Palm Size Scantool with Factory Muscle	 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
March 25, 2003. Ottawa, Illinois - The newest version of the AutoTap® OBD II diagnostic scanner gives shop technicians and home mechanics the muscle of a factory scantool at a price that can pay for itself on the first repair. 

AutoTap for Palm Version 3 boasts a level of diagnostics previously reserved for factory scantools. AutoTap features generic data for all vehicles and manufacturer-specific real time and diagnostic trouble codes for GM, Ford and Chrysler. 

“Until today, PDA-based scantools have been limited in features when compared to PC-based and factory scantools because of memory and processor limitations,” states product manager Mike Fahrion. “We worked hard on the database compression needed to pack the professional features of our PC version of AutoTap into the Palm PDA. We didn’t sacrifice any functionality. Our database includes over 5000 different parameters and is expanding to include data from several import manufacturers.”

Priced for the technician and Do It Yourselfer. Mark Palmer, AutoTap sales manager says “Typically, technicians can’t afford factory scantools or one of the aftermarket alternatives. Laptops are expensive and difficult to use in a shop environment.  In shop after shop, we’d find all ten bays sharing a single scantool. Techs’ paychecks were suffering because of the wait. We saw an opportunity to make a high-horsepower tool available at well under $500 without giving up any features." 

No speed penalty. “We put a lot of effort into the code within our hardware as well as the communications routines in the Palm software," says Fahrion. "Our company has specialized in advanced communications hardware for over 20 years. We put that experience to work in our Palm version of AutoTap. Right from the start, we decided that performance wouldn’t suffer.” When installed on a Palm Tungsten® PDA, AutoTap for Palm is just as fast as the industry-leading AutoTap for Windows product running on the latest Pentium PC.

over…
 

Features not found in traditional shop tools.  AutoTap for Palm V3 features these advanced functions:

- Data logging and playback 
- Fast DTC check on startup
- Export log files to Microsoft Excel®
- Save DTC and Freeze Frame info 
- Support for multiple configurations
	

B&B Electronics is a mid-sized electronics manufacturer located in Ottawa, Illinois. Founded in 1981, B&B develops and manufactures communications products for retail systems, factory automation and Palm interface products for
 the heavy duty trucking market. For more information, visit www.autotap.com.

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A digital version of this release and photos are on the enclosed CD.

For further information, contact:
Mark Palmer
B&B Electronics Mfg. Co.
707 Dayton Road
Ottawa, IL 61350
815-433-5100 x279
mpalmer@autotap.com