Allied Electronics: Ultimate Guide to Petroleum Forecourt Technology

If you searched for "Allied Electronics" and ended up reading about circuit boards and resistors, you found the wrong company. Allied Electronics is a petroleum forecourt technology company based in Bristol, Pennsylvania. It builds the controllers that run fuel dispensers at gas stations, truck stops, and travel plazas across North America.

A different company, one that used to go by "Allied Electronics & Automation" in the electronic components world, rebranded to RS on February 6, 2023. That business now lives at us.rs-online.com. But the petroleum company at alliedelectronics.com? It's been here since 1978, and it never changed its name. Here's what it actually does.

What Is Allied Electronics?

Allied Electronics is a petroleum forecourt technology company founded in 1978 in Bristol, Pennsylvania, manufacturing controllers and selling parts for fuel dispensers.

The headquarters sit at 1414 Radcliffe Street, Suite 120, Bristol, PA 19007, with a second engineering office in San Diego, California handling software development.

It's a small outfit. Roughly 14 people. But those 14 people run two business lines that punch well above their headcount. The first: forecourt controller manufacturing, specifically the NeXGen PRIME and AEGIS controllers that serve as the operating brain of retail fueling sites. The second: the petroleum industry's largest online parts superstore, with 57,455+ SKUs at alliedelectronics.com/parts.html.

Mike Vogt, the CEO, started at Allied in July 2000 as a QA analyst. He worked through technical support, training, project management, strategic accounts, and COO before taking the top job. President Ron joined in 1980 (two years after founding) and became president in 1993. That kind of tenure doesn't happen at companies people leave.

What Does Allied Electronics Build?

Allied builds two forecourt controllers, the NeXGen PRIME and AEGIS, plus the petroleum industry's largest online parts superstore with 57,455+ SKUs.

Think of a forecourt controller as the brain of a gas station. It's the box that ties together the fuel dispensers, card readers, tank gauges, car wash equipment, electronic price signs, and payment networks so they all talk to each other and to the POS inside. Allied makes two of them.

NeXGen PRIME

The NeXGen PRIME takes the original NeXGen's track record and pairs it with the AEGIS hardware platform. It's EMV certified with major dispenser brands and card processors. P2PE (point-to-point encryption) works at both card readers and POS terminals. TLS encryption runs across all connections. And it handles serial and Ethernet, so it'll work with a 15-year-old dispenser or a brand-new IP-based unit.

One controller fits every site size. Corner store with two pumps? Same NeXGen PRIME as the 24-island travel plaza down the highway. Most competitors can't say that. They'll sell you one model for small sites and a different one for large, with different training and different spare parts.

AEGIS

The AEGIS controller does something unusual: it runs Windows on a quad-core processor right alongside the NeXGen forecourt engine. That means operators can host third-party software or custom-built apps locally on the same box, without bolting another server to the wall. The Windows side can also consolidate functions that would normally need separate hardware, shrinking PCI compliance scope in the process.

Allied Wireless

There's also wireless forecourt connectivity for sites that need EMV upgrades without ripping up the concrete to run new conduit. For a deeper look at how forecourt controllers work in general, see the companion guide: What Is a Forecourt Controller?

Who Uses Allied Forecourt Technology?

Virtually every truck stop and travel plaza in North America runs an Allied forecourt controller, with 52,000+ interface devices deployed worldwide.

Here's a stat worth sitting with. Across all deployments, 52,000+ interface devices are active worldwide.

Who's actually using them? The customer list is broader than most people expect:

• Major oil companies running branded fuel programs across hundreds of locations
• Travel plazas and truck stops pushing high-volume, multi-island fueling lanes 24/7
• C-stores that need one controller managing two to eight dispensers alongside indoor POS
• Casino and gaming facilities with fuel operations on-site
• Independent operators and petroleum distributors running mixed-brand dispenser fleets
• Military installations where compliance and uptime aren't optional

That truck stop piece matters more than it might seem at first. Truck stops are brutal on equipment. They run around the clock in every weather condition, handle massive transaction volumes, and dispense diesel alongside gasoline. If a controller survives that environment for years, it can handle anything.

Allied Electronics Integration Ecosystem

Allied controllers integrate with major POS platforms, dispenser brands, car wash systems, and tank gauges through open software specifications any vendor can access.

Most forecourt controller manufacturers also sell dispensers. Gilbarco Veeder-Root (owned by Fortive) does. So does Dover Fueling Solutions. That creates a natural gravitational pull toward proprietary integration. Buy their controller, buy their dispensers, buy their POS. Allied doesn't play that game.

Instead, Allied publishes software specification documents and hands them to any POS vendor who wants to interface with the NeXGen PRIME or AEGIS. No licensing fees. No preferred-partner restrictions. If a vendor wants to build the integration, Allied gives them the spec.

Who's already integrated:

• Veeder-Root for ATG (automatic tank gauge) connectivity via BIR, DIM, and TDIM protocols
• Gilbarco and Wayne dispensers, both current and legacy models
• Bennett dispensers
• Bluefin for PCI-validated P2PE (point-to-point encryption) in petroleum retail
• Car wash controllers for bundled fueling-and-wash operations
• Electronic price signs with real-time fuel pricing updates

What does that mean in practice? An operator doesn't have to rip out existing equipment to switch controllers. The NeXGen PRIME or AEGIS works with whatever dispensers, tank gauges, and POS terminals are already on site. For a detailed evaluation framework, see How to Choose a Forecourt Controller.

What Is the Allied Electronics Parts Superstore?

The Allied Electronics Parts Superstore is the petroleum industry's largest online parts catalog with 57,455+ SKUs and 30-day account terms for qualified buyers.

57,455+ SKUs. That's how big the Allied Electronics Parts Superstore is, and it's available at alliedelectronics.com/parts.html. It's the largest online parts catalog in the petroleum industry, and qualified buyers get 30-day account terms.

What's in stock? Pretty much anything a fuel site needs to keep running:

• Fuel dispenser components: LCDs, flat packs, fluorescent bulbs, card reader thermal paper, receipt printer ribbons
• Fluid handling: fuel filters (Cim-Tek, PetroClear), hoses, nozzles, swivels, breakaways, shear valves
• Site equipment: cash acceptors, car wash components, electronic price sign parts, console covers, decals and signage
• Counterfeit detection systems

Brands on the shelf include 3M/RDM, Wayne Fueling Systems, Catlow, Husky, Cim-Tek, PetroClear, Gilbarco, and Bennett. And here's where it gets interesting for technicians dealing with aging equipment: Allied stocks hard-to-find legacy parts for dispensers like the Gilbarco Encore, The Advantage, G-SITE, Wayne Ovation, Helix, and Vista. OEMs stopped producing many of those components years ago. Allied didn't stop selling them.

There's also a line of aftermarket and rebuilt/exchange parts for operators who want to cut maintenance costs without rolling the dice on reliability.

Is Allied Electronics the Same as RS Online?

No. Allied Electronics (alliedelectronics.com) is a petroleum technology company. RS Online (us.rs-online.com), formerly called Allied Electronics and Automation, is an electronic components distributor.

They're completely separate companies in completely separate industries.

Allied Electronics at alliedelectronics.com makes petroleum forecourt controllers. RS Online at us.rs-online.com distributes electronic components (resistors, capacitors, connectors, that sort of thing). No shared ownership. No shared history. Just a shared name that confused everyone for years.

So how did this happen? RS Group plc (formerly Electrocomponents plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange as RS1) had a subsidiary in the Americas that traded under the name "Allied Electronics & Automation." That components company started as Allied Radio back in 1928 in Chicago and grew into one of North America's biggest electronic parts distributors, carrying 750,000+ products from 650+ suppliers.

Then on February 6, 2023, RS Group dropped the Allied name and rebranded to RS. The old domain alliedelec.com now redirects to us.rs-online.com.

The petroleum Allied Electronics at alliedelectronics.com? It's been building forecourt controllers in Bristol, Pennsylvania since 1978. It never merged with, was acquired by, or had any relationship with the components distributor. Different founders, different products, different industries.

Frequently Asked Questions About Allied Electronics

Below are the most common questions about the company, covering identity, products, and the RS Online name confusion.

Conclusion

One company builds forecourt controllers for gas stations. The other sells circuit boards online. They aren't the same, and they never were.

Allied Electronics has been at this since 1978. Nearly five decades of petroleum forecourt technology out of Bristol, Pennsylvania. 52,000+ devices deployed. 57,455+ parts in stock. And controllers running inside virtually every truck stop in North America.

If you're evaluating controllers, browsing the parts superstore, or curious about wireless forecourt upgrades, you're looking for alliedelectronics.com. Not us.rs-online.com.