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Embedded World 2024: Unlocking the Future with our innovative solutions for IoT and Industry 4.0
As every year, there is always a mixture of anticipation and excitement before Embedded World starts. The latest processor technologies and innovations are designed into our products. And then Kontron gets a face at the trade fair with all ...
Behind the Scenes: Kontron Connectivity Solutions at MWC 2024
Kontron was thrilled to participate in Mobile World Congress 2024 (MWC), our largest communications and connectivity show of the year. Held in Barcelona, Spain once again, Kontron experts were present to discuss how our rugged edge platform...
What are the essential ingredients of an eNodeB for private LTE network deployments?
Private LTE networks provide organizations with extended coverage and more secure, robust connections compared to public Wi-Fi. These networks offer operators increased reliability, flexibility, and resiliency. In sectors such as public saf...
A touch of class
Our motherboard range just got even better Necessity as they say is the mother of all invention. None more so than with motherboards. Which is why Kontron has stepped up with its first ever server-class motherboard.   Kontron hav...
Kontron at SPS 2023 in Nuremberg: Focus on Complete Solutions for Industry
The SPS in Nuremberg is just around the corner again. After the long pandemic drought, the SPS promises to at least return to pre-Corona times in terms of success and attendance. The most important trade fair for the automation industry wor...
New Brand Identity at Kontron: Computer Modules ready for 5G and AI Strategy
Peter Müller is Vice President Product Line Modules at Kontron. He explains the company's new strategy and assesses the opportunities it presents. In doing so, he does not leave out current topics and challenges - and gives an outlook on t...
EXPLORE THE WORLD OF COMS: FROM BASICS TO ADVANCED CONCEPTS
Before building your next embedded application, take our bird's eye tour through the dynamic world of standardized Computer-On-Modules    Demand for Computer-on-Modules - largely known as 'COMs' - has risen dramatically...
How Kontron is revolutionizing its visual quality control with AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Vision can make a significant contribution to increasing product quality in the manufacturing environment. Kontron has not only put the benefits of AI into practice in customer projects, but is now a...
Decoding SMARC Modules: Insights for the Modern Engineer
Helping you decide if SMARC™ is the smartest choice for your next project…   The current SMARC 2.1 module specification ensures small form factor COMs can take full advantage of the latest functionality, flexibility, and high-spe...
Kontron will exhibit new CWAP at APEX to enhance flying experiences
Kontron will showcase its latest and greatest in in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFE&C) solutions at booth 1028 in Long Beach, California this week. APEX attendees can expect an array of standard and custom products that enabl...
Kontron and Blackberry QNX: Delivering Safety and Reliability to Mission-Critical Industries
An embedded system is a computer within a larger system designed to perform a dedicated function. It is an essential component of many of the devices or equipment used in medical imaging systems, industrial assembly lines, and transportatio...
Connectivity above all at Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) 2023
Kontron recently exhibited at Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, our largest Avionics tradeshow of the year. As participants for the last 14 years, it was captivating to see the industry stronger than ever on its road to rec...
Kontron Interview: The Processor with the Power of a Tiger 
Computer-on-Modules, Single Board Computers and Industrial PCs with 11th generation Intel® Core™-i processors   To meet the ever-growing demand for processing power in the digitalized industry, Kontron equips Computer-on-Modules, ...
Project Trip Zimbabwe - BIRGIT GSTETTENBAUER
In November 2022, I was in Zimbabwe for 14 days. You are probably wondering how I got there.     As a result of a personal emergency situation, I came into contact with the AHAM FOUNDATION. After having experienced help there...
Forging a sustainable future for content delivery with GPU acceleration
Investing in our planet’s future is increasingly crucial for businesses across all industries. According to Harvard Business Review, the “sustainable business went mainstream in 2021” and there really is no turning back. Organiza...
Computer-on-Modules - the Best Compromise
Martin Unverdorben in conversation with Tobias Schlichtmeier (Elektronik) with courtesy of WEKA Verlag also available here on the Kontron Blog.   As Product Manager, Martin Unverdorben is responsible for Computer-on-Module product fa...
Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles: - Kontron’s System-on-Module and the dezony IQ Charging Station – a success story!
Reducing CO2 emissions and conserving resources are very important to Kontron. Charging EVs with the surplus power from one’s own rooftop is a promising technology. We are proud that our smallest module has made an important contribution ...
Kontron Outlook for Embedded World 2023
The last embedded world was just 7 months ago, so how nice that we are now back to our usual trade show schedule. At the beginning of the year, we give a face to our company at the most important trade fair for us! We show the broad range o...
No Two OEE’s Are the Same! How Machines Can Be Evaluated Across Industries
Gold standard OEE — what is behind it?   Gold standard OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency is sometimes the ultimate manufacturing standard for measuring the productivity of machines, processes, and devices. Used as a KPI (Key P...
Cloud-based production control system: An insight into the Kontron AIS AllMeSa funding project
Together with ten partners, Kontron AIS GmbH is participating in the AllMeSa research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFB). As part of the project, Kontron AIS worked on the development of a cloud-based pr...
Device management: a must-have for IT managers in mechanical engineering
Management and monitoring of IoT devices in the field: The must-have for IT managers in mechanical engineering. From central onboarding to management and monitoring — all in one tool. Managers in the fields of IT, technical products, an...
On the road to HME automation  
Intel and we partner to help developers deliver modular, retrofit solutions for automating heavy mobile equipment         Heavy mobile equipment (HME) operators across the construction, agricultural and minin...
Targeted marketing of upgrades, service packages, and training on machines and systems
  A specifically tailored customer service that is based on recommendations, takes previous purchasing behavior into account, and proactively provides information at the right time – this is the desired scenario of many machi...
Cyber Security at Airports: Trustworthy Systems from Germany are in high demand
  The threat posed by cyberattacks on critical infrastructures is increasing, and with it the importance of resilient systems 'made in Germany'.   The demand for trustworthy technology is continuously increasing - especially si...
How to facilitate bringing AI into the factory
Computer Vision is currently developing into the first major application scenario for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in production. Together with Kontron, the IT specialist Robotron has created a platform that makes it much easier to scale AI...
Sustainable Business – Making It Happen
Kontron Austria takes responsibility – from green power to organic cafeteria At Kontron Austria, the sustainability concept is reflected in a wide variety of projects. Since late 2021, for instance, the company has been running on eco-fr...
Enhance security systems with Artificial Intelligence innovation
As more people gain access to the internet worldwide, the importance of effective cybersecurity increases. There are those who intentionally aim to exploit and gain unauthorized access to an organization’s systems and confidential informa...
Next-generation technologies will bring greater innovation and growth
  Guest contribution by  Hannes Niederhauser CEO at S&T Group | Executive Board Member at S&T AG and Kontron. While testing times present an array of challenges, rather than hampering progress, they can and have le...
Advantages of the Raspberry Pi and the new product Pi-Tron CM4
Based on an article from Tobias Schlichtmeier, Weka Fachmedien. Holger Wußmann, Managing Director of Kontron Electronics, on the advantages of the Raspberry Pi and the new product Pi-Tron CM4 that will be presented at the Embedded World. ...
Kontron's AI platform with Hailo chip named "Product of the Year“
  The trade magazine "Computer&Automation" has named a Kontron solution one of the "Products of the Year 2022" at its awards ceremony. In the readers' poll, the AI platform based on the Hailo Accelerator chip came third on the win...
Agile Engineering in Safety and Medical Technology: A Contradiction?
  Requirements are strict in safety and medical engineering. Is it possible to apply both the V Model and the SCRUM method to this field?   Andreas Schlaffer, Head of R&D at Kontron Austria, explains the pros and cons of b...
Redesign as Workaround and Opportunity: An Interview with Jochen Gimple, Vice President ODM/EMS at Kontron
The Kontron ODM/EMS Alliance is a powerful association of medium-scale businesses and a highly qualified partner for redesign of electronic components. Its independent member companies specialize in hardware and software development and are...
Kontron Brings NVIDIA Clara Holoscan MGX Platform to Medical Device Companies
Earlier today, NVIDIA announced the Clara Holoscan MGX platform, a tightly integrated hardware and software AI platform targeted at accelerating the deployment of AI-enabled, software-defined medical devices.    With the incre...
Taking the fast track to tomorrow’s Intelligent Railways
  Kontron and Intel combine technologies for enabling smart rail solutions Governments around the world are setting new goals for improving mass railway transportation to accelerate the delivery of goods, alleviate congestion, and in...
Delivering innovative and ground-breaking solutions for the healthcare sector
There is no denying that modern healthcare innovation has never been as critical as it is now. The global Coronavirus pandemic has clearly shown that skilled personnel remain at the heart of the healthcare sector. As health services cannot ...
Mastering the Challenge of Autonomous Driving with Kontron
Electric and autonomous driving are essential buzzwords for innovation in the automotive world. In Formula Student, students bring them to life - supported by Kontron.   Guest article by Felix Scheikowski, electrical engineering stud...
Digitale Schiene Deutschland and its partners are developing an FRMCS System Design for the Digital Railway System
  Article from Digital Rail Germany and Kontron Transportation   Key aspects of the 5G based Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) have been investigated within four research projects ...
Kontron Expert Talk: Industrial Ethernet Switches
Complex IoT and Industry 4.0 solutions require perfect interaction between hardware, software and connectivity with production systems. As a standardized connectivity solution, industrial switches make an important contribution to this inte...
New Developments in Edge Computing
  Guest article: In the second part of the interview with elektronik industrie, Norbert Hauser talks, among other things, about the FabEagle Connect software platform and which product innovations can still be expected from Kontron in...
Challenges of digital transformation
  Guest article: elektronik industrie interviewed Norbert Hauser, Vice President Marketing at Kontron, about current megatrends – 5G, AI, IioT and the challenges of digital transformation, among other topics.     How ca...
How to Teach a Robot: Become a Robot Expert in Just a Few Steps
  Gluing, assembling, welding, painting, packing, stacking - many of these activities have been taken over by robots. Their use pays off, especially for monotonous routine tasks that would otherwise bind qualified specialists, e.g. wh...
The Future is Now - Artificial Intelligence for Industry 4.0
    Norbert Hauser, Vice President Marketing at Kontron on the prospects for HPC and AI   The Corona pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation in all sectors. More and more machines are being integrated into the...
Unified world standard for real-time data communication
  Rapidly growing network sizes and data volumes in the Industrial Internet of Things are pushing existing network protocols to their limits. As an open communication protocol, OPC UA enables completely continuous and transparent comm...
Accelerated Digital Transformation with Software Toolset, HPC and AI, Part 2
  Courtesy of WEKA-Fachmedien GmbH, Tobias Schlichtmeier   Experts agree: HPC will accelerate AI processes, optimise them and take them to a new level - this will have an impact not least on the IoT environment. According to ...
Accelerated Digital Transformation with Software Toolset, HPC and AI, Part 1.
  Courtesy of WEKA-Fachmedien GmbH, Tobias Schlichtmeier   Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a very natural part of more and more business processes in just a few years. The ever-increasing hunger for data from application...
SUSiEtec Workforce supports service teams on their way to digitalisation
    Customer satisfaction is a central building block for the success of a company. This statement is just as valid in the industrial environment as it is in all other segments of the economy - whether in the B2B or B2C sector. ...
SUSiEtec FabEagle® Connect: simple and efficient connectivity in the production environment
  The concept of Industry 4.0 is based on the end-to-end networking of production environments. Today, 59 percent of German industrial companies with more than one hundred employees are already using Industry 4.0 applications, accor...
SUSiEtec Equipment Cloud®: Professional Customer Service now from one Cloud
Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) are now part of everyday life in many industries. Equipment that operates according to the principles of Industry 4.0 has established itself in the industrial environment worldwide. Leading anal...
SUSiEtec Toolset from Kontron paves the way for Industry 4.0
  Digitalisation has long since become a permanent fixture in the industrial sector. It has turned former isolated solutions into homogeneous production landscapes. There is no area in which processes have not been and are still not...
Artificial Intelligence Detects Scratches and Dents: How Algorithms Check Surfaces
      Increasing productivity and quality are key drivers for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in production. In quality assurance, for example, AI can be used in the area of visual surface analysis to check a sur...
Kontron Announces its Participation at NVIDIA GTC
    This week, NVIDIA is hosting a weeklong virtual event of brilliant, creative minds looking to build new skills and forge new connections. We are honored to be included. This unique event offers over 1,500 presentations foc...
Complex electronics development relies on regional proximity
  The manufacture of electronics products is currently undergoing a transformation process. OEMs are outsourcing more and more development processes, while at the same time an increasing level of automatization in production is prov...
INNOVATIONS WANTED
Norbert Hauser, Vice President Marketing at Kontron     This article is courtesy of elektroniknet.de, the interview was conducted by Tobias Schlichtmeier.   Kontron recently presented its new products at embedded world...
How we are experiencing a boost in digitaliSation despite and because of the pandemic
  Today we are pleased to share a blog entry by Florian Haidn, Managing Director from our partner Aaronn Electronic GmbH:   For many of us, more has changed professionally and privately in a short period of time over the past...
How Kontron intends to conquer the EMS Market
  The market for Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) is highly competitive and will continue to grow in the future - if only because of increasing digitization. Kontron will actively position itself here with its new subsidiari...
What the SOSA™ Consortium means to the defense community
    With wide industry and government backing, the SOSA Consortium was created to collaboratively develop open standards and best practices for high-performance defense sensor systems, with the ultimate goal of lowering costs ...
In case of emergencies: Kontron's KISS Rackmount Systems in the Gotthard Base Tunnel
  At 57 kilometers, the Gotthard Base Tunnel through the central Swiss Alps is the longest and, with a rock overburden of up to 2,450 meters, also the deepest underground railway tunnel in the world. If you add all the connecting an...
Hannes Niederhauser, CEO S&T AG, on trends 2021: New standards accelerate developments for high-performance computing and safety
  At the beginning of the year, Hannes Niederhauser, CEO of S&T AG, gives an outlook on the trends that await us in the industrial environment this year, in a conversation with the blog editors.   Corona was the dominant ...
Transportation North America: The year in retrospect
  As we approach the end of what has been a life-changing year, I wanted to have a virtual chat with two of my very knowledgeable colleagues in Transportation – Valentin Scinteie, Director of Business Development and Jean-Francois...
Mastering Crises, Seizing Opportunities: A Personal Review of 2020
  As every year, we started 2020 with a lot of momentum, among other things with the preparations for the embedded world Exhibition&Conference. We were really looking forward to presenting our new product highlights, to meeting ...
Medical Marvels with Embedded motherboards 
  Embedded motherboards are at the heart of modern medical lab research and patient care systems – making the right choice is mission-critical        The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our live...
A SMARC move – With the release of the SMARC 2.1 module form factor specification, what does it mean for embedded systems designers and developers?
  How time flies. It seems like only yesterday that SGET (Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies) introduced Version 2.0 of its SMARC Small Mobility Architecture (SMARC) module. In actual fact that was four years (2016) ago...
Raising your game with the very latest Embedded HPC COMs:  Why the new COM-HPC® standard will take developers to a whole new level     
  There’s a new COM standard on the way: Computer-On-Modules High Performance Computing (COM-HPC®). The first modules based on the standard will be available from early next year following pioneering work by Kontron along with ot...
How Kontron Ran Platforms help close the connectivity gap in remote areas
    The telco market is becoming a place where multitudes of players are leveraging the principles of dissagregation. Lowering the barrier for new disruptive technologies to come in and positively impact the closed proprietary...
TOP 3 WAYS AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGIES ARE TRANSFORMING THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
  When we think of autonomous vehicles and machines, what automatically comes to mind is Waymo, Tesla, Volvo, or any leading car manufacturer out there in the race to build fully functional driverless automobiles. The...
Clear orientation: Industry 4.0 needs standards
Security, flexibility and compatibility are success factors for applications in the environment of Industry 4.0 and the "Internet of Things" (IoT). Standards are of central importance for digitization in this area. They ensure a smooth "h...
AGRICULTURE AUTOMATION FOR THE GREATER GOOD
  Increased agricultural efficiency and productivity has the potential to change the economy in ways no other industry can. Utilizing major technologies in farming could mean increased food security for citizens, lower costs on thos...
Keeping on-board video surveillance on track
    Passenger security on public transport just got a whole lot better – thanks to the very latest IoT-enabled on-board surveillance technology    Picture this…on a dark and rainy winter’s evening the 2100hr...
Enabling Technologies for Automated Vehicles: Key Findings and Lessons Learned
  When you get a bunch of car experts in a virtual room to talk about shaping the future of mobility and automated vehicles, fascinating things happen!         Last week, I had the pleasure of chairing two...
Interview with Oliver Dautzenberg, Managing Director of Kontron Europe GmbH, about the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on supplier relationships and business processes
"Corona brings solid supply chain partnerships to the fore" For Oliver Dautzenberg, Managing Director of Kontron Europe GmbH, it is clear that companies in the corona crisis cannot avoid dealing intensively with their global supply chain...
Kontron supporting the post COVID-19 world where touchless interaction will be key.
  In the current COVID-19 world where the wearing of masks, frequent hand-washing and social distancing have changed how we interact with people, it’s also changing how we interact with technology. From the surge of use for online...
Securing your company’s embedded computing future - PART 3
  Kontron launches SEC-Line Platform for secure embedded computing environments Embedded computing is morphing into edge computing, where systems deployed in the real world are always connected. In turn, this is demanding closer pr...
Not just clean, but pure: Industrial monitors and Panel PCs with IP69K protection class ensure greater hygiene in sensitive production areas.
  Plastic parts in liver paté, glass splinters in the pickle jar, lubricants or germs in ice cream - recalls of contaminated food occur repeatedly. Consumers are insecure, because a multitude of directives, regulations, standards a...
COVID-19 Effects on Telcos: Not all of it is negative
    I had a Facetime chat with our Director of Marketing, Chris Wilder, this week about the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on our society. It is safe to say the way we communicate, the way we work, and the way we live h...
A robot arm that understands surgeons: This technology makes it possible
  ​​​​​​ A robotic arm that reacts directly to the voice commands of the surgeon and automatically steers in the required direction during minimally invasive procedures - what only existed as an idea in visionary minds ...
KONTRENDS: MEDIA & EDGE
*This is the first publication in what will be a series of blog posts highlighting the trends we are seeing in the marketplace. Welcome to Kontrends.     An interesting by-product of the COVID-19 virus is panic buying, and w...
​A Vision of Success: Kontron’s integration of Fujitsu's industrial motherboard business is already bearing fruit   
  Every picture tells a story. The new graphics-rich AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V1000 / R1000 based D3713-V/R mini-ITX motherboard from Kontron is a perfect example.    This is one of several new motherboard models Kon...
The Future of Secure Embedded Computing - Part 2  
Keeping connected infrastructures healthy and secure in the physical world If ever a superhero was needed, it’s now: One with ‘X-ray vision’ and extra sensory perception that intuitively identifies imminent danger and is always the...
System Security: Some Truths about Secure Communication Lines & Updates
      While all that stuff like TPM and secure/trusted boot is good to hide and secure what's inside the box, it helps to protect a system from mostly physical attacks. However, the attack scenario in the industrial...
​The Future of Secure Embedded Computing - Part 1
    Smart thinking urgently required on Edge ‘things’ procurement and deployment  Embedded Computing solutions are quickly becoming a core component of Edge Computing. With this, the ‘out of box’ mind-set of typi...
Reduce your product development efforts and stay technically up to date. The new Kontron SL i.MX8M Mini System-on-Module (SoM) opens up unique opportunities for you
  The SoM SL i.MX8M Mini is a ready-to-use solution, thanks to the Linux Board Support Package and complete development environment included. It shortens the time from product development to market launch. A high performance process...
CEO S&T AG Hannes Niederhauser on the technology trends of the year  
  "Digitalization and innovations will continue to guarantee growth!“ Hannes Niederhauser, CEO at Kontron and Chairman of the Management Board of the S&T Group, identifies five technology topics that will shape the IT market ...
Embedded computers lend wings to nature conservation
  What do embedded computers have to do with bats? There are around 1000 species of bat worldwide, of which around 24 live in Germany. Almost all of them are under nature conservation. Bats are currently hibernating. But as soon as...
Time for a fresh look at SBCs: Why a new take on the Pico-ITX format could be the answer for industrial embedded developers  
It’s true to say Single Board Computers (SBCs) have been around the block a few times – ever since the late seventies in fact. And ever since, the embedded computing industry – Kontron included - has grown to love them. But, of cour...
Pressed for Time: AI inspection systems using Kontron’s latest KISS server relieve time and quality control pressures for printers and 3D printing component manufacturers
        The printing business today is more competitive than ever. Maximum productivity, minimum waste, consistency and high quality are essential. Even the smallest defects during the production process can adver...
The In-Flight Connection
  Kontron’s involvement in the EAN project has been well documented, supplying LRUs to support Inmarsat and the project in general. There’s something extremely exciting about being involved in a project of this scope and magnitu...
When two worlds collide: Why Edge Computing is disrupting the current IT/OT status quo when it comes to security
  As Edge Computing continues to expand, differing priorities are inevitably going to cause growing friction between IT and OT – unless carefully managed. But, at the end of the day, when it comes to what is connected to company n...
Moving with the times : The release of the latest VPX architecture specification ensures the standard will remain at the forefront of high performance embedded computing design          
When it comes to designing blade embedded computers and systems for high performance embedded computing (HPEC), the VPX form factor architecture still rocks.     So far VPX has been especially suited to 1G or 10G Ethernet...
Certificates, Keys and Hashing - Some Insider-Basics
With this blog, we reached the middle of my security series - some problems were pointed out and solutions were given. Let´s now look a little bit deeper into the topic and let me explain in my words (I promise to keep it crispy) some ba...
Small modules, great service!
  With the AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 processor, AMD has launched a new flagship for embedded computing that has found its way into many designs these days. It convinces with its outstanding processor and graphics performance and at a...
Just what the doctor ordered: Kontron’s powerful new rackmount server supports growing AI requirements of medical industry
        Artificial Intelligence is an emotional subject. For some it may send the blood pressure soaring or maybe trigger another medical condition, perhaps by conjuring up images of robots or humanoid creatures taki...
IoT & Industry 4.0 – bringing it all together
  A look at developments and solutions - with statements from CEO Hannes Niederhauser and VP Marketing Norbert Hauser Industry 4.0 and IoT applications are on a roll. The digital transformation has been gaining momentum also among ...
AI-enabled predictive maintenance: keeping the lights on and the wheels of industry turning  
  Kontron’s powerful new KISS rackmount server supports increased AI performance requirement   Things have come a long way from preventative-only maintenance strategies which revolve around somewhat rigid, prescriptive serv...
Team Ecurie Aix in the Formula Student: At the forefront of innovation in driverless cars
  Autonomous driving is not only on the minds of car manufacturers, but also of students of many disciplines who are preparing for a career in the automotive industry. In the international design competition "Formula Student" they c...
SUSieTec: Security Components Overview
  Looking back at the last three articles, they more focus on describing the problem and the border condition of security rather than appropriate solutions. Finally, this article will provide some interesting approaches that secure ...
Autonomous Vehicles and Industry 5.0 are the basis for future-oriented traffic concepts in Smart Cities
  Climate scientists, urban developers, citizen initiatives, as well as many local politicians, stress it like a prayer wheel: traffic in and around cities must change. Changing traffic patterns is the only way; the collapse of urba...
Smart-Factory: What is Intelligent Edge capable of doing?
  Every second counts in fast decision-making processes in production environments, but evaluation, analysis and transfer of more and more data to the cloud and its return to the point of origin often takes too long. Modern smart fa...
Modern transport concepts are not feasible without rail transport
  Traffic and the technology used for it, are changing rapidly. Experts agree: Developments that contribute to promoting the use of autonomous and driverless cars will also change rail transport. Mobile technology, for example, is p...
Assessment of the End Product
  In this blog, I want to do a security assessment of an end device. To get started, we will avoid making a mistake that happens a lot in our business! So please forget all security solutions that you have heard of and let us look a...
Trends and Topics at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2019
Once again Aircraft Interiors Expo held in Hamburg, Germany, proved to be the leading must attend event in Europe to see innovation in Cabin interiors, passenger experience, connectivity and in-flight entertainment. After a busy three day...
KINEXON implements intelligent navigation of driverless transport systems with Kontron products
Production and logistics processes are experiencing dynamic changes through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0. Automated production lines, robots and driverless vehicles are integral parts of the smart factory. In ...
The embedded world 2019: An exciting glimpse into our digital future - from soldering SOMs to Edge Computers and AI  
Once again this year, the embedded world proved its reputation as the leading trade fair for the worldwide embedded community. With the latest developments around AI/KI, the fair achieved its second best visitor result in its history - co...
Why does Kontron develop its 19" computer housings itself?  
I   In our interview, Kontron Product Manager Günther Dumsky explains, why it makes sense to develop the 19" housings for Kontron's KISS rackmount systems in-house and how the customer benefits from the in-house design.   Kon...
​Reasons to be cheerful - 2019 promises to be an exciting year for embedded designers and developers
The IoT effect   There’s never been a better time to be designing and developing embedded solutions. The IoT - and its industrial counterpart the IIoT – is creating a huge and varied market need for mobile and embedded IoT appli...
IT-Security and the Impact of IoT
    Welcome back to the second episode of my security blog series! So when we combine the ‘old unconnected industry’ with IT-connectivity stuff (I will not explicitly call it ‘IoT’ because it is much, much more) we hav...
Interview with Hannes Niederhauser (CEO Kontron & CEO S&T AG) on the IT-Trends for 2019: " In the age of Digital Transformation, waiting for the success of others is simply no longer an option!"
Our CEO at Kontron and Chairman of the Management Board at S&T AG Hannes Niederhauser dares to take a look into the future. For our blog, he has identified five key trends for 2019 that will further accelerate Digital Transformation in ...
Dealing with the planet in a sustainable way concerns us all. Do we have to say goodbye to private transport for climate protection?
Global warming, floods, heavy storms - the signs of climate change cannot be ignored. Dealing with the planet in a sustainable way concerns us all. The participants at the UN Climate Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland, also agreed that g...
The SPS IPC Drives 2018: "UNO of Automation" sets milestone for successful market penetration of OPC UA over TSN
  What an exciting SPS it was! Held under the motto "Smart and Digital Automation", the trade fair lived up to its reputation as the most important leading trade fair for automation/digitization & industry 4.0. I have been atten...
Security – how much do I need?
  So back at S&T/Kontron, we decided to revive the security topic on our blog. It is quite broad so let's  slice and dice it down to smaller parts. Let's  start with the obvious: everybody needs security and wants secu...
​Stayin’Alive:  The winds of change keep Qseven COM in demand
Agreeing on who’s the best or most famous film or pop star isn’t easy. Take “A Star is Born” as a current example: Lady Gaga is awesome in the lead role but then again many will argue Streisand was as good or better in the previou...
Innovation Day Kontron
KONTRON, a member of the S&T Group and a leading supplier of embedded systems, invited to its innovation day on October 18th, under the motto: "SUCCESSFULL THROUGH DIGITIZATION".  TSN and AI The innovation day started out ...
Realizing the hospital of the future with the Embedded Cloud - how IoT optimizes healthcare
  Digitalization is gaining momentum in medicine and healthcare. Digital applications have great potential for the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of diseases. In addition, digitized processes can be used to optimize ongoing treat...
SUSiEtec: Traditional Cloud Service or Real Newcomer?
  A growing demand calls for a growing supply as well. For some years now, more and more cloud service providers have been trying to make up ground against their competitors with an ever-growing range of services. When it comes to e...
Smart Transport is key to future oriented traffic concepts. Find solutions and applications at InnoTrans 2018.
Source: Messe Berlin   Developments in the transport industry are rapid. New solutions are constantly entering the market. They are intended to prevent traffic from collapsing in urban environments while at the same time making rur...
Tough Mothers:  Embedded computing motherboards capable of withstanding harsh industrial (IIoT) environments are a breed apart    
  When the going gets tough, the tough get going. These days such words of wisdom are certainly worth considering when choosing motherboards for use in harsh embedded industrial computing environments.     Sure enough, t...
The RoboKeeper: the technology behind its reflexes
The RoboKeeper is on everyone's lips this summer as the new star in goalkeeping. Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo - all failed because of him. No wonder, because the RoboKeeper probably has the fastest reflexes in the world. And all this without lo...
Five common Business Challenges of Smart Factories (and how to master them)
Millions of manufacturers are actually confronted with the fear of going bust if they do not digitally transform - but unfortunately it’s not quite as simple. If production goes down - even for a day - the impacts can be serious, with ...
IIOT Security Essentials : What you need to know
Industrial companies are increasingly implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) on the factory floor and in the field. Such largescale end-to-end Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity will doubtless facilitate many more capabilities at the ...
Microsoft Azure IoT Edge: The Next Smart Factory Evolution
  Statement by Laurent Remont, CTO of Kontron S&T AG, on the availability of Microsoft Azure IoT Edge:   We are pleased that Microsoft has announced the general availability of Microsoft Azure IoT Edge. We at Kontron S&am...
At the automatica 2018 trade fair, Aaronn Electronic celebrated the company’s silver anniversary and its long-standing successful partnership with Kontron
Image rights: Aaronn Electronic GmbH   Future topics such as human-robot collaboration, digital transformation in manufacturing and service robotics were the core topics of automatica 2018 (automatica-munich.com). Münchner Messe c...
CeBIT goes Hip – did it achieve that in its second year?
  CeBIT - a must for many customers, colleagues , as for ourselves for over 30 years. A cornerstone – or a dinosaur? The dwindling numbers of visitors and exhibitors in recent years gave us an inkling of this. Things could not go ...
TSN - time to get sensitive about the IIoT  
TSN technology and Kontron give developers the edge     The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is one of the most challenging application spaces to design for. Creating the next generation of intelligent industrial syst...
Artificial intelligence and machine learning - have the hype topics already reached the companies?
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are among the most important trend topics for companies and their employees worldwide. This development is no surprise, as the solutions promise advantages for many application areas....
The "Smart Factory" only works in the harmonious interaction between man and his colleague, the robot
Endless rows of industrial robots that routinely assemble products on conveyor belts - around the clock and in deserted production halls. This scenario is often painted when we talk about the factory of the future. The reality is differen...
Module principle minimizes design risk for industrial PCs
    No question: Components for the industrial environment are confronted with special challenges. The demands on the components are high. They must be able to withstand extreme heat or cold, operate continuously under high du...
Kontron successfully represented at the international Aircraft Interiors Expo 2018 in Hamburg
Aircraft Interiors Expo Hamburg is the leading international trade fair for aircraft interiors. More than 500 international exhibitors presented their products and services in 7 exhibition halls this year. The exhibition spectrum includes...
Industry 4.0 and IoT drive growth in the manufacturing industry
  The market for Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions will continue to move in 2018, as predicted by market observers of the industry service IoT Analytics. In addition to the alr...
The whole IoT world at embedded world
The embedded world trade fair took place for the 15th time from February 27th to March 1st, 2018 in Nuremberg. Present as always: Kontron, an S&T group company. Our trade fair presentation has always been a reflection of the industry’...
Boards and Modules- The Perennial Favorites of Embedded World 
It all started with industrial PCs more than 30 years ago; when the industry began developing specialist PC-based systems designed for continuous use in harsh industrial environments. These devices quickly proved very popular and develope...
A modern transport system is the key to a better quality of life in cities and prevents traffic collapse
Today, commuters spend many hours in traffic jams on the access roads to their jobs in the cities. This is also confirmed by figures recently published by the German automobile club ADAC in its 2017 traffic jam balance for Germany. Accord...
XXL industrial monitors: the central eye for modern production
Today, production processes are already significantly influenced by Industry 4.0 and "Smart Factory". The cycle rates in the production processes are getting shorter. Customers want their products promptly and in the highest quality. A ch...
Kontron enters the new year 2018 with plenty of expertise, market-driven solutions and strong partnerships
For Kontron, 2017 was a challenging but also exciting year of reorganization and realignment. We emerged strengthened from the merger with the S&T technology group. Necessary restructuring measures and cost optimizations have been suc...
Smart, Autonomous Transportation Takes Collaborative Technology 
  Technology is making smarter applications possible across multiple industries.  What was formerly thought as unfeasible is now part of our everyday lives.  These advancements show no sign of slowing down soon especially ...
The sky is not the limit - Kontron solutions enable communication and entertainment on board of aircraft
The demands of airlines, crews and passengers are drastically changing air traffic. The demand for new applications and data analysis is growing constantly. What is needed is easy access to information and a wide range of services. Expect...
SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg: Industrial Internet of Things on the advance
In the age of digital transformation, automation and IT are growing at a breathtaking pace. The Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 pose new challenges for all market participants. This trend is currently also becoming apparent at S...
IIoT: The need for speed  
  A new class of embedded high performance computing now enables real-time data processing and analysis on the very edges of the IIoT          When it comes to leveraging the potential of t...
What are the Technology Enablers of Smart Cities Transportation?
  Keeping on the Smart Cities theme in a previous blog post, the steady rise of the Earth’s populations is migrating mostly to urban areas, where in the United States, mid-size cities are expected to experience the largest increas...
Industrial HMIs in safety relevant control room applications
Unlike the office environment, a harsh industrial environment demands a lot more from the screens used there. Top of the list of requirements is the robustness of the devices, high contrast capability and detail fidelity of the display. Q...
Embedded Computing is a key issue for future-orientated traffic concept in modern urban environments
For the first time in human history, most of the world's population lives in cities. Analysts expect, that until 2050 two thirds of the earth´ s inhabitants will live in urban centers. To meet their needs and to make cities all over the ...
OUTSOURCING HELPS MEDICAL COMPANIES TO FOCUS ON THEIR CORE COMPETENCIES AND KEEP PACE WITH INNOVATON 
The global medical devices market offers tremendous opportunity for manufacturers, as well as significant challenges. Due to a report of the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Global Health Team, published in 2016, aging populatio...
Before APTA Expo: KONTRON presents video in contest 
This year’s APTA Expo promises to be an essential event in showcasing the innovative technologies needed to drive a revolution in rail transportation.  Helping to get attendees eager to see the advanced solutions exhibited, APTA Ex...
Kontron finds revitalization through S&T merger
  The Internet of Things is now a staple of competitive strategies for both embedded platforms and IT solutions alike. The recent merger of Kontron, a leading global provider of embedded technology, with S&T Deutschland Holding ...
Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things are emerging market segments around the globe
Applications that enable the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 are often compared to the workflow in an ant colony. The digital exchange of data with suppliers and customers as well as from machines to machines (M2M) runs via sens...
The Future of Telecom: What I Learned at GENBAND Perspectives17
As a first-time attendee, let me just say this five-day action-packed event definitely lived up to the hype. Perspectives17 was the avenue to exchange ideas with the brightest minds in telecom. Apart from networking with leading service ...
The embedded cloud: why the embedded world will soon be turning faster 
  Data, data and even more data – each day, extremely large quantities of data are created in Industry 4.0, including types of data that until recently did not even exist. But what good are these large quantities of data if a comp...
Digital transformation helps to realize Smart Cities and supports new ways of public transport. Connected trains are essential to services of transportation agencies and their customers.
Public transport is one of the cornerstones of a Smart City. Inhabitants and commuters rely on a close network of various transportation options to reach their homes and/or their workplaces. An efficient network of various transportation ...
Ultra HD in industry: How high resolution further increases production process efficiency 
In the consumer sector, Ultra HD is currently unfolding its enormous potential.  In 2016, 4K UHD TV sales again grew rapidly – in April 2016 alone, six million of these devices were sold in the USA. In a survey of 475 global video ...
Autonomous trains are the solution of the future
Mobility is one of the major topics and a driver of growth and improvement in modern cities. Solutions for a smart city need to combine technology, communication and traffic. This enables people to get from their homes to their offices ea...
Key Takeaways from NAB 2017
Top 3 Trends Impacting the Direction of Video We were thrilled to exhibit again at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show in Las Vegas, the ultimate marketplace for solutions that support in new and exciting ways the creation...
How do you feel today?
Being a computer person, I usually do not see technology like a form of black magic. Whenever I consider even the most complex system, I can imagine all the small pieces and the collection of techniques humming within this marvel.  A...
VPX: Perplexity Removed
In the last 7 years the meaning of VPX could have been the VME Puzzling eXtension, since this promising standard included many technical pitfalls and computer architecture changes. Only the more wealthy and performance hungry customers coul...
Secure and Connected Above the Clouds: Kontron at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2017
Each year a global audience of professionals from the avionics industry gather in Hamburg, Germany, for Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX). At AIX, the industry’s most important trade show of the year, they meet, network and negotiate business...
Kontron - an Outstanding Pioneer in Electronics
Kontron was honored as a "Pioneer in Electronics" during a gala evening in Munich on March 30, celebrating Elektronikpraxis magazine's 50th birthday as well as the 21 most important electronics companies.    Kontron's Irene Ha...
Secure & Connected: Kontron at embedded world 2017
embedded world 2017 took place in Nuremberg from March 14 to 16, 2017. As always Kontron was among the exhibitors.   Kontron booth at embedded world 2017   In pole position in Hall 1, Booth 478 we presented our novelties for...
Industry 4.0: Planned Global Investment of Roughly 907 Billion USD by 2020
According to a new global study on “Industry 4.0: Building the digital enterprise” by auditing and consultancy firm PwC, manufacturing companies intend to invest around five percent of their revenue in digitalization by the year 20...
Open is as Open does
Einstein never really said the pop-culture expression "everything is relative". Although, he did say that: “There is no absolute space-time coordinate system, so there are no absolute positions in time and space. All times and positions a...
Kontron Tech Talk: Quo Vadis ECT – Embedded Trends 2017
Technology trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT) have an enormous economic impact and change entire industries as a whole. Naturally this development is spearheaded by the IT industry. Hardware and software vendors that make possible ...
A bright future for the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT for short) has been hailed a trend no modern enterprise can ignore. Digitalization is transforming entire industries and the economy as a whole. From printing presses to production robots, from warehouse to wind ...
Hacker Eldorado IoT: Security Risks in the Internet of Things
2016 was an extremely thrilling year for IT security experts. A controversial hacking discussion surrounded the US election and even outside of politics, high-profile attacks on IT systems were manifold. What many hacks had in common was th...
SMARC 2.0 – The Next Generation
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become an integral part of our daily lives, which have become extremely “smart” by now. Technological progress and the interconnections between humans and machines that come with it are visible everywher...
Standard IoT Security Solution Offers Protection Against Hackers
Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory promise a boost for innovation in the production sector. However, corresponding IoT security measures are still only beginning to develop, according to a study by the German Federal Ministry for Economic A...
Expanding defense capabilities by applying deep learning techniques
Technologies leveraged from advanced computing in data centers are opening up new ways to tackle defense missions across embedded platforms. Deep learning is an increasingly popular approach to processing very large data sets. Many high-vis...
Industry 4.0 – Step by Step Towards a Modern Enterprise
Digital transformation is going strong. This is the key message from the latest German Industry 4.0 Index by consultancy firm Staufen which, for the third year in a row, surveyed 277 German companies on their levels of d...
Kontron Security Solutions: Embedded Systems Safe and Sound  
When I started working in the embedded computer market in 2004, except for a few select customers in the defense sector of the industry, it was absolutely oblivious to security vulnerabilities. The ever increasing importance of connected sy...
We Certify – SYSGO and Kontron at InnoTrans 2016  
Hi Railway Community, This is my last day at the Kontron booth at InnoTrans 2016 in Berlin. I wanted to share with you the number one topic, which we have discussed with InnoTrans visitors: It is about how to certify such a ...
Kontron at innotrans 2016 - Innovation for the conneted future of transportation
From September 20th to 23rd, industry leaders will gather in Berlin to discuss the future of railway technology and public transportation at InnoTrans 2016. The leading international trade fair for transport technology takes place ever...
Internet of things: are the usa outpacing europe?
The Internet of Things is widely expected to become the central innovation driver in the years to come. Its future economic value will be enormous. This view is shared by US technology research firm Gartner in the latest edition o...
The smarc evolution
Only three years after the original release, Version 2.0 of the Smart Mobility Architecture (SMARC™) embedded computing format was announced by Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) SDT 0.1 earlier this year. It...
Autonomous Driving with kontron
Autonomous driving is one of the most thrilling visions for the future of mobility. Self-driving cars controlled by computers, the computers, in turn, fed with data from sensors and cameras mounted on, in, or around the vehicles. Digit...
How Military Embedded Designers Profit from Small Form Factor Systems
The demands from the front line are changing quickly. Gathering and sharing data has become an essential component of the modern military, relying on high performance processing to fuel leadership decisions that enable comprehensive situati...
Flexibility and long-Term Availability: kontron kiss at voxeljet
New technological developments such as the Internet of Things (IoT) create unlimited possibilities for all market players and almost as exciting, present new challenges as well. Developers aim to quickly and efficiently build cost-efficient...
The Evolution of Industrial HMI: How Smart Automation will Deliver Measureable Productivity Benefits
  Admittedly, the progress in HMIusability and functionality has not been as rapid in industrial automation as in the consumer world. But the past decade has witnessed considerable advancement in the integration of more powerf...
UGVs: How to expand their role in helping military operations become more agile, responsive and safe
According to a report from MarketsandMarkets, the global unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) market is projected to grow from USD 6.44 Billion in 2015 to USD 18.65 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 23.7% during the forecast period. This sou...
How COTS embedded technology is putting rail operators back into the frame   
Video surveillance is widely deployed in the modern world, from monitoring busy city centers, shopping malls, offices and football stadiums, to motorways, train stations and It is used in a variety of situations in both business and co...
Medical Device Outsourcing: How to Compete with Strong Market Dynamics
The medical device market is one of the fastest growing and most dynamic sector in the life sciences industry. Two reasons for this are the high profit margins and the increasing demand for advanced medical devices. Today, healthc...
Industry 4.0: Get ready for a Digital Future!
The digital transformation is a MUST for companies which want to survive in a dramatically changing competitive global environment. But before organizations can pick the fruits and benefit from the digital change, they need to invest in dif...
Securing the IoT: 3 Tight Security Guidelines Everyone should Follow when Building any IoT Solution
Ever since Kevin Ashton introduced the term in 1999, the Internet of Things has evolved from an intriguing concept into an increasingly sophisticated network of machines, sensors and devices.  Gartner estimates that there are 6.4 ...
Airlines: How Wireless IFE will Drive a Whole New Wave of Innovations
According to numerous market studies, in-flight entertainment (IFE) growth is expected to continue to soar. Let’s start this blog with some concrete figures: According to research firm Research and Markets, the IFE and connectivity m...
How to Profit from Strong Technology Partnerships: The Kontron COM Express® in Practice
Drive and control units are essential for machine and system construction and scalable, flexible multi-technology machines are on the rise in many sectors. One of the world’s leading suppliers of drive and control technologies is Bos...
On the Frontline of Military Innovation
Real-time signal processing is a driving force in the evolution of many military applications known collectively as Digital Signalling Processing (or DSP). Among others these include software defined radios, weapons navigation systems, sona...
Kontron at the Embedded World 2016: Just a Glimpse into what is Possible…
Imagine the world in which your city’s traffic is regulated by smart traffic lights that turn the lights on and off depending on the number of cars approaching from the various directions. Imagine if your car could communicate with the ci...
From Design and Development to Successful Re-Design: A Story about the Lifetime of a High-End Product
Printing presses and machines for further paper processing are known to be particularly complex and are often called high-end products in mechanical engineering. These machines have a product lifetime of 25 years or even more. To keep the b...
New Dimension of Data Collection: How to Profit from easier Processes
Throughout the past decade the Big Data-Wave has swapped over all companies, no matter which business they work in. Using Big Data technology makes an organization more productive, efficient, agile and innovative and also strengthens its ma...
Smart Cities, Part II: Why all Concepts will Fail without Indestructible Security Measures
The sustainable development of urban areas requires new, efficient, and user-friendly technologies and services, in particular in the areas of energy, transport and ICT. New IoT technologies have the power to be applied to seemingly unlimit...
Connected Trains: All Onboard the Kontron IoT COTS Express
Whether taking the commuter train or a cross-country or intercontinental express, we hope to take for granted that reasonable standards of comfort, safety, security and reliability are provided – wherever and whenever we climb onboard. B...
Predictive Maintenance: Why it may be Over-the-Top for Me but Makes Perfect Sense for our Costumers
After my experience with my heating system I have made a lot of progress. Unfortunately, I must admit, that I have given up on trying to get the data directly out of my heating system. From my tries I learned that there seem to be...
Energy-Saving Smart Cities: Still a Vision or already Reality?
Mega metropolises all around the globe have to master various future challenges, including mobility, climate protection, healthy residential sphere and social cooperation. The UN estimates that in 2030 about 60 percent of the world populati...
The Future of Communications in an IoT World
The future of the IoT is inextricably linked to the performance of next generation networks. These must keep pace with the exponential growth in network traffic that the IoT will inevitably create as mankind, machines, and everyth...
Find Yourself a Competitive Advantage with Autonomous Agents and Things!
The amount of daily data coming from new sensors of the Internet of Things (IoT), social networks and real-time data increases exponentially. According to several predictions we will produce 40 zettabyte (one zettabyte equals one billion te...
IoT Precision Farming in Malaysia: Efficient Water Management Helps Farmers Grow more Rice
Farming is a tough way of life in any country but when an entire population relies heavily on one single crop for survival, the stakes are especially high. Rice farming in Malaysia is no exception where there is precious little margin betwe...
Industry 4.0: Manufacturing Industry on its Way to Digitalization
Frequent readers of my blog might have noticed that I’m a fan of classic science fiction novels and beside Heinlein, Asimov is one of my favorite writers. So when I was young Robotics and wireless communication between them was ...
Defense Computing Meets the Internet of Things
Each minute of every day 204 million emails are sent, 4 million Google searches are made, 277.000 tweets are published. This amazing amount of data is still mostly coming from people interacting with the digital world which in a few years h...
IoT in Transportation: The World is on the Move
By 2015, seven out of ten people will be living in cities. This will change the way, people all over the world will live. Cities will become bigger and bigger, some of them will even turn into megacities with millions and millions of inhabi...
Video-on-Demand: How Service Providers Can Thrive, Instead of Simply Survive
The television industry is changing rapidly. Streaming services like Netflix set new challenges to cable companies. In the US, the trend to change from TV contracts with cable providers to video-on-demand services on the internet ...
Smart Factory: How to Get Intelligent Machines
In a future ‘Smart Factory’ there will be an almost perfect production logic. Intelligent products are clearly identifiable, locatable at any time and know their history, their current status, as well as alternative routes to their targ...
IoT Security: Is the State Device ID a Good Idea?
The Internet of Things is a whole new infrastructure which of course leads to a number of challenges that must be addressed. In Germany there are plans for an “Identity Safety Act” that should protect this new infrastructure. Right now,...
Come Scale With Us: How Scalability Saves Costs
Come scale with us! This motto has driven a webinar which I held together with Intel in mid- September. Within the webinar we explained how and why it makes sense to implement scalable solutions, what the benefits of using Kontron’s scala...
Data Access: Are Your Systems Still Operating in a Data Island Mode?
Last year the company I’m working for decided to move to another city. Not really far away, but for me too far to drive the distance every single day. Since I like the job and the colleagues I work with, my wife and I decided to move to a...
The IoT: Delivering the Future Demands Action Today  
The ‘thing’ about the Internet of Things (IoT) is that no matter which research you believe IoT is going to be big, very big – but no one can say exactly how big. According to the mobile industry group GSMA, by 2020 there will be 24 ...
Wi-Fi in Aircraft: Are we Safe from Hacker Attacks or Hijacking?
An increasing number of airlines offers „On-Board Wi-Fi“ to their passengers with connectivity improvements to the aircraft while it is on the ground (3G/4G LTE) and in-flight (air-to-ground and air-to-satellite). This develop...
IBC 2015: Are Telco and Cable Service Providers ready for the Simplified Network?
Video is fueling the burning necessity for service providers to transform their networks by depending less on legacy purpose-built proprietary infrastructure and more on a generic set of standard-built COTS (commercial off the shelf) equipm...
Five Key Attributes of NFV-Optimized Server Infrastructure
Looking at the development of mobile video and the IoT, the service provider market is changing dramatically. Margins for their traditional services are dwindling while many new and potentially lucrative revenue opportunities are waiting in...
Hybrid Cloud: Why Converged Modular Servers are just right for IoT Infrastructures
As mentioned within my last blog post, nearly every important market researcher and analyst agrees to the following: hybrid technology will be one of the main drivers of the digital transformation. The reasons for this are obvious: Big...
Hyperconnecting the IoT: A Risky Fly into the Cloud?
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” – currently it looks as if this famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi will also be true of the cloud. Let’s take Amazon Web Services (AWS). They a...
IoT in Transportation: How Data is Driving the Trains
The IoT is everywhere. This may sound a bit scary – maybe it actually IS a bit scary – but it’s true. Do you know what is driving the world today? It’s not money, technology or even people – it’s data. It’s the same with trans...
3 Basic Rules for Applications in a Safety Critical Environment
When I wrote my blog about a backdoor in an air-condition compromising the entire safety of a company network, I thought that’s bad. But at least the air-condition suppliers closed this backdoor. Not fast but they did. Last week...
5 Arguments for Pre-validated Systems to Help Defense Contractors with their Build vs. Buy Decision
Many people jump into the build or buy decision based on past experiences or make too quick of a decision due to short term time constraints and, in doing so, waste valuable total project time and resources that could be been saved by selec...
It’s all about the Customer: How to Improve the Problem-Solving-Experience
This weeks blog is all about the customer. In our following interview, Klaus Hjorth is answering questions on the challenging service environment, the new Kontron service portfolio and how to give customer’s a great problem-solving-experi...
The Paris Air Show 2015: Wake-up Call for the Embedded Computing Industry
The 51st International Paris Air Show, held at Le Bourget Airport from 15-21 June 2015 was a record breaking event: With more than 351000 visitors the Show again confirmed this is the place to be when you are part of this incredibly vi...
The 4K Promise Land: Why HEVC 4K Video Will Be a Revenue Differentiator
Despite all the industry naysayers and complainers, all the technical and business roadblocks and ‘missing pieces’ to the puzzle, production grade 4K service roll-outs are well rolling. Why? Even after a disappointing 3D TV hype blip, c...
My Smart Home (and why it’s still a Dream)
I assume the Isaac Asimov was right: “Luxury is something you could easily get used to”. Why? Because when I enter my home in the evening and switch on the light, I do not really care. I assume it’s the same for most of you....
The Iron A-Team: Unmanned Robots in Harsh Environments
With this blog I want to introduce our customer Roboteam and its product ROCU-7, which stands for Ruggedized Operator Control Unit. This unmanned robot classifies a handheld with a 7-inch monitor, that supports military and civilian pr...
CERN and Kontron: When Matter matters
The European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN is a place of which many people dream, not only the protagonists of TV soap “Big Bang Theory”. After all, the research institution operates the largest particle physics labor...
At Any Time, at any Place: Hardware Remote Management for ‘Wartungsfrei’ Systems
Operators need to be able to rely on the functionality of their system. Because of that, it is a necessity that an industrial computer platform has networked remote management capabilities, so that all the relevant parameters, the ‘big da...
Maximum Reliability: An Inside Look into Maintenance-Free Industrial Computer Platforms
As written in my last week’s blog post, by deploying ’wartungsfrei’ (maintenance-free) industrial computer platforms, OEMs and operators can both: reduce operating costs and increase the reliability of system installations. Eliminatin...
‘Wartungsfrei’: The next PC Evolution
When I was still a student, I earned some money working for system administration of a computer network. It was a nice and not to stressful job. Using Novell (does anyone of you remember?) and the remote console you could sit in the sun and...
Aircraft Interior Expo (AIX) 2015: Going Beyond the Passenger
The In-flight Entertainment (IFE) Zone at this year’s Aircraft Interior Expo (AIX) (5-7 April at Hamburg Messe/Germany) had increased over 30% from last year with about 150 companies representing their products and services. Thi...
Custom Product Design: Let Others Create What You are Thinking
After returning home from a two week trip in Europe I went with my family to one of our favorite hamburger stops for a big greasy cheeseburger. The food is always great and I can get most anything I want on my burger including a fried egg a...
System Health Management: It’s all about Monitoring, Control and Communication!
With my last week’s blog post you hopefully learned a lot about the importance of computing health management. Within the article I already mentioned that health management supports three main functions: monitoring, control ...
Computing Health Management in Transportation System: No Room for Error
The market for transportation systems is forecasted to continue its rapid expansion according to a report by Transparency Market Research that predicts double-digit growth from 2013 to reach $30.2 billion by 2019. As the use of tr...
#HM15: Go Industry 4.0, Go!
From April 13th until 17th Hannover is once again the center for the world of modern manufacturing. Industry innovations are often shown first on the “HANNOVER MESSE 2015” (#HM15) and this year especially will bring new techno...
IoT for Horticulture/Hydroponics: Real Science Fiction
When I was still young, science fiction books and films were my favorite way to spend time. So I more or less grew up by reading books from authors like Robert A. Heinlein or watching films with Captain Kirk, Bones and Spock. One of the coo...
High Performance Computing (HPC): Hard to Define…
Our customers continually demand greater computational power, because they want to reduce the execution time of their applications and overcome the limitations of desktop computing architectures. But what are we able to offer them? You may ...
Technology Revolution at Oilfields: Which Systems Requirements are Essential?
Using the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), more systems and processes are being connected on the oilfield; the industry itself is making monumental progress by incorporating computers and sensors that take equipment control and...
Ten Reasons why Data Drives the Oilfield
Oil and gas exploration has always been difficult, complex and costly—recognized as a process that depends upon vast amounts of data to guide decisions, processes and production. Today new supply sources, such as deep water wells, shale b...
Which Skills do we need for a successful IoT Project?
More than 40 percent of organizations expect the Internet of Things (IoT) to transform their business or offer significant new revenue or cost-savings opportunities in the short term (over the next three years), rising to 60 perce...
NFV: It takes a Village
“Where do I start with NFV?” “What are the network functions I can virtualize today that will make an early and quick result for the bottom line?” If we take a timeout from the pre-show frenzy of next week’s Mobile World ...
The Embedded World – which are the Steps for the Future?
Extreme miniaturization combined with much higher computing power, efficient communication in network and mobile systems – the developers of embedded systems actually have to fulfill enormous demands. The security of electronic systems, d...
Mobile World Congress 2015: The Year of Real Virtualization
It’s February and the temperature ice cold, but for the mobile industry 2015 is already getting steaming hot. As it has been every year since the creation of the biggest worldwide event in the mobile industry (the Mobile World Congre...
Is your Business still dumb?
Last week I read a very interesting article from one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and CEO of Burrus Research, Daniel Burrus. He asked, if we are ready for innovation and transformation. With transforma...
Our IoT Vision
Nowadays we talk about IoT – a lot. For good reason! We @Kontron think that IoT is transforming for many industries and will greatly impact all levels of our daily life. But what is our detailed approach to IoT? And what makes u...
Are Smart Meters really a smart Idea?
When I was in Mumbai I learned that in some areas there is no tap-water for some hours each day. People, who can afford it, can buy a tank with fresh water outside for the day. Or at least this was my understanding from what the guide told ...
Embedded Trends 2015
This year will bring a lot of challenges for the embedded community. Trends like IoT and risk management coincide with Gartners predictions for 2015. In the near future manufacturers should deal with implementing security strategi...
Internet of Things and Security: Mission impossible?
The internet of things (IoT) will be the next step in integrating even more of the real world into the web. With this step companies and consumers will be facing billions of insecure devices because of the inadequate security meas...
Wireless In-Flight-Entertainment (IFE): The next Step for Connecting Avionics Systems?
More space while sitting, personalized entertainment concepts and always online: Flying in the future should above all be a continuation of lifestyle on the ground. What sounds like wishful thinking, could be reality in a few years. But so ...
Intelligent Energy Analytics Software: A good way to optimize Energy Flows?
Although reducing energy use is on everyone’s agenda, organizations face difficulties in identifying saving opportunities. With increasing energy costs, companies need to significantly reduce their energy consumption and find solutions to...
Is Cloud Computing really the next BIG Thing?
The impact of cloud computing will grow during the next years as more and more cost saving effects are unleashed and security problems solved. Experts predict that cloud services might be a commodity soon – and that a substantial change i...
4 Reasons why you should not press on Price (too hard)
When I had to do shopping for my grandmother I had to understand a very important fact: When you are send to the butcher, cheap always has a drawback. Either old meat or lower quality or even a different animal: “Schnitzel” is much chea...
Why Spreadsheets & Virtualization are my Number 1 Choices for Innovation
Being immersed in computing, from microcode to Unix/linux type OSes and X11 windowing system across 5 different processor architectures (CISC, RISC) I have seen a lot of very cool innovation in the last 30 years. The most famous categories ...
Is the Internet of Things (IoT) the new Wave of being energy-efficient?
Intelligent devices that learn to think and organize themselves? And as well being power efficient in applying them and gaining benefits in the environment in which they are used? The idea which could result of a science fiction movie is on...
Smart Guns: Could they reduce location specific Incidents?
The recent school shooting incident in Washington state got me thinking about how technology could possibly be utilized to reduce such violence. Current smart guns use RFID, fingerprint recognition or other such technologies to help reduce ...
Can Digital Healthcare save Lifes?
IT-based networking has become an indispensable part of the health sector. Whether app or software – experts are sure – Digital Healthcare optimizes the quality and effectiveness of the procedures in doctors’ offices and hos...
Embedded Systems: Form Factors for the Future
One of the foremost requirements for embedded systems is their long term availability. To secure their investments, companies have to make sure that they make the right decision for a system that will be successful and thereby available on ...
Why we should not bemoan the loss of 2G
When I was still a quite small boy my grandfather gave me an old radio. This one was still using vacuum tubes and was of course only mono. There were just a handful FM (UKW) stations at that time, but I really enjoyed the gift. Today I’m ...
The Mobile Gaming Experience: More Fun, more Service?
As a follow up to my last blog post about gaming security, I recently attended the Global Gaming Exposition (G2E) in Las Vegas where all of the major gaming companies displayed their latest games and system platforms. The vast arr...
Smart Cities Require Smart Ideas
What makes a city smart? There are quite some angles to this idea. It usually covers sustainability, energy conservation, infrastructure and traffic, but also energy efficient buildings, health care and emergency services. The intelligent s...
IBC 2014 – Over-The–Top (OTT) Business Convention
There has never been a more exciting time than now when it comes to the business of producing, delivering and consuming video. The buzz surrounding this year’s IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) event in Amsterdam certainly prove...
The forgotten Side of Virtualization
I’m working with computers for a long time now, but I still remember the times when I was a student. There was good but expensive hardware like ISA Novell NE2000 LANcards or Hercules monochrome graphics adapters. I could ne...
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Intuitive Human Machine Interfaces (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) require new approaches in the Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) and there has been a lot of development in touch display technology during the last years. The artist Salvador Da...
IoT: So What…?
Why it is important to communicate the Benefits of IoT to the Customer When I was a little boy, I never got the point my grandfather made. He was so proud because he managed to get 4 flavors of apples from one tree. And he managed to engra...
Retail Connected: Smart Mirrors and Virtual Car Showrooms
Isn’t this a Ladies dream: digital wardrobe and smart mirrors?! While I was in College, one of my classmates recreated the outfit management software from the movie Clueless, a 90s cult classic, as a class project. The concept shown ...
The Electric Giraffe goes to Washington – Chapter 5: Russell meets the Leader of the free World
From there we got things unloaded and set up the Electric Giraffe near the rose garden, and waited. The heat was unbearable and most of the event was moved indoors. Russell and I did an interview with the White House press crew, then they s...
The Electric Giraffe goes to Washington – Chapter 4: Screaming on the Road
On Wednesday the 18th, with a Maker Faire photographer in tow, we hit the road and went to the Smithsonian to get the giraffe on the tow truck rig. Right away we noticed a possible serious problem. The Electric Giraffe up on the towing...
The Electric Giraffe goes to Washington – Chapter 3: Our one ton Beast in detail
What everyone at Smithsonian were seeing was years of work on a machine that truly walks on 4 tall legs, all made of hand welded steel. In borrowing the walking design of my Electric Giraffe from a little toy model from Tamiya, I managed to...
The Electric Giraffe goes to Washington – Chapter 2: Good Planning is Half the Battle
Right away, Sherry and Louise agreed to help out all they could with regards to finding a way to fund the appearance, and gave me the go ahead to start putting together a plan for shipping the giraffe to Washington. I was now once again in ...
The Electric Giraffe goes to Washington – Chapter 1: The White House Invitation
On Monday morning, May 19th, I got all packed up for the drive home from San Mateo. Maker Faire 2014 was done and over with. My programmer (and namesake for the Giraffe) Russell Pinnington was dropped off at SFO and was on his way home to E...
Computer Health Management: How do we maintain Control over our Devices?
With the mind boggling number of intelligent devices announced to deploy in the coming years, the limit of the PC architecture as a baseline becomes more and more acute. Personal computers have been created and further refined during almost...
Secure Gaming Machines: Wanna bet on it?
Ever since the gaming industry introduced electronic video slot machines and subsequently other electronic gaming formats, the game designers have been in pursuit of that next best irresistible game that will attract and intoxicate players ...
Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure: The technical Challenges of autonomous Cars
A recent article in BusinessWeek seems to suggest that there will be increased amount of traffic, especially in urban areas, with the advent of autonomous or self-driving cars.     It is an interestin...
SMARC vs. Qseven: Is SMARC really better than Qseven?
Two form factors are currently fighting for domination in the market for small computer on modules. Qseven, released 2008 and created for X86 platform, namely for Intel’s Silverthorne Atom chips, which were the first implementation w...
The Electric Giraffe and Kontron: How did THAT happen?!
Long before Kontron’s location in San Diego, a fire alarm contractor named Frank (Lindsay being his middle name) Lawlor found himself wandering the massive new and very empty tilt-up structure way out in what was known then as “the midd...
Industry 4.0 & Internet of Things (IoT): How can Developers handle the Lack of Standards?
With Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things looming at the horizon, the industry is confronted with a new game. IT becomes even more important and there is a huge need for new standards that combine industry and IT needs – as organizatio...
BIG Telecom Event (BTE) – the Innovation Path to the Future
Big Telecom issues back to Chicago: This year’s inaugural “BIG Telecom Event”  hosted by Light Reading demonstrated that the evolution is not over yet, and services can be delivered by re-engineering the network infrastructu...
Self-driving cars are no longer a funny idea
Last week I saw a funny video about Google’s self-driving car project. At the first glimpse it definitely doesn’t look like a real car you would use. Rather like one of the cartoons from my childhood. Such car might have occurred a...
A long and healthy life – Connected Medical Devices
A visit to the local hospital during a business trip or vacation abroad is not a welcome interruption. Many hospitals around the world provide equally good care but with language barriers and without access to the patient’s health records...
Momentous Metamorphosis
These are heady, head-spinning times in telecom. And one of its milestone moments is hitting right this week with the Big Telecom Event in Chicago, June 17-18. Ironically, this is the same city that used to play host to the good o...
There is no such thing as off the shelf CBIT
In many complex computer RFQs I have seen in the last decade, when it came to BIT (Built In Test) requirements, heated discussion on compliance would arise. However complex the compliance assessment, it always went down to compromise and in...
Are vehicles more ‘aware’ than the drivers?
As we see increasing adoption of smart sensors across all assets, fixed and mobile, there will soon come a time when our cars and other vehicles will become more ‘aware’ of the environment than the people using them. Autonomous vehicle ...
Is this really the 21st century of Technology?
Water is a precious commodity in California as we are dependent on seasonal rainfall and melting snow from the mountain ranges to supply a very thirsty state – not only for personal use but for commercial and agricultural use. When the ne...
I saw Big Data
Like the lone intrepid hikers who make it their business to track down the ever-elusive and folkloric Bigfoot creature of the West Coast, the IoT (Internet of Things) market is equally hot on the trail for something rather shadowy – “Bi...
How will tomorrow’s mobility look like?
In Germany we have a significant growth in shared cars. But it looks like this is a more global effect according to the article “Future of Personal Mobility” recently published on Forbes.com: Right now I consider using one of ...
Maintenance Free Products – Connecting the world
We are all accustomed to communicating with family, friends and colleagues near and far. When far apart from each, the ability to connect reliably to each other in an instant makes the world feel like a “smaller” place. It is ‘a small...
No “Thing” Left Unconnected
Scouring through reports of the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain it is easy to see that The Internet of Things (IoT) was a “driving” force at the show. Indeed, many of the abundant IoT products, services and ap...
How do you feel today?
Being a computer person, I usually do not see technology like a form of black magic. Whenever I consider even the most complex system, I can imagine all the small pieces and the collection of techniques humming within this marvel.  Aft...
When is ubiquitous connectivity becoming reality?  
For anyone who use public transport, such as trains, buses, planes or ferries, to get to and from work, having a reliable internet connectivity while on the move is highly desirable but quite challenging. Even with widespread cellular ...
Can connectivity really replace real networking?
This week I was at EE Live in San Jose CA – the West coast’s version of one of the more preeminent embedded computing technology events  where the latest and greatest in technology is showcased here in  Silicon Valle...
Content anywhere, at any price?
It is no secret that the worldwide demand to consume video – from whatever source, in whatever format and on whatever device, be it smartphone, tablet, pc or television – is increasingly filling the demand for bandwidth, processing and ...
Cloud based service for machines?
I have seen some industries consider it quite common that M2M is only the transfer from data to a server system… and then call this the cloud. However, in today’s business environment, manufacturers not only need to improve the product ...
The Digital Oil Field – Times are changing
I grew up with my Dad working as a company man for Diamond Shamrock and one of my first jobs was roughnecking off the coast of Louisiana.  It was a good job that offered hard dangerous work for good pay.  After more than two decad...
What’s the next big thing in Embedded Computing?
It is not surprising that embedded computing technologies typically lag the latest trends in the broader retail computing space, primarily due to some unique requirements such as longevity, security and reliability. Eventually, many of the ...
Almost entirely unlike a PC
For the most senior of us who were introduced into the weird techno fun culture of Douglas Adams (the Hitch  Hickers Guide to the Galaxy), this expression will bring back some memories of weird influence of the technology on our d...
What about you?
As I was driving into work the other morning it occurred to me just how much technology surrounds us but that we take for granted that it should always be there. Cars now have everything from satellite connectivity to proximity safety senso...
Air-condition with built-in backdoor
It’s really surprising what you hear in M2M (Machine-to-Machine) groups. Last time I read an unbelievable data point: 55,000 air-condition or heating systems are connected to the Internet without adequate (or any) protection  Due to...
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