Potential Changes in the AirCheckTexas Program: High Speed Communications Richard Joy, Gordon-Darby, Inc. I/M Solutions Conference 2011 Austin, Texas

Background Texas program includes approximately 4,300 active inspection stations and 4,800 analyzers Three analyzer vendors – ESP, Snap-On and Worldwide Analyzer operating systems include a mix of Windows and DOS software Legacy MCI program with dial-up communications software Same comm software continued in October 2007 when Gordon-Darby transitioned program to new VID (Texas Information Management System or TIMS)

High Speed Communications Certain analyzer vendors have approached TCEQ about the possibility of providing web-based high speed communications for existing legacy analyzers General approach will be modeled after Gordon-Darby’s New Hampshire program implementation –Either high speed or dial-up communications can be used for individual analyzers –Transactions will be processed seamlessly at the VID regardless of whether they are dial-up or high speed –TIMS will handle any mix of dial-up and high speed transactions Gordon-Darby will develop new high speed comm software and provide as a DLL to the vendors

High Speed Comm (continued) New OBD-only analyzer design, if implemented, will exclusively incorporate high speed web communications TIMS will seamlessly process mixed transactions from new OBD-only analyzers and existing legacy analyzers

Final Comments The transition to high speed communications will be designed to be seamless, at the TIMS end, to the stations –This includes no change in VID transaction fees Analyzer-end changes will be between the vendors and the stations Based on Gordon-Darby’s New Hampshire experiences we expect –A significant fraction of stations to be interested in transitioning to high speed communications, depending on implementation costs –Possible analyzer-end implementation/operational issues with some stations that have local area networks

Thanks / Acknowledgements Gordon-Darby wants to thank TCEQ, and specifically Guy Hoffman and Edgar Gilmore, for their continued work in our combined efforts to improve TIMS operations and the AirCheckTexas program The contents of this presentation are our own