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 world after all’ when the technology enables the machines to communicate with each other without any human interaction. Along with this comes the need for reduced maintenance – a trend we’re calling “maintenance free”. But what is the impact of this new trend and what advantages does it bring to the industry?
Reduced maintenance is significant in today’s world given the rapidly growing Internet of Things is increasing the number of connected end points. We are now relying on embedded systems being constantly connected, even if in a remote part of the world. The reduced maintenance is not only of significant importance to industries such as Industrial Plants where any downtime on equipment causes a delay in production but also in industries such as digital signage where downtime of a bill board can cause losses in advertisement impressions, and overall, lost revenue.
Maintenance free operation is achieved with designs that are fanless, without battery or rotating storage media such as HDD. Maintenance free embedded computers that boast long Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) often need features like secure power off, and dust free enclosures. Overall, the components often known to cause repairs are making themselves obsolete.
Maintenance in a remote location is not only costly but also time consuming. With maintenance free products, remote locations will stay connected 24/7, year round, a requirement for systems used on Oil Rigs and Wind Farms around the globe. By relying on the computer instead of a service team, we can make the world a smaller place by connecting even the most remote places to the ever growing and rapidly changing Internet of Things. In combination with eliminating the need for maintenance, the new generation of Kontron Box PCs and HMIs is also designed for remote system diagnostics as well as remote software updates.
How will maintenance free computers help to make the world a smaller place in your industry? What Internet of Things or remote management applications do you see this impacting the most?
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