Copalp has solved the programming problems of industrial controller manufacturer System SPA in Italy.  By switching from embedded C to the SoftPLC straton, the Company is now able to offer their customers a very flexible, but affordable industrial controller that can be programmed with all 5 IEC 61131-3 standard programming languages. System had been looking for a new programming solution for their DICO line of DIN rail mounted Distributed Industrial Controllers. Their current system was programmed using C, which required the use of a specialised C compiler for the 16 bit on-board processor.  System knew that some of their customers and staff would appreciate the possibility to program with standard PLC logic and did not want to attend to low level coding, nor spend their time programming C when they would rather be implementing a control system.  System's EX controllers are well equipped for rugged plant floor operation, featuring 2 Ethernet (10/100) ports, 4 serial ports and 2 CAN interfaces.  Their customised real time operation system (RTOS) includes TCP/IP support and web support.  These controllers are now available with either C or straton programming options. Customers opting for straton programming benefit from 5 language (IEC 61131-3) support.  It is also possible to automatically generate C code in straton, in applications where maximum runtime efficiency is required. Engineers were surprised to find that straton was not simply a PC-based PLC, but caters for a broad range of hardware platforms.  straton not only worked on the 16 bit processor, but is lightweight and leaves sufficient resources for very capable control programs. After a single day's training at Copalp, Sassenage (France), engineers at System were confident that the straton workbench and the debugging tools provided made development easier.  They found that they could draw on past experiences programming hardware PLCs to implement control on their processor quickly and easilly. Mario Casali, System's Senior Software Engineer, commented, 'We were really surprised by the features available within straton, for example our customers can choose from all 5 IEC61131-3 languages including ladder logic.  I am confident our customers will find the new DICO controllers much easier to program.â?� System tested straton on their new DICO 208 controller first.  This controller has built-in support for communications with CAN, Ethernet, serial and other protocols.  The engineers found that straton provided ready to use networking support, taking full advantage of the comprehensive communication interfaces offered by the hardware.  The hardware and software communications support has made extended the role of the DICO. Now the DICO series serve, not just an affordable PLC, but also make an excellent communications gateway, for example converting serial to Ethernet or CAN to Ethernet. straton integrates seamlessly with the HMI / SCADA software zenon, as a result System is now able to offer its customers a combined Controller / HMI.  This link between zenon and straton can save hours of programming time, because the variables only have to be defined once.  The overall safety of a control system can also be significantly improved because any variable addressed in the HMI is also changed in the Soft PLC, as such the data addressed by the HMI is always correct. System now offer straton as an option with all of their EX controllers  (708EX, 508EX, 188EX, 208EX) which use an extended x186 architecture that can use up to 16mb external memory and executes most instructions in one clock cycle (30MIPS).