Since 1. January 2017 we, the Nowisys IT-Service GmbH, are offering our product h.Server under the open source Apache License 2.0 and a new name: openHAMSTER. The decision was influenced by the far-reaching changes that accompany the digitalisation of our society. These changes also reach out to manufacturing companies. The digitization of the production is not only an opportunity for many companies to improve their efficiency, but can also lead to completely new business models.

We would like to support small and medium-sized companies on this way and have therefore decided to take this step, which opens up completely new possibilities for customers, partners and ourselves.

Possible use cases of openHAMSTER:

• Automatic identification and tracking of materials and parts
• Process control by passing the parameters to the machines
• Machine monitoring
• Logging of process parameters
• Quality monitoring
• Energy monitoring
• Energy management

Here are two good reasons for the change concerning our customers:

• A reduction of investment risks for our customers: through the disclosure of the program code, we create transparency which at the same time facilitates the security of the solutions. Now, we are not the only ones to support previous projects and develop related projects.

• A reduction investment at project start: When projects are introduced, high investments in technology and licenses often have to be realised at the beginning, without any functions being available as required. Oftentimes these must be adapted with additional effort.

Since we do not charge any license fees for our core component, the openHAMSTER, there is of course also an impact on our business model. Services become more important and direct us to place an even greater focus on quality.