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Opto Twenty-two (22)

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In 1974, engineer Bob Engman started Opto 22 with just 22 products: optically isolated solid-state relays (SSRs) manufactured for better reliability using a new potting process he helped invent.

Today, more than 45 years later, the company still sells and supports all 22 of those original SSRs—plus hundreds of other reliable products for control, monitoring, data acquisition, and industrial internet of things (IIoT) applications.

Over these decades we’ve introduced products that helped user in the future of industrial automation:

In 1978 we developed digital I/O modules with plug-in racks for microprocessor-based control, introducing
the red-black-yellow-white I/O module color-coding scheme that’s still the standard today.
In 1988 we designed the first graphical flowchart-based development environment for the PC, so control
programs could be more easily developed.
In 1998 we introduced the first commercial Ethernet-based I/O unit.
In 2007 we brought automation into the 21st century with SNAP PACs (programmable automation controllers),
with more capabilities than PLCs.
In 2018 we built the world's first edge programmable industrial controller (EPIC), designed from the ground
up for both real-time control and simplified IIoT data communication using standard internet protocols.
In 2020 we introduced a groov RIO universal remote I/O unit, with web-based configuration and built-in
capabilities like Power over Ethernet (PoE), MQTT communications, and Node-RED, making it ideal for IIoT
and automation applications.

But during those 45+ years, we’ve also continued to manufacture and support our legacy products. Why? Because they’re still running—still doing the job in some dusty cabinet, like the 30-year-old SSR in the photo above—and customers all over the world still count on them.

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