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BitFlow has been developing industrial frame grabbers and software for the imaging industry since 1993. They specialize in interfacing to cameras with very high data/frame rates; working in environments with complex triggering and I/O requirements; and running in applications where every CPU cycle is precious. Their software is some of the easiest to use, yet incredibly powerful and reliable. With thousands of boards installed throughout the world, into hundreds of imaging applications, they are confident that they can solve your imaging problems.
BitFlow was founded in 1993 by a group of people that had been in the imaging industry for years. The founders, having spent years developing custom hardware and specialized sub-systems, saw the emergence of the personal computer and thought that it could be a real machine vision tool. Moore's law, dropping memory prices, and ever increasing bus speeds opened up (and still are opening up) new opportunities to apply the PC to imaging applications. All that was needed was a fast, flexible camera interface. BitFlow's first product was based on the VESA local bus. It was the first frame grabber that didn't need an on-board display circuit. For the first time, a bus in the PC was fast enough to capture and display video in real time.
BitFlow's success has largely been because of its focus on the camera interface slice of the imaging industry. They are an engineering based company. They mostly sell their own engineering, thus the support you will get will come from the office next to the person that designed the hardware/software you're using. You may even end up talking directly to the designer. BitFlow works hard on solving the difficult interfacing applications, and they work hard to make sure their solutions are flexible enough to solve your problems, no matter how complicated. Yet they strive to make their products easy to use, and painless to learn. Finally, if you're having trouble or are on a tight deadline, they will support you better than anyone in the industry.
BitFlow designs all its hardware and software with the OEM in mind. Everything is designed and built to the highest possible quality standards. Most of their customers are running their equipment 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These are in rugged environments, with constant high speed data requirements. Should something go wrong, they will be there to help get your equipment back on line as quickly as possible. Should you be looking to upgrade your systems, they'll make transision to newer, faster equipment as painless as possible.
Another reason to choose BitFlow is their experience. They have been designing systems that move camera data into computers since the 80's, always working on the toughest interfacing problems. They understand cameras almost as well as the people who make them. But their experience doesn't stop there; they understand that their products are only one component in a big system. Their boards have to interact with a variety of signals coming from other equipment. They have to integrate seamlessly into a wide range of applications. BitFlow knows what it takes to get a machine vision application running on the factory floor, not just in the lab.
The VESA local bus is long gone, and now BitFlow is moving data at gigabytes per second, but their founding principles remain. Because of the economies of scale, the PC is, and probably always will be, the most cost effective platform for machine vision applications. All that is needed is to get the data into the machine. BitFlow combines this strategy with high quality standards, deep knowledge of the machine vision industry, a comprehensive understanding of camera interfacing, and the best support in the industry. Give them a call or shoot them an e-mail; they'll solve your imaging problems, and you can go home early. |
