OneRain Announces Release of Contrail® 8 Software Suite

Published on January 6, 2020 [Updated April 16, 2020]

Contrail® 8 is here! — OneRain Incorporated is pleased to announce a major new software release for its flagship platform.

In keeping pace with the ever-changing technologies, advances in security, and evolving requirements of their clients, OneRain announced the release of Contrail® 8—the next generation of their flagship software suite for real-time environmental monitoring.

 

Contrail is the leading enterprise-level software platform that collects, processes and delivers real-time environmental sensor data from local hydrometeorological networks and other external sources for Web-based dissemination, visualization, monitoring and automated alerting. The software provides critical information to help users understand and manage their environmental monitoring-related missions—from flood and road weather safety, to dams, stormwater, wastewater and water resource management—and is key to effective situational awareness and timely decision-making.

Included in this major update is the core Contrail software package, as well as Contrail Inventory plus, Contrail Camera, and Contrail TDMA Manager.

 

 

WHAT NEW FEATURES TO EXPECT WITH CONTRAIL 8

Contrail 8 features include the latest base operating system and core libraries, updated Web design with modern framework, and all-new widgets and graphing features. The release of Contrail 8 comes with a bevy of new features and improvements.

Latest Operating System

Contrail 8 runs on the newly released major version of Enterprise Linux operating system, CentOS 8. CentOS 8 incorporates important advancements in security hardening and optimized performance. It’s one of the most robust operating systems available, where the reliability and stability of systems is key. With this new operating system, Contrail utilizes all of the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, Python, Perl, etc.

Modern Design

A new front-end framework uses modern libraries and updated visualization that optimizes for mobile devices.

Contrail Administration screen

New Graphing Features

New graphing enhancements to easily visualize the data that is important, including historical mode, data quality values, easier axis scaling.

Contrail Graphing Features

Lots of New Widgets

Several new widgets for Contrail Dashboards have been added, including Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Wind Rose, Wind Direction Distribution, Contrail Camera Image browser for easily viewing previous images, Google Drive for embedding documents, YouTube, Dark Sky, Twitter, Earth Networks, and National Weather Service (NWS), and more…

Contrail Wind Widgets

 

Contrail Camera Widget

New Data Formats

Contrail is now able to collect new and expanded data formats and offers seamless integration for sending SHEF data to the National Weather Service and others.

Contrail Data Formats for National Weather Service and others

Create New Alert Rules for Contrail Camera

Add Rules to be notified of image latency, and more! An email alert can be generated if Contrail Camera has not received an image in a predetermined amount of time. Additionally, Contrail Camera can alarm on certain image metrics of interest over particular time periods, including if duplicate images are received, a camera is over reporting, or if a image data exceeds certain thresholds.

Alert Rules for Contrail Camera

 

All-New “Help” Website

An all new Help website has been created to make it easier to find the relevant information for general users and system administrators. The website can be found at help.onerain.com, includes Knowledge Base, Articles, Glossary, FAQs, and the opportunity to Chat with our Contrail Support team.

OneRain Help Website

Data Annotations

Users can easily add more information within their data with data annotations. Contrail now includes annotations for documenting any additional information the system administrator would like to show: marking the start/end of a historical event, noting an instrumentation change, or indicating the beginning of a procedural change.

 

Data Annotations

Much More…

New collector and services managers allow for more easily configuring, including easily switching data collection and services between instances of Contrail instances for faster disaster recovery. Users can add notes to any alarm rule to document with additional information. Updated search allows users to quickly get to the information more easily. Enhanced support tools allow for the Contrail team to more easily diagnose and troubleshoot any issues with the software. Additional software configuration options for base station owners.

 

UPGRADING TO CONTRAIL 8

Contrail 8 is considered a major operating system and application upgrade from Contrail 6, which will now be placed into Long-term Support (LTS). This software upgrade is available to all OneRain-hosted Contrail Web and Contrail Server users as well as licensed on-premise Contrail Base Station users current with standard maintenance.

This upgrade is automatic for Contrail Shared Web and Contrail Cloud Server instances—there’s no need for these customers to take action to receive the update.

For agencies that are running licensed on-premise Contrail Base Station, OneRain’s Contrail Support team will work directly with the agency’s IT department to provision a new server to facilitate the upgrade and migration from existing servers, and enable the running of systems in parallel for a period during the transition.

 

About OneRain Incorporated
Since 1992, OneRain has been providing solutions that optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, OneRain’s software and services deliver mission critical information to serve clients responsible for flood early warning, dam safety and reservoir operations, water resources, stormwater and wastewater management. For more information, visit www.onerain.com or call 800-758-RAIN (7246).

OneRain is proud to be part of Advanced Environmental Monitoring – a family of innovators.

Davis Instruments Joins Union Park Capital’s AE Monitoring Family of Companies

Davis Instruments Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of precision weather, marine, and environmental instrumentation, joins the AE Monitoring family of companies.

Boston, MA – July 31, 2019. Union Park Capital, a Boston based private equity firm focused on lower middle-market industrial technology investments, today announced the acquisition of Davis Instruments Corporation (“Davis”), based in Hayward, CA. For over 50 years, Davis has been recognized as a leader in developing and manufacturing precision weather, marine and environmental instrumentation. With customers across the global, Davis has become the trusted brand for meteorologists, educators, farmers, students, and discerning hobbyists. The business will join Union Park’s Advanced Environmental Monitoring platform (“AE Monitoring”), and will partner with the current businesses within the AE Monitoring family, including OneRain, High Sierra, Vieux & Associates, FTS, and Lambrecht Meteo. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to have Davis join the AE Monitoring family. Davis has a strong product offering and history of excellent customer service,” says Peter McGuire, Partner & Co-Founder at Union Park Capital. Davis is the world leader in weather stations for agriculture and discerning hobbyists. “The value of their product is unmatched within the customer applications they target,” said Peter.

“We are very excited for Davis to join the Advanced Environmental Monitoring family,” says Jim Acquistapace, former owner of Davis Instruments. “Becoming part of a larger platform will allow the business to take advantage of collaborations with AE Monitoring’s other companies in meteorology, hydrology, and broader environmental monitoring parameters. Davis has best in class product development, world class manufacturing, and a broad set of potential applications and end markets to take its products. As a part of the AE Monitoring family, I am excited to see Davis continue to grow and innovate across these large global market opportunities.”

About Davis Instruments Corporation
Davis Instruments was founded in 1963 and has become recognized throughout the world for manufacturing affordable, precision weather and marine instruments to meet the needs of value-minded professionals and consumers who demand the best. From the sleek, full-featured Vantage Vue to the customizable, industrial-grade Vantage Pro2 to the market leading Windex Wind Vane, Davis Instruments has engineered products for meteorologists, educators, farmers, students, and discerning hobbyists. For more information, visit www.davisinstruments.com.

About Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings
Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings (AE Monitoring) was formed by Union Park Capital in 2018 to create a family of companies focused on monitoring of critical environmental parameters, including meteorology, hydrology, air, and soil. Social demands for environmental responsibility continue to increase, leading to growing initiatives and regulations for the development of environmental friendly industries, increased focus on disaster prevention and extreme weather (floods, hurricanes, droughts, thunderstorms, etc.), and advances in technology enabling real-time, more accurate monitoring in hazardous applications and environments. For more information, visit www.aemonitoring.com.

About Union Park Capital
Union Park Capital is a private equity firm solely focused on lower middle-market industrial technology companies. Union Park takes a long-term perspective to help stakeholders build value over time and drives value creation through profitably growing a business, not financial engineering. Union Park Capital is based in Boston, MA, and has extensive investments and expertise in the analytical instrumentation sector. For more information, visit www.union-park.com.

FTS Joins Union Park Capital’s AE Monitoring Family of Companies

FTS, a leading manufacturer of fire weather and remote environmental monitoring solutions, joins the AE Monitoring family of companies.

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – January 2, 2019. Union Park Capital, a Boston based private equity firm focused on lower middle-market industrial technology investments, today announced the acquisition of Forest Technology Systems, Ltd. (“FTS”), based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. FTS is a leading manufacturer of remote environmental monitoring solutions including systems, instrumentation, telemetry and software for the Hydrology, Fire Weather and Meteorology industries. The business will join Union Park’s Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings platform (“AE Monitoring”), which was launched in March 2018. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“FTS is an exceptional addition to the AE Monitoring family,” says Peter McGuire, Partner & Co-Founder at Union Park Capital. FTS is the world leader in environmental monitoring solutions for predicting, preventing, and managing wildfires. FTS stations are used by all the top 50 government forest management agencies in the United States and Canada. “Their technical capabilities and deep application knowledge are unmatched,” said Peter. In addition to fire weather, FTS designs, manufactures and services sensors, dataloggers, camera systems, IoT software and mobile applications.

“Joining AE Monitoring is a great opportunity for FTS,” says FTS CEO David Reid. “Our mission will continue to be making our customers successful in their efforts to monitor, record, and analyze changes in the natural environment.” Mr. Reid will continue as CEO after the acquisition as will the entire FTS management team. “This is great news for our customers, employees and sales network. AE Monitoring provides us a platform to accelerate growth and deliver a broader solution set to our customers.”

About FTS Forest Technology Systems, Ltd.
FTS was founded in 1980 with a focus on the fire weather meteorological niche. Since then, FTS has become a leading manufacturer of remote environmental monitoring systems, instrumentation and communications technology for the Hydrology, Fire Weather and Meteorology industries. FTS is the world leader in environmental monitoring solutions for fire weather. The company’s headquarters, research and design lab, and manufacturing plant are located in Victoria, British Columbia, with a branch office in Blaine, Washington. For more information, visit www.ftsinc.com.

About Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings
Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings (AE Monitoring) was formed by Union Park Capital in 2018 to create a family of companies focused on monitoring of critical environmental parameters, including meteorology, hydrology, air, and soil. Social demands for environmental responsibility continue to increase, leading to growing initiatives and regulations for the development of environmentally friendly industries, increased focus on disaster prevention and extreme weather (floods, hurricanes, droughts, thunderstorms, etc.), and advances in technology enabling real-time, more accurate monitoring in hazardous applications and environments. For more information, visit www.aemonitoring.com.

About Union Park Capital
Union Park Capital is a private equity firm solely focused on lower middle-market industrial technology companies. Union Park takes a long-term perspective to help stakeholders build value over time and drives value creation through profitably growing a business, not financial engineering. Union Park Capital is based in Boston, MA, and has extensive investments and expertise in the analytical instrumentation sector. For more information, visit www.union-park.com.