BTO: Order/Production/Delivery Times/Updates

All products at Spectrum are build-to-order (BTO). All Spectrum products consist of a base module (M5i-PCIe, M4i-PCIe, M4x-PXIe, M2p-PCIe, M3i-PCI, M3i-PCIe, M2i-PCI, M2i-PCIe, MX-PXI, ...) and one or two analog modules plus some option modules like star-hub. Analog modules may differ in speed grades and number of soldered channels. We stock these modules and have a stock of several hundred modules in our shelf.

If we get a request for delivery time or an order we first check whether we have all needed modules on stock. If yes, the production is queued in our BTO queue and delivery time depends on the other productions running. The production process itself consist of the module mounting together, maybe some small soldering work for changes and special options and then several hours of test, figure checking and calibration.

Delivery Time

The normal delivery time is two to three weeks and counts from receiving the purchase order. If there's an urgent delivery we can put this production on top of the queue depending on the promised delivery times of the other queued productions.

In case that we don't have all needed modules on stock the delivery time is based on the external module production time and may vary. Delivery times than may be like eight weeks from now on but if the order comes four weeks later it may be only the remaining four weeks. Again in urgent cases we can sometimes rework modules with different speed grades to generate the needed modules. But this has to be discussed as it heavily depends on the type of modules whether a rework is possible or not.

Upgrade Process

All our products have some options that can be ordered alongside the product. The specified price in our price list is for ordering the option together with the product as this option is then simply included within the production process without causing additional work.
Later installation of options is possible in most cases but may include some extra soldering work and some extra cost (M2i-Upgrade, M3i-Upgrade, M4i-Upgrade). This extra cost covers additional work that is caused by the soldering of the option what is normally covered in the card price:

• Additional cleaning after the soldering process
• Complete or partial product test to check weather all features are still running
• New calibration of the product
• Additional documentation of the upgrade

Options and upgrade possibilities

• Memory options for DN2, M2i, M3i, M4i, M5i series: The memory is based on modules and can be added later in factory without any additional upgrade cost.
• Memory options for MX, MC, MI: The memory is soldered to the PCB. Additional upgrade cost will occur.
• Synchronization with a new card with star-hub installed: all our cards are prepared to be synchronized. There's no change to to the card needed to later synchronize it with a different card holding the star-hub.
• Firmware and Software options: These options are installed by software using a license code. The update can be done by the customer.
• Installation of Star-Hub, Input Options, BaseXIO, Connector Options, Special modifications: all these options include soldering work and therefore additional upgrade cost will occur.

FAQ

• I want to exchange an unused card to a different type - why is there additional cost? As written above all products are build-to-order, we don't have any stock of complete products as the product range of Spectrum is far too large to stock particular products. If we take an unused card back into our stock we have to do a full test of the products and de-mount all components to put them into stock.
• I want to upgrade to a different version (more channels, other speed-grade) of the same family - is that possible? In general that depends on the age of the product you have. Speed grades are done by using different analog modules and we have to change the analog module on that card. Please contact Spectrum as this is a case-by-case decision.
• If memory is just a module, can't I do the update by myself? No, the memory installation has to be done in factory as there's some additional programming and testing needed. It can't be done by customers.