Montgomery Technology, Inc

MTI History

From Humble Beginnings...

Montgomery Technology, Inc. found its beginnings in the aspirations of two Electrical Engineers, Tim Skipper and Tim Redden, who believed in using the latest technologies to address the security issues of the day. At the time, they challenged the standard for detention equipment (hardwired systems) by using emerging processor technologies to address control issues. Using this relatively new technology meant more flexibility and functionality when compared to hardwired systems.

As a start-up company, they used this idea to control the ventalation and lighting systems for chicken houses until they could get into the detention marketplace. It was not long, though, before they found their foothold in detention controls and began to build systems specifically designed for detention facilities.

The Simpler the System, the Higher the Reliability

Being engineers, the founders of the company understood that, if a system was going to be robust and stable, it had to, at its very core, be simple. Simplicity, at the time and even today, has meant the following to MTI engineers:

Modular Design - The MTI system has always been modular in approach. We design simple modular units that break the system down into three areas of functionality: Field Termination, Communications, and Logic.

Backwards Compatability - MTI quickly standardized around a basic mode of communication: what was later known as the MTI data loop. This simple mode of communication requires little power or wiring and provides enough flexibility that it can be used to collect and distribute many different forms of information. The one major benefit that this communcation standard provided was backwards compatability. The data loop allows MTI to design new components that can communicate with older components. With this in mind, MTI has made a conscious effort to maintain pin-to-pin compatability between old and new versions of its components.

Straight-forward Interfaces - Not only did MTI standardize around a communications medium. We also standardized around a simple approach to the design and programming of their Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). Developing our own software, MTI can provide unparalleled simplicity in its approach to programming PLCs and designing touchscreen interfaces. Our PLC Programming Software provides a spreadsheet-like look and feel to programming points within our PLCs. Our ProDesign Touchscreen design studio provides a drag-and-drop approach to the layout of a touchscreen system.

With these three principles in mind, MTI has always provided the simplest and most maintainable system on the market. While other manufacturers provide parts and pieces that are pulled from several different industries, such as automotive PLCs, MTI has always been fully invested in the detention marketplace and designs a system that is completely dedicated to the nuances of this market.