Industrial Computer Regulatory and Safety Agency Certifications

Successful marketing of a product often demands conforming to strict national and international standards. CP Technologies can make adhering to these standards as simple and streamlined as possible. Leading you from start to finish through the maze of regulatory requirement, we can identify your needs and guide you through the entire certification process.

CP Technologies can perform testing of hardware and software products. We provide various types of testing, including compatibility, functionality, interoperability, performance, usability, localization, compliance, and certification testing.

Ready to release your product? Have you spent enough time doing QA on your product? Because if you send out your product with too many bugs or anomalies, you might be have more problems than you realize. Research studies over the past twenty years have proven that it pays to do thing right the first time. Many companies only look at the short term – the “here-and-now” approach. They forget that anomalies don’t just mean having to spend some time after release fixing a bug or two. It also means additional costs for technical support for their customers, costs to distribute the fixes to the customers, all the negative press generated by the anomalies, and additional regression testing to verify that nothing else was broken by the fixes. Let us help you make sure your product is ready before you ship it.

These accreditations allow our local partners to confer a wide range of certifications including ISO 9000, NEBS, CE and UL.

 CE Marking

CE Marking is currently required for many products sold in Europe, yet many exporters are still unsure or unaware of what affect this has on their business. Bring your product up to CE standards with little effort.

The European Commission refers to the CE Marking of products as a “passport” which can allow a manufacturer to freely circulate their products within the European marketplace. The marking applies only to products regulated by European health, safety and environmental protection legislation (product directives) but this is estimated to include more than 50% of the goods currently exported from the U.S. to Europe.

The actual CE Marking is the letters “CE” which a manufacturer affixes to certain products for access to the European market (consisting of 18 countries and also referred to as the European Economic Area or EEA). The letters “CE’ are an abbreviation of a French phrase “Conformite Europeene”. The marking indicates that the manufacturer has conformed with all the obligations required by the legislation. Initially, the phrase was “CE Mark”: however, “CE Marking” was legislated as its replacement in 1993.

If the product directives apply to your products and you want to export to the European market, then CE Marking will be crucial to your success. There will be only one set of laws and regulations to comply with in designing and manufacturing your product for the entire marketplace. The multiple and conflicting national restrictions on regulated products will be eliminated. Additional benefits may include your product being made safer for consumers as well as reduced damage claims and liability premiums. The not so good news – the product directives may exceed the current national laws and regulations. These increased or new requirements may require a manufacturer to change their design or production processes to continue or enter into this market. The new directives and their implementation is confusing, undergoing constant change and subject to interpretation. This is why it is imperative that CP Technologies becomes the single solution provider for your compliance needs.

CSA International

CP Technologies offers complete CSA compliance. When selling your products into Canada, rely on CP Technologies to provide the tools and services necessary to become a active member of the CSA International. We work in Canada and around the world, to offer a full range of knowledge and experience required to comply with the CSA standard. The CSA International addresses real needs, such as enhancing public safety and health. Advancing the quality of life. Helping to preserve the environment. Facilitating trade….and more. Each year, hundreds of organizations benefit from becoming certified CSA partners. Contact CP Technologies to begin promoting your product in the Canadian marketplace.

All GR-63, GR-487 and ETSI physical requirements can now be performed and expanded capabilities now include full testing for both the seismic and fire resistance requirements. NTS is further partnered to allow their test data and reports to be accepted by RBOCs and CLECs that require NRTL status.

NEBS testing is required for anyone supplying equipment to the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) and the Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs). Any NTS partners are NVLAP approved and FCC listed. Through CP Technologies and it’s partners, we also have the capability to test equipment to the appropriate TBR/CTR standards for Europe.

System (NEBS) Requirements:

• Physical Protection
• EMC & Electrical Safety
• GR-1089-CORE for EMC, Surge Standards and Electrical Safety
• Pre-compliance
• ESD Testing
• FCC-Part 15, 18 & 68 Telecom
• EMC Emissions & Immunity (10kHz to 10 GHz)
• Electrical Safety/Grounding and Compliance
• Lightning and AC Power Fault Exposure (2nd Level)
• Consulting for Telecom, EMC and Product Safety
• CE Mark/FCC
• Bonding and Grounding
• First and Second Level Lightning Surge Testing

Physical Testing

GR-63-CORE Physical Protection Standards

• Complete Physical Testing
• Temperature, Humidity and Altitude
• High & Low Temperature Exposure and Thermal Shock
• Fire Resistance (Spread) and Heat Dissipation
• Smoke Corrosivity
• Earthquake Vibration/Resistance
• Office Vibration
• Airborne Contaminants
• Transportation Vibration
• Acoustic Noise
• Illumination
• Thermal Operating Conditions
• Handling Drop Tests

European Norms Electrical Certification

ENEC is a CENELEC certification scheme for a common European mark of conformity for certain products (luminaires, components and office & data equipment) which comply with European Standards. The ENEC mark is a common European safety certification mark, based on testing to harmonised European safety standards for European manufacturers. However at the March ’98 CCA meeting in Slovenia it was agreed that the ‘ENEC’ mark, the use of which had previously been restricted to European manufacturers only, would now be opened to manufacturers worldwide. Initially this relaxation of the rules will only apply to IT equipment (EN 60950), but it is anticipated that other product sectors falling within the ENEC scope will inevitably follow suit. Currently the ‘ENEC’ mark scope includes:

• Information
• Technology Equipment (EN 60950)
• Transformers (EN 60742, EN 61558)
• Luminaires (EN 60598) and associated components (eg EN 60920, EN 60400)
• Appliance switches (EN 61058)

It stands for ‘European Norms Electrical Certification’ – the number shown to the right of the mark merely identifying the CCA member, (17 in the case of Nemko). Nemko’s mark may be added, if the manufacturer so wishes. ENEC indicates to both consumers, authorities and others concerned that the product is certified by a highly recognized third-party. In short, this entails:

• Testing and certification by an ENEC member certification body, such as NTS
• The manufacturer’s production control must satisfy ISO 9002, or equivalent
• Initial and minimum annual production surveillance audits by the certification body, based on harmonized inspection procedures
• Selected re-testing of certified products every second year

The mark has had remarkable success. About 5000 ENEC licenses have been issued to date, representing 15,000 different products on the European market.

The UL Mark on a product means that UL has tested and evaluated representative samples of that product and determined that they meet UL’s requirements. In addition, products are periodically checked by UL at the manufacturing facility to make sure they continue to meet UL requirements. A full range of UL testing services is offered to comply with all UL requirements. Whether your bringing your product into Canada, the US, or other select countries, CP Technologies can assist in bringing our custom rackmount enclosures to the UL standard. Contact CP Technologies for more info.

FCC Emissions Requirements

There are two levels of required compliance; home/office and industrial. No piece of equipment with a computer installed can be sold in the US unless it has been properly tested for compliance with the appropriate FCC regulations. There are strict laws and high fines associated with these laws. Each piece of computing equipment must be properly labeled to show it is in compliance.

FCC Part 15, Subpart J, Class A covers industrial computers. Class B covers home and office computers.

An industrial computer is intended for use in a non-home and non-office environment and can be identified by either form factor being incompatible with home use or a price that would not be identified with the home market. Class A would apply to industrial computers.

A home or office computer is your typical clone computer manufactured by HP, Apple, Microsoft, Dell, or the myriad little local computer resellers. Class B would apply here.

Class A simply requires the subject equipment be tested to verify the emissions are below the published requirements. The equipment vendor must assure the equipment passes these tests. The results of the tests do not need to be submitted to the FCC and can be simply kept in a file so that if there is a problem, they can be shown to the FCC to demonstrate the equipment was tested and was compliant at some time in the past.

Class B is more rigorous with a lower ceiling on the test limits. Class B requires the test results be sent to the FCC along with an application for issuance of a registration number. The FCC may accept the results of the testing lab or they may require the equipment be submitted to them for additional testing.

Testing to Class A is a fairly simple procedure requiring one day or less in a test facility and should cost under $1000.

An `approved’ chassis can be populated with any tested and compliant boards and still be in compliance. That is, each shippable configuration does not need to be tested as long as all the parts have been tested at some time in the past.

Performance Requirements and Objectives:

Electrical Criteria

• Bond Clamp Retention
• AC Fault Test

Mechanical Criteria

• Cable Clamping
• Sheath Retention
• Cable Flexing
• Cable Torsion
• Vertical Drop
• Compression
• Impact
• Central Membrane (CM) Protrusion

Environmental Criteria

• Accelerated Thermal Aging
• Assembly
• Temperature and Humidity
• Freeze/Thaw
• Weather Tightness
• Water Resistance
• Corrosion Resistance
• Chemical Resistance
• Insect Resistance
• Ultraviolet Resistance
• Brush Fire Resistance

Conditional Requirements

• Bullet Resistance
• Cable Core Blocking Ability

Military Standards

The military mandates products meet a variety of requirements specified by various standards. The more common standards which apply to computers include the following.  There are innumerable other standards relating to packaging, wiring standards, documentation, package marking, paint, etc.  CP Technologies is familiar with these standards and can assure your product will meet the testing criteria.

• MIL-STD-810G – Environmental test criteria
• MIL-STD-461 – Electromagnetic compatibility
• MIL-S-910D – Shock for equipment installed on Navy ships and submarines