This all-singing software package, which allows system integrators to create control systems which can address any piece of equipment via any protocol now seems set to fulfil the promise it made when it picked up its PLASA Award in 2004. Over 3,200 downloads of the free software have now been made, and new users are signing up at the rate of around 250 per month. Meanwhile, agreements with manufacturers such as 3touch and Simply Reliable Software, both of which were announced at ISE (see news, page 8), open up whole new avenues, bringing potentially thousands of new users to the fold. Add to that serious interest from unforeseen quarters including military, banking, pharmaceuticals and casino industries, and Stardraw does seem to be on the cusp of something rather significant.
Furthermore, the financial model behind Stardraw Control - in which the software is available free to system integrators who then pay an affordable fee for every installation they use it on - means that the potential income from the system will snowball in line with its widening use: as Stardraw's David Snipp says: "We're selling numbers."
The software is continually updated to incorporate features suggested through a user's forum, and seamlessly uploaded to users every time the program is activated. The latest additions include a new multi-thread I/O architecture which allows read, write and user interface functions to occur simultaneously; the addition of web browser control to the UI - allowing for weather, news, stock tickers etc to be included, or even access to IP-enabled devices; e-mail capability, allowing the control application to send configurable e-mails triggered by system events; proxy server support; MIDI support and more . . .
