CUSTOM RACKMOUNT COMPUTER DESIGN AND ENGINEERING SERVICES

In so many cases, what is available as standard off-the-shelf products do not meet your requirements. The question you should be asking yourself is not why you should have a custom chassis designed but why wouldn't you. There are few downsides and so many advantages. If you're wondering how many variations exist for an Intel based system, see our Custom Showcasefor a small sampling. Each of these custom designs was done for a client who couldn't find a suitable off-the-shelf product. See our Capability Brochurefor additional information.

The Taiwanese chassis, are, in many cases, good chassis. There is still a lot of poorly designed junk out there. But if you pick a good supplier with good designs, these can be nice products. The Taiwanese are experts at mass producing low cost stuff using hard tooling and cheap labor. If you need a handful of systems for in-house use, there is some very nice value in using these chassis.

However, there are still many reasons to not use offshore products, especially if you are releasing a branded product where the chassis is a core component. Why would you want to sell an integrated system with components costing thousands of dollars and compromise your product with a cheap imported chassis? In most cases the enclosure is, by far, the lowest cost component. Remember also, the enclosure is your customer's first impression. The enclosure protects your investment mechanically, thermally, and with first impressions with your customers.

Taiwanese Downsides:

• No product identity
• Their color - usually some variation of black
• No logo
• Unknown consistency
• Their features
• Looks like a cheap clone computer

Chassis Plans Domestically Manufactured Custom Design Advantages:

• Strong product identity with your logo and painted your color
• Unique look - nobody else has anything that looks like it
• Great first impressions
• Your required features
• Your labels
• Agency approvals in your name
• Your outside packaging
• Your documentation
• Consistent product - fully documented and revision controlled
• Assured continued product availability - no end-of-life issues
• Integrated to your specification with your hardware
• Increased sales for you

You tell us what you want and don't want. We put together a customer drawing and a proposal to make sure we're all on the same page. We show you what it will look like, what features will be included, suggest a few things you probably didn't think about, and tell you what it will cost and how long it will take. What could be easier? Odds are, since we've done so many designs, we can do a simple modification of one of our existing designs.

The engineering talent at Chassis Plans is unsurpassed. We've been doing this since 1985 (responsible for founding Industrial Computer Source and designing much of their existing legacy line), have provided designs and products to many existing chassis manufacturers, and have an unmatched Custom Showcase.

Design Process

For a detailed explanation of the Design Process and our Design Philosophy, please link here

With over 25 years of combined experience in industrial computer design, manufacturing, and agency certification, no project will present difficulties not previously resolved. We are experienced and conversant in the following subjects:

SAIC Belcore NEBS compliant Central Office platforms 1U Server applications - collocation European CE compliance Military applications - ruggedized Airborne applications Shipboard applications Mil-specs Highly ruggedized platforms for oil and gas exploration Computer telephony Fault tolerant platforms Multi-CPU systems Medical systems per UL544 Power supply designs and issues Extreme environments for temperature, shock and vibration All aspects of agency approvals Manufacturing systems System issues for CPU and backplane design and selection I/O card application and support I/O card design and manufacturing See  Custom Examples

Current Customers Include Schlumberger Anadrill Lockheed Martin Raytheon Ball Aerospace Northrup Grumman GSE Systems Dept of Defense SPAWAR San Diego Atomic Films Blueweeve Nokia Cytec Solers Honeywell Lucent Technologies General Electric NAVSEA Pfizer NASA Duke Energy SAIC USAF Boeing SBS Applied Photonics MV Technical Sales Arrow Electronics

Chassis Plans can handle full integration of your custom or off-the-shelf rackmount system. Each system we build must pass five different signoff points in our manufacturing and testing process. Our assembly professionals strive for the highest quality craftsmanship in every system we build.

Our advanced configuration center can install, test and configure custom peripheral devices in your industrial enclosure. Our Networking Service Center can fully configure complete back office applications such as MS Exchange Server, MS SQL Server, or any of the Microsoft Back Office products.

You can request additional diagnostic burn-in times exceeding 24 or 48 hours to ensure your system will be ready to perform the day you receive it.

With in-depth knowledge of a wide range of computing solutions, we can assist you with the selection, procurement, installation, configuration and support of hardware and software elements, including systems and add-on components at competitive pricing. See our Integration Services Page for complete details.

Why Chassis Plans?

The Company has over 20 years of industrial computer design experience. The major focus in all cases has been IBM PC compatible platforms. Our principle cofounded Industrial Computer Source and grew the company to $57M as Engineering Vice President. Our sales team has extensive industry experience and can translate your requirements into a cost effective solution.

Chassis Plans is pleased to provide a single source solution for custom chassis design, quality fabrication, and system integration / project management. Our unique team can provide you with turn key solutions for custom and semi-custom industrial chassis systems.

Our dedicated team provides system definition, component sourcing, system integration, and testing. We provide off-the-shelf solutions for simple applications. In addition, with the engineering services provided by Chassis Plans, We also have the ability to source highly customer specific solutions, both semi-custom and clean paper designs.

If you have a requirement for a high quality custom or semi-custom industrial solution, call so we can discuss your requirement giving us the opportunity to fully explain the advantages of having a system custom manufactured.

If you are buying any quantity of chassis that is discontinued or are having supplier issues we can provide a custom package to allow you to have an identical chassis manufactured for your current and future needs. A custom tailored chassis for your industrial needs

What we will do for you is translate your ideas and system requirements from prototype to production; We can provide you with a quality custom chassis produced and integrated to your specification. This is hard to explain in print so please call one of our sales engineers at 858-571-4330 if you are using any quantity of chassis and we'll explain the process.

We respond quickly and effectively to customers needs. We will work closely with you to design and build the rack mount enclosure your market demands. By gaining a thorough understanding of your company, your product, your customers and your market, we will offer a complete design and engineering service to bring your ideas through prototype, testing and production. Our systems are designed to meet the requirements of the worldwide EMC and Safety standards. We are able to offer customers a complete solution: this can range from advice on how to achieve compliance to the full management of the processes involved. This includes testing at a UKAS/FCC/UL approved laboratory and providing the customer with a fully approved and tested system supported by official test reports.