Info

Allegro Software Development Corporation was founded in February 1996 with the intention of bringing the advantages of standard Internet applications to the management of network devices. Recognizing the limitations of current network device management solutions and convinced that existing Web server products were inadequate, Allegro developed the RomPager Embedded Web Server Engine and Web Application Toolkit specifically for embedded environments. Features include a small memory footprint, compression for pages and images, support for the latest HTML and HTTP standards, flexible security models and file system support offering a generalized asynchronous I/O interface for flash, disk, RAM and network file access. RomPager, introduced by Allegro in the spring of 1996, enables embedded device vendors to provide network management that leverages the ubiquitous Web browser interface. Using a standard Web browser as the client allows them to quickly prototype sophisticated management applications and rapidly deliver consistent cross-platform solutions. By leveraging the browser as the application interface, the requirement for developing, distributing and maintaining custom device management client software is eliminated. Additionally, putting the interface in the device itself make sure that the management application matches the current capabilities of the device. In December 1997, Allegro delivered several additions to its embedded Internet applications product line. These included version 2.0 of RomPager, RomMailer, and RomPager Remote Host. The new version of RomPager added support for HTTP 1.1, external authentication interfaces, and enhanced HTML page creation tools. RomMailer, an email agent for embedded device management, is a significant step in the use of Internet applications to manage network devices. With RomMailer, devices can send email status reports or event alerts to any Internet email reader. In April 1998, Allegro added RomPOP, an email agent that allows devices to receive Internet messages. With RomPOP, new software revisions can be downloaded to devices by email; and printers with RomPOP can accept print jobs by email. Email messages can be plain text or messages with attachments such as graphics, audio, configuration files, etc. In March 1999, Allegro announced version 3.0 of the product line which added a series of enhancements to the RomPager, RomMailer, and RomPOP products, and introduced two additional products. RomWebClient is a general purpose HTTP object retrieval client that provides embedded devices the ability to retrieve remote objects from Web servers using the HTTP protocol. RomDNS is a Domain Name Services client which provides embedded devices the ability to perform a variety of name-based and address-based queries to Domain Name Servers. In September 1999, Allegro announced RomXML, the first XML Framer/Parser designed for the embedded marketplace. With a small memory footprint of 10Kb, it is now practical to harness the power of XML with embedded devices. In September 2000, Allegro announced the RomUPNP family of toolkits, which are small memory footprint implementations of the UPnPÔ 1.0 protocol. Allegro also announced the RomCLI toolkit for building text-based Cisco-style command line interfaces. In July 2001, Allegro released RomPager Secure, an add-on option for it's RomPager Web servers to provide SSL/TLS access. In February 2002, Allegro added RomWebClient Secure, which adds SSL/TLS access to the HTTP client product. In January 2003, Allegro released RomCLI Secure, an add-on option to RomCLI to provide SSH access. In July 2003, Allegro renamed the RomUPNP product family to RomPlug and introduced the RomPlug Media kits which implement the UPnP AV specifications. In December 2003, Philips and Allegro announced a partnership to make the Allegro RomPlug UPnP technology available for the Philips Nexperia semiconductor family. In January 2004, Allegro demonstrated the Allegro Media Server a software application to link personal computers that use the Apple iTunes software with the world of networked UPnP digital media players. In May 2004, Allegro added RomPlug MediaControl to the family of UPnP digital media technology kits. In December 2004, Allegro released the Allegro Media Server version 1.00 which links personal computers that use the Apple iTunes software with the world of networked UPnP digital media players. In May 2006, Microsoft announced that Allegro has been selected to provide UPnP/DLNA and security technology for its Media Center Extender (PIKA) SDK and is being used in the XBOX-360. In April 2007, Allegro released version 4.6 of the RomPager family with significant functionality and interoperability updates to the RomPlug UpnP technology. Additionally, Allegro released the RomTime toolkit (client and server) for implementing SNTP. In September 2007, Allegro announced RomXoap. Further extending the capabilities of RomXML, RomXoap provides developers with an embedded software toolkit enabling design engineers to incorporate SOAP based technology into their embedded designs. Many companies have discovered the advantages of connecting devices to the Internet. Allegro customers include many of the leading developers of computer systems and networking equipment such as 3Com, Agilent, American Power Conversion, Andover Controls, Casio, Cisco, D-Link, Honeywell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Nortel, Siemens, Sony, Sun, and Xerox. These customers, and others have found that the RomPager family is well suited for embedding in devices like printers, routers, fax servers, RAID disk arrays, UPS systems, automated building control systems, and remote access servers. Over 25,000,000 embedded devices have been shipped with the RomPager family of products. A list of Allegro customers with shipping products can be found at our list of innovative vendors.