideas have value, but it is the execution of each part of the idea that is the difference between success and failure.  After all, anyone can have an amazing idea, but implementation of that idea into a form that is easy to understand and use is what makes it accessible and approachable by the masses.  If it only makes sense to you, then even your best idea is of very little value to the person standing next to you. [...]