Abaco Wins

7 December 2016
AXIS Team

There’s a well-worn saying that it’s not the winning that’s important—it’s the taking part. That may be true—but, surely, if taking part is good, taking part and winning is even better?

And that’s why we’re delighted to announce that we’ve won not once—but twice. You could perhaps call it a “win-win.” Two Abaco products—the RES3000 compact, rugged Ethernet switch and our AXIS software development environment—were both recognized with Gold Awards by the judges of the annual Military & Aerospace Electronics Innovators Awards program.

The judging panel consisted of a panel of senior third-party expert professionals. Unfortunately, we weren’t told why they made the decisions they did—we can only guess.

With the RES3000, we guess that what most likely completely captivated them was just how tiny it is. We mean, extraordinarily tiny. We’re guessing they liked that because they know how size and weight (not to mention power and cost) are enormous factors in today’s military platforms that need to fit the most into the least. The RES3000 checks all the boxes.

How small is “extraordinarily tiny”? How about a mere 5.8" x 5.1" x 3.4"? And it weighs just 3.5lbs. But just because it’s incredibly small doesn’t mean it skimps on features or functionality. It still delivers 12 ports—count ‘em! (There’s a slightly larger version with 24 ports for really serious communications applications). And, even better: it’s VICTORY switch-compliant. 

RES3000 Team

Shoo-in

And just when you’re thinking “Well, the RES3000 must have been pretty much a shoo-in”—you find that it also features Abaco’s unique OpenWare switch management environment, giving it unparalleled flexibility and functionality.

So: we’re pretty certain we can guess what was in the judges’ mind in giving the RES3000 a Gold Award. But what about AXIS?

It’s another easy one. Simply: there is nothing else that comes close when it comes to enabling military embedded software developers to get their work done faster, more efficiently and more effectively. Just imagine a development environment that is designed to speed every step of the process—from design through coding through debug through optimization to deployment. A development environment that, remarkably, manages to combine powerful functionality with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

Oh, and: did we mention that it’s also highly portable and seriously scalable? Being smart people, the judging panel almost certainly saw how AXIS enables programs to be deployed faster, with lower risk and at lower cost. And how, like the RES3000, it can make an important contribution to minimizing SWaP. No wonder they chose it. 

So, no: winning isn’t everything. But, all things considered, it’s infinitely preferable to the alternative. Winning means that you’re the best at what you do. In our case, that means delivering innovative solutions to our customers to help them succeed. And that is the definition of a real “win-win.”

Ian McMurray

Ian McMurray started his 40-year career in the technology industry back when 4K wasn’t the latest TV resolution — it was as much memory as you needed to write a complete, integrated accounting system for a computer. He started life as a mainframe salesman but eventually succumbed to the lure of marketing, and has since held a variety of European and worldwide marketing management positions, as well as occasional forays into sales training and development. He’s now the PR guy for Abaco Systems, and is based in Towcester, England.