NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) Taiwan attracted more than 2,200 technologists, developers, researchers, government officials and media last week in Taipei. GTC Taiwan is the second of seven AI conferences NVIDIA will be holding in key tech centers globally this year. GTC is the industry's premier AI and deep learning event, providing an opportunity for developers and research communities to share and learn about new GPU solutions and supercomputers and have direct access to experts from NVIDIA and other leading organizations. The first GTC of 2018, in Silicon Valley in March, hosted more than 8,000 visitors. GTC events are showcases for the latest breakthroughs in AI use cases, ranging from healthcare and big data to high performance computing and virtual reality, along with many more advanced solutions leveraging NVIDIA technologies.GTC 2018 in San Jose debuted the NVIDIA DGX-2 AI supercomputing system, a piece of technology that AI geek dreams are made of. The powerful DGX-2 system is an enterprise-grade cloud server that combines high performance computing with artificial intelligence requirements in one server. It combines 16 fully interconnected NVIDIA Tesla V100 Tensor Core GPUs for 10X the deep learning performance compared with its predecessor, the DGX-1, released in 2017. With a 1/2 a terabyte of HBM2 memory and 12 NVIDIA NVSwitch interconnects, the DGX-2 system became the first single server capable of delivering 2 petaFLOPS of computational capability for AI systems. It is powered by NVIDIA DGX software stack and a scalable architecture built on NVSwitch technology.In this interview, Marc Hamilton, NVIDIA's Vice President of Solutions Architecture and Engineering, talks about GTC and the development of Taiwan's technology ecosystem. He and his engineering team work with customers and partners to deliver solutions powered by NVIDIA artificial intelligence and deep learning, professional visualization, and high performance computing technologies. From many visits to ecosystem partners and developers, Hamilton is very familiar with the pace of AI development in Taiwan.AI is dealing with HPC-class scaling problemsAI technologies elevate the enterprise by transforming the way we work, increasing collaboration and ushering in a new era of AI-powered innovation. AI solutions are rapidly moving beyond hype and into reality, and are primed to become one of the most consequential technological segments. Enterprises need to rapidly deploy AI solutions in response to business imperatives. The DGX-2 system delivers a ready-to-go server solution that offers the path to scaling up AI performance.DGX-2 is designed for both AI and HPC workloads and simplifies the speed of scaling up AI with flexible switching technology for building massive deep learning compute clusters, combined with virtualization features that enable improved user and workload isolation in shared infrastructure environments. With this accelerated deployment model and an open architecture for easy scaling, development teams and data scientists can spend more time driving insights and less time building infrastructure.For example, running HPC applications for weather forecasting means dealing with the massive scale of computation nodes. Forecasts are created using a model of the Earth's systems by computing changes based on fluid flow, physics and other parameters. The precision and accuracy of a forecast depend on the fidelity of the model and the algorithms, and especially on how many data points are represented. Computing a weather forecast requires scheduling a complex ensemble of pre-processing jobs, solver jobs and post-processing jobs. Since there is no use in a forecast for yesterday, the prediction must be delivered on time, every time. The prediction application is executed on a server node and receives reports from the monitoring programs distributed over the compute nodes.Typically, these would be large distributed memory clusters, made up of thousands of nodes and hundreds of thousands of cores. Many HPC applications work best when data fits in GPU memory. The nature of the computations is built on interaction between points on the grid that represents the space being simulated, and stepping the calculated variables in time. It turns out that in today's HPC technology, the moving of data in and out of the GPU is more demanding in time than the computations performed. To be effective, systems working with weather forecasting and climate modeling require high memory bandwidth and fast interconnect across the system.NVSwitch maximizes data throughput between GPUs leveraging NVLinkMemory is one of the biggest challenges in deep neural networks (DNNs) today. Memory in DNNs is required to store input data, weight parameters and activations as an input propagates through the network. Developers are struggling with the limited memory bandwidth of the DRAM devices that have to be used by AI systems to store the huge amounts of weights and activations in DNNs.Having long relied on PCI Express, when NVIDIA launched its Pascal architecture with the Tesla P100 GPU in 2016, one of the consequences of their increased server focus for Pascal was that interconnect bandwidth and latency became an issue. The data throughput requirements of NVIDIA's GPU platform began outpacing what PCIe could provide. As a result, for their compute focused GPUs, NVIDIA introduced a new interconnect called NVLink.With six NVLink per GPU, these links could be teamed together for greater bandwidth between individual GPUs, or lesser bandwidth but still direct connections to a greater number of GPUs. In practice this limited the size of a single NVLink cluster to eight GPUs in what NVIDIA calls a Hybrid Mesh Cube configuration, and even then it's a NUMA setup where not every GPU could see every other GPU. Utilizing more than eight GPUs required multiple systems connected via InfiniBand, losing some of the shared memory and latency benefits of NVLink and closely connected GPUs.In a DGX-2 system, there are 16 Volta GPUs in one server. So NVIDIA introduced NVSwitch, which is designed to enable clusters of much larger GPUs by routing GPUs through one or more switches. A single NVSwitch has 18 full-bandwidth ports, three times more than a single Tesla V100 GPU, with all of the NVSwitch ports fully connected with an internal crossbar.The goal with NVSwitch is to increase the number of GPUs that can be in a cluster, with the switch easily allowing for a 16 GPU configuration with 12 NVSwitch interconnect (216 ports) in the system to maximize the amount of bandwidth available between the GPUs. NVSwitch enables GPU-to-GPU communications at 300GB per second, which already has double the capacity from the DGX-1 (and the HGX reference architecture it's based on). This advancement will drive hyper-connection between GPUs to handle bigger, more demanding AI projects for data scientists.NVIDIA wants to take NVLink lane limits out of the equation entirely, as using multiple switches should make it possible to build almost any kind of GPU topology in theory.Deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow don't need to understand the underlying NVLink topology in a server thanks to NVIDIA's NCCL (NVIDIA Common Collectives Library), which is used by TensorFlow and all leading DL frameworks. NVIDIA's AI software stack is fully optimized and updated to support developers using DGX-2 and other DGX systems. This includes new versions of NVIDIA CUDA, TensorRT, NCCL and cuDNN, and a new Isaac software developer kit for robotics. Hamilton highlighted the release of TensorRT 4.0, a new version of NVIDIA's optimizing inference accelerator. TensorRT 4.0 integrates with the TensorFlow 1.7 framework. TensorFlow remains one of the more popular deep learning frameworks today. And NVIDIA engineers know their GPU well and make TensorRT 4.0 software to accelerate deep learning inference across a broad range of applications through optimizations and high-performance runtimes for GPU-based platforms.Hamilton mentioned lots of TensorFlow users will gain from the highest inference performance possible along with a near transparent workflow using TensorRT. The new integration provides a simple API that applies powerful FP16 and INT8 optimizations compiling TensorFlow codes using TensorRT and speed up TensorFlow inference by 8x for low latency runs of the ResNet-50 benchmark.In edge computing, TensorRT can be deployed on NVIDIA DRIVE autonomous vehicles and NVIDIA Jetson embedded platforms. Deep neural networks on every framework can be trained on NVIDIA DGX systems in the data center, and then deployed into all types of edge devices. With TensorRT software, developers can focus on developing advanced deep learning-powered applications rather than taking time for fine tuning performance for inference deployment.HGX-2 server platform as a reference design for cloud data centersThe DGX-2 server is expected to ship to customers in Q3 2018. Meanwhile, bringing together the solution expertise of Taiwan's ecosystem partners and global server manufacturers, NVIDIA announced the HGX-2 cloud-server platform with Taiwan's leading server makers at GTC Taipei. The NVIDIA DGX-2 server is the first system built using the HGX-2 reference design.The server industry has been one of the few industries that have remained strong for Taiwan ODMs and increased opportunities in the AI field will help Taiwan system makers. NVIDIA engineering teams work closely with Taiwan ODMs to help minimize the development time from design win to production deployments. The HGX-2 is designed to meet the needs of the growing number of applications that seek to leverage both HPC and AI use cases. Those server brands and ODMs are designing HGX-2-based systems to build a wide range of qualified GPU-accelerated systems for hyperscale data centers.The HGX-2 server reference design consists of two baseboards. Each comes equipped with eight NVIDIA Tesla V100 32GB GPUs. These 16 GPUs are fully connected through NVSwitch interconnect technology. With the HGX-2 serving as a building block, server manufacturers will be able to build full server platforms that can be customized to meet the requirements of different data centers.NVIDIA AI collaboration in TaiwanHamilton says the areas of AI collaboration in Taiwan include hands-on training of 3,000 developers on leading applications of deep learning and providing high-level internship opportunities for Taiwanese post-doctoral students to work with NVIDIA engineering teams. The first AI hospital in Taiwan, sponsored by the LEAP program, which is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), is making it possible for doctors to see disease earlier and better understand it through advanced breakthroughs in AI.Another case Hamilton highlighted is AI helping semiconductor foundries to identify wafer defects. The solution focused on using AI to sharpen the domestic semiconductor market's competitive position. The wafer defects detection system uses physics-based Instruments to examine the images of wafers by leveraging NVIDIA GPU-based optical neural network. The same idea has been modified for use in the printed circuit board (PCB) industries to make visual inspection of PCBs more accurate and give production line mangers a significant edge in discovering and resolving product issues.NVIDIA HGX-2 cloud server platform

With the finalization of USB PD 3.0 Programmable Power Supply (PPS) protocol last year and mobile phones widely adopting USB-C interface, the unification of standard for mobile devices will not only drive fast charging opportunities, but also create new use cases and mobile device peripheral requirements. In response to the trend, VIA Labs Inc has taken the lead to launch certified USB PD 3.0 solutions, aiming to help customers quickly enter the market with complete reference designs."In order to fulfill the increasing needs for thinner and lighter phones, faster charging speed, and full-screen display, new mobile phones will not only adopt USB-C interface, but will also eliminate the traditional 3.5mm audio jack," said David Hsu, associate VP of Product Marketing, VIA Labs, Inc. "The trend will become prevalent gradually from high-end phones down to middle-range phones, which will definitely drive opportunities for new peripherals, such as USB-C headsets, dongles, and docking stations."A mobile phone with only one USB-C port and no audio jack will create some use cases that are different from current consumer habits. The most common one is the need to charge and listen to music at the same time. Therefore, new types of peripherals are required to provide more convenient user experience. According to Hsu, "For a long time, peripherals have played the role of 'extending possibilities,' and VIA Labs is devoted to providing more use cases to further extend USB-C's diverse functions."With the concept of 'Extending More Possibilities,' VIA Labs is committed to developing silicon solutions for various application scenarios, so that mobile phone makers can use them to create higher values and differentiated features for their peripheral devices, in a bid to meet consumers' practical application requirements and to create better user experience.Take VIA Labs VL104 DisplayPort Alternate Mode controller as an example, it integrates one upstream USB-C port and two downstream USB-C ports to form one combination package, App6 reference design. The two downstream ports can support both charging and the headphone to enable intelligent interchangeable functions. It is a design that truly meets and even optimizes user experience. In addition, VL104 integrates buck-boost converter on a single chip to dramatically reduce the PCB size. As a result, designing more varied, compact and smaller peripheral devices has been made possible.For USB-C power adapter applications, VIA Labs has introduced a highly integrated VP302 chip, which is optimized for next-generation USB-C wall charger and power adapter applications that support real-time finely adjustable voltage and current output. The new Programmable Power Supply (PPS) capability is the foundation for several new fast charging methods that promise not only more rapid charging, but also lower device temperature when compared to legacy methods. VIA Labs VP302 has obtained USB-IF PD 3.0 certification.Before the specification of fast charging for mobile phones is unified, every mobile phone manufacturers will have their unique specification for fast charging. Though it is convenient in a short term, in a longer term it will cause damage to mobile phones due to adapter mismatch. After the finalization of USB PD 3.0 PPS protocol, we will see USB-C fast charging and manufacturers' own technologies coexist in the near future. It is expected that USB-C fast charging will eventually hit the mainstream as consumers get used to using any USB-C-based power adapter to support different brands of mobile phones.Delivering 'combination-package solutions' based on application scenarios of consumer needsIn order to confront the fiercely competitive USB-C silicon market, VIA Labs chose to target at dongle and hub applications that were not so prevalent at the beginning. With correct strategy of emphasizing improvements to user experience and providing complete turnkey solutions, VIA Labs has successfully helped peripheral makers move into mass production quickly, and its products have also been adopted by Huawei, Nintendo and other internationally renowned manufacturers."We aim to provide combination 'packages' for various application scenarios. With the diverse functions of USB-C, we have developed seven reference designs for App1-App7 use cases, covering from simple video dongle, the combination of data, video, audio, and charging, to multi-function dongle with any port charging through. Now, the term, App1-App7, has become a common usage in the industry," said Hsu. "For example, VL104 can be used to support App6/App7 use cases. Just like ordering meals from MacDonald's, our customers can easily and quickly get their wanted designs by simply telling us the number (App1-App7)."As the development of USB-C is taking off, creation value will be a key to success in the market. With the penetration rate of USB-C in mobile phones gradually increasing, phone makers will try to provide better standard peripherals to create differentiated features. Once consumers' habits are established, the demand for third-party peripherals will also rise.To address the need, VIA Labs will strengthen cooperation with phone makers to further explore the mobile peripheral market by conceiving possible use cases and providing them with diverse design options. For example, by fully leveraging the advantages of USB-C interface, docking stations can be used as an extension of voice assistant for mobile phones to enable the functions beyond listening to music and charging. This, again, demonstrates the concept of "Extending More Possibilities." Hsu is also optimistic that more new application scenarios and requirements for USB-C will pop up, and the business outlook for the market is very promising in 2019.VIA Labs' VL104 supports APP6: Interchangeable charge through audio dongleVIA Labs' VL104 supports APP7: Multi-function dongle + any port charge through

The growing awareness on environmental protection and energy conservation has prompted governments worldwide to enforce energy efficiency policies. With the development of electric vehicles (EV) as one of their priorities, many countries are now planning on a timeline between 2020 and 2040 to ban new fossil-fuel cars' sales. Worldwide efforts to promote EV adoption have introduced immense opportunities, attracting many Taiwan high-tech players to launch into the market. Channel Well Technology (CWT), with years of experience in the power supply business, is also making active efforts in the R&D of EV charging pile equipment. Wei-Ting Ou, who's in charge of CWT's EV charging pile department, points out that most people tend to think Taiwan-based manufacturers focus more on developing technologies for EV body structures, however, achievements they've accumulate in charging pile industry is in fact another rising star.CWT engages in collaborations with the startup eTreego by providing interior power supply systems to be integrated into its charging piles. Most charging stations currently on the market can only support a few cars once and may have difficulties satisfying demand in high traffic areas. eTreego's charging pile on the other hand offers a chance to reduce the contract capacity of the charging station through non-uniform charging technology. For eTreego's piles, aside from critical control modules, rely heavily on interior robust power supply technologies. With this need, achievements through long-term devotion in power supply have allowed CWT to be the perfect match.Overall grow of the EV industry did not advance as expected for the past for reasons as follows. First of all, due to competitions among leading international automakers, the Taiwan market had not unified EV charging standards during EV industry's early-stage, which led to holdbacks of domestic manufacturers, resulting in longer R&D cycles. Furthermore, consumers generally have the impression that EVs run out of power quickly. Long charging time and insufficient charging stations are additional factors that hinder EV's growth.However, EV's market is picking up its speed, and the explosive growth can be expected, especially driven by government policies, according to Ou. This is also the main reason why leading companies are scrambling for a share of the market. Taiwan's EV standards and regulations are close to its completion. EV battery life has greatly improved from a 100km range to 300km or above. There are DC charging stations that can charge an electric car's battery to its 80% in less than 40 minutes. On the other hand, for prolonging the battery life purpose, AC charging generally requires 4 to 12 hours which is recommended that EV owners charge their vehicles at home overnight. In brief, convenience and feasibility of EV charging have significantly improved.The growing EV infrastructure market is now creating rising opportunities and in the years to come to those who are well prepared. To capture these opportunities, CWT has taken the initiative not only to work on its own power supply research but also to engage in joint developments with eTreego in an attempt to gain a strong foothold in the EV charging equipment market.Wei-Ting Ou, in charge of CWT's EV charging pile department, expects flourishing opportunities as government policies promote EV adoption worldwide.

Clientron Corp, a global leading provider of thin client, POS and embedded systems, is introducing its latest products with multiple innovations at Computex 2018. The products demonstration of various industrial applications include embedded IPCs for food processing industry, the streamlined thin clients in banking scenario, and POS terminals for restaurant setting solution. The complete product series of Clientron thin client, POS terminal, and embedded IPCs are on exhibit at booth K0427a at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Hall 1.Seizing the trend of IoT and Industry 4.0, Clientron is ramping up efforts toward IPC product development and market expansion. Kelly Wu, president & CEO, Clientron, stated, "Taiwan-based manufacturers have been active in the IPC market for many years. IPC firms are characterized by being small but exquisite. Clientron, with years of embedded product design, production, and service offering experiences, is capable of providing high-end industrial-grade products with wide temperature and voltage ranges, waterproof and dustproof as well as ability to maintain long-term operation under extreme circumstances."For the IPC product line, Clientron introduces its brand new products including single board computers (SBC), embedded systems and industrial panel PCs to accommodate different customers and vertical market demand. At the show, Clientron's Pike-AL-1500SP, crafted specifically for the food processing industry, is an industrial panel PC offering IP69K protection against high temperature and dust. The Pike-AL-1500SP has passed spray test with steam pressure of 100bar (1450 psi) at a temperature of 80 degrees C. It is built with grade 304 stainless steel casing to enable protection against heat and corrosion and prevent hazardous substances from leaching due to heat or acid, thereby guaranteeing safe and sanitary operation in a food processing plant. For factory automation and parking solution, the Mace-AL-200 embedded system provides "Tsuba Kits" with a flexible modular design for customers to easily add I/O modules and build systems tailored to their specific needs.In terms of Clientron's most renowned thin client product line, Clientron is showcasing a complete lineup of thin clients from entry-level, mid-range, high-end and up to high performance IP40 industry thin clients. Clientron debuts several new thin client models including the cost-effective S-cube Pi3 B+, running on Raspberry Pi3 B+ platform with ultra-lightweight 0.18L volume, and ultra-low power operation below 3W on average. The S-cube Pi3 B+ thin client supports the most used of the connection protocols, including RDP, HDX, and VMware Horizon. It has one HDMI display, WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and is suitable for education, financial counter, and the markets require simple task. For the mainstream thin client segment, Clientron's brand new S810, is equipped with Intel's next-generation Gemini Lake Celeron power-efficient quad-core processor, providing dual display outputs, M.2 high-speed interface, and supporting innovative POF (Port-on-Foot) I/O expansion ports for more easily and flexibly expand to meet different field and application requirements. For high-end and flexible thin clients, the F620 features 4K definition and supports up to quad displays to meet the requirements of the healthcare and multimedia sectors. In addition to stand-alone thin clients, Clientron provides a new generation of all-in-one thin client TC220 with 21.5-inch capacitive multi-touch, and also uses Intel's new generation Gemini Lake Celeron quad-core processor, which targets at medical care solution, financial markets and more applications. Furthermore, Clientron is displaying its entire POS product portfolio. For all-in-one POS terminals, Clientron is presenting PST650 suited for the food service industry. The PST650 features streamline, compact and lightweight design and built-in thermal printer integration supporting multiple well-known printer models, saving counter footprint and cost. Another focus on the show is the PT2000 POS terminal, aiming at cost-effective product segment with valuable benefits supporting multiple peripheral solutions to enhance user experience. Also at the show are a variety of the extended POS peripherals.Meanwhile, Clientron is exhibiting multiple innovative products, of which the R800 thin client was recently recognized with the 26th Taiwan Excellence Award. The Bello, Wing, Ares series of fanless multi-functional POS terminals also have won the Taiwan Excellence Award. There are also newly introduced embedded IPCs to highlight Clientron's capability of meeting the needs of multiple customers with a high-quality, complete product line.Clientron showcasing its IPC products at Computex

Cayin Technology, a digital signage solution provider, will take part in Computex 2018. Located in the Business Solution and Smart Retail section of the tradeshow, Cayin will introduce a few trendy integrations to help digitizing in-store experience and management, including audience measurement, indoor air quality monitoring, and customer interactions.Audience measurementPartnering with Quividi - a global leader in digital signage analytics and interactivity - Cayin will bring together an interactive advertisement solution. Quividi provides a privacy protecting computer-vision technology that helps screen networks, retailers, and brands finely measure and classify their audience, understand the performance of their content, and support audience-aware experiences, using real-time data to make creative and messaging more engaging and effective.Two screens will be showcasing the intelligent interactive solution. The first one will showcase examples of adverts that can be contextually triggered against the profile and behavior of the audience, while the second one will show the wealth of data collected by the platform.Indoor air quality monitoringMost countries have regulations regarding air quality standards within confined commercial spaces. Customers, especially parents with young children, also pay more attention to and want to be informed on those conditions these days. By merging indoor air quality (IAQ) monitors with digital signage, Cayin provides a solution that will give customers a reassuring shopping environment.Interactive retail applicationInteractive solutions often create better customer engagements, and by incorporating digital signage into the mix, retailers can save on labor costs as well. Customers can simply scan the package to find out about prices, product info, and even link to an e-commerce site for further engagement. The flexibility to integrate with POS systems also gives the solution the advantage as an add-on to existing systems.In addition to the smart retail solutions, visitors will find out about Cayin's upcoming partnerships, projects and products. Cayin is at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1, Booth K1324.

Leveraging robust R&D capabilities as well as manufacturing and customization flexibility, APD Group's long-term efforts toward the power supply market are generating results, allowing it to build up a significant presence in the global network, IT, consumer product and healthcare application markets. Many well-known world-class companies engage in long standing collaborations with APD, according to Rax Chuang, general manager, APD Power System Business Group.Implementing the DFSS approach, APD upholds premium qualityAPD's customization design capabilities are already market proven and its impressive achievements are backed by powerful R&D strength. Attaching great importance to research and development, APD employs an engineering team of more than 300 employees, representing 17% of its staff, and also allocates more than 5% of its annual revenue to research and development every year. Furthermore, to bring its critical product and manufacturing technologies to a whole new level, APD has fully engaged in Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) certification so that APD R&D engineers will implement systematic approaches throughout the product development cycle from initial design to volume production, delivering premium quality and guaranteeing high reliability of APD products.It should be noted that although R&D strength, customization design and manufacturing flexibility are no doubt the most important factors leading to APD's recognition by international customers, the fact that APD takes corporate social responsibility (CSR) to heart also helps it win long-term partnerships with American and European companies. As a matter of fact, APD recently received the bronze medal award from Deutsche Telekom in recognition of its CSR achievements in labor issues, health and safety, environmental protection, code of ethics and management system.Stepping up efforts toward the healthcare marketIn terms of market expansion efforts, power supply vendors have been eyeing the healthcare sector as profit margins on power supplies for IT and consumer products continue to narrow. However, the conservative healthcare market imposes stringent requirements on safety and puts up a high barrier barring quick and easy entry. "We have been putting efforts in the healthcare sector for more than a decade. APD has accumulated competitive advantages that other vendors won't be able to match anytime soon," stated Chuang.APD's efforts toward the healthcare sector have allowed it to obtain certifications for compliance with ISO 13485 Medical Devices Quality Management Systems Standards and IEC 60601 Safety Requirement for Medical Equipment, demonstrating APD products' high quality, high reliability and high safety standards fully meet the healthcare sector's demanding requirements.APD now mainly provides premium quality power supplies for medical equipment including resuscitators, nebulizers and blood pressure gauges. Take resuscitators for example. Chuang emphasized that requirements on medical-grade power supplies with respect to protection against noise, electromagnetic interference and water are far more demanding than IT- and consumer-level power supplies. With years of continuing efforts in refining medical-grade power supply quality to keep up with diverse and stringent safety requirements, APD has engaged in collaborations with leading European, Australian and Japanese medical equipment providers. This is certainly a recognition of APD's R&D strength for medical-grade power supplies.Going forward, APD will ramp up efforts toward the China healthcare market. "The China healthcare market is full of potential and multiple vendors are still competing for dominant market shares. APD will strive for early entrance and reap first-mover advantages," remarked Chuang. As part of such efforts, APD participated in China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) 2018 and received positive responses. Its capability to provide flexible custom-designed medical-grade power supplies has caught market attention and APD expects this will lead to multiple partnership deals.State-of-the-art labs help customers shorten time-to-marketFor the purpose of implementing full control on the quality of power supplies for medical equipment and other devices and also helping customers accelerate time-to-market around the world, APD has devoted tremendous resources to building the most advanced safety laboratories in the industry, including a UL lab and an EMC lab. Such establishments allow APD to keep abreast with the latest industry standards including IEC/EN/UL 62368, IEC/EN/UL 60950-1 and IEC/EN/UL 60065 in terms of product safety, EMC, energy efficiency and certification tests. Chuang specifically pointed out, "The significance of these state-of-the-art labs being in place is that APD's system operation and engineering capabilities can be 100% trusted."Commenting on the company's long-term outlook, Chuang affirmed, "APD will continue to focus on R&D of critical technologies, refine customization design capabilities and raise manufacturing efficiency to provide worldwide customers with the most competitive power supply products and services and establish itself as a leader in its target market segment."At Computex 2018, APD will showcase a diverse range of power supplies for network communication devices, consumer electronics and medical equipment as well as custom-made power supply solutions. Visitors are welcome to the APD booth for more information.Rax Chuang, general manger, APD's Power System Business Group Photo: Company

Dedicated to manufacturing industrial grade touchscreen and cover glass products, Liyitec is headquartered in the Guishan Industrial District, northern Taiwan, with two factories to satisfy customer's one-stop shopping requirements - from font-end process such as glass cutting, polishing, surface treatment, to back-end process such as touch screen module manufacturing and lamination.With its major customers in Japan, Europe, the US and Taiwan, Liyitec's products cater to various areas - industrial , automotive, aviation, marine navigation, medical, educational, outdoor digital signage and gaming applications - to meet the demand of highly customized needs for different kinds of customer. The development of industrial products is different from that of consumer ones. In order to ensure the reliability and quality, the design, manufacturing and validation of industrial products are much more stringent and complicated, taking much longer than those for consumer products. All these efforts ensure that once the product is designed-in, it will be more difficult to be replaced by competitions. Although industrial products are usually characterized by clients placing orders of lower quantities compared to those for consumer devices, the orders are longer-term and more stable. Being able to provide long-term support and reliable products are important responsibilities and missions of a manufacturer who dedicates to industrial products. These are main reasons why Liyitec has been able to sustain its business for 30 years, accumulating so many long-term partnerships with customers.The products of Liyitec are touch screen modules and cover glasses. They can be divided into flat type, curve type and profile-cut type. Products are sized from 5-inch for handheld device to 65-inch for outdoor digital signage or white board. Liyitec has its own production team equipped with cutting and CNC machine to satisfy automotive customer's profile-cutting demand. It is worth mentioning that, for the automotive industry, outdoor digital signage and gaming industry, in order to create high added value, more and more diverse products, including curved products, are starting to appear in the market. Liyitec is the market leader of curved type products capable of making single and multiple curvatures.To satisfy the safety demand in automotive, aviation, marine or outdoor applications, safer products are needed in the market. The anti-explosion products ensure that, when the product is hit with tremendous force and breaks, the glass will not shattered into pieces and will still stick together as a whole to prevent hurting users, like the safety glass of car windshields. Liyitec is a pioneer in the industry to introduce anti-shatter PVB in its anti-explosion and anti-UV touch screen to protect users. Also, Liyitec offers AG (anti-glare), AR (anti-reflection) and AF (anti-fingerprint) surface treatments to spare clients from multiple outsourcing for different processes - a service that satisfy customer's one-stop shopping demand.Liyitec will exhibit its products at Computex 2018 (TWTC Hall 1, Touch Applications & Display Products C0620) including medium -to large-size flat, curve, profile-cut, anti-explosion touch screen as well as cover glass to satisfy all kinds of customization needs.Liyitec's 65-inch anti-explosion and anti-shatter touch screenJ-type curved touch screen

Flash memory is a non-volatile storage medium. This means that data remains on the solid state drive (SSD) without power. There are however certain factors that can lead to data loss and data degradation.Data retention: Temperature and P/E cyclesHigh temperatures and frequent program/erase (P/E) cycles can both severely impact data retention. Every cell inside flash traps a negative charge that represents a binary value (e.g. 01, 10 etc.). These cells are generally very good at holding on to this charge, but every now and then some of the charge will leak out. Error correction code is normally very good at picking this up and fixing the problem.High temperatures will, however, speed up the rate of leakage. Testing shows that the data retention of standard MLC flash decreases 168-fold when moving from 40 degrees C to 85 degrees C. This means data that would normally last 2 years, will experience issues in only five days. The problem is further exacerbated as the number of P/E cycles increases, meaning that SSDs in heavy-writing environments are particularly at risk.iRetentionInnodisk's new iRetention technology tackles this problem through smart firmware and hardware innovations. An onboard sensor will constantly monitor temperatures, which along with the P/E cycle number is used to calculate how often to refresh the data. This is all handled by the SSD itself and will self-adjust to changes in the environment.iRetention is perfect for devices that see extreme temperatures and thermal variation. This makes it suitable for application such as in-vehicle, automation, food processing, and aerospace and defense. Innodisk will showcase iRetention during Computex, June 5 to 9, at Nangang Exhibition Center, booth#J0618Innodisk's most reliable mainstream MLC solutioniRetention will periodically refresh data as data retention drops in challenging environmentsInnodisk at Computex 2018

Artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of things (IoT) are seeing explosive growths. Obviously, things like deep learning are quite exciting, and they are starting to impact various aspects of people's daily lives. Service providers are opening up cloud infrastructures for smart applications at a rapid pace. The advent of increasingly powerful processors, wireless communication technologies and sensors offer new design concepts for embedded systems. With such advances come new business opportunities for embedded system makers and solution providers. The AIoT era is coming.Smart embedded systems and AIoT solutions are getting complicated. Apart from faster Internet connection and interconnectivity between network nodes, the performance of embedded systems is ramping up substantially. And the trend towards high level integration of the embedded systems raises the bar for solution providers.Founded in 1979, SECO is an Italy-based leading embedded system and industrial solution provider with complete control over the entire design cycle to mass production of embedded solutions. The company designs standard solutions as well as custom embedded systems to meet specific needs of customers. After almost 40 years with a core capability of strong vertical system integration, SECO maintains long-term partnerships with both x86-based CPU/APU and ARM-based chip makers. SECO offers product lines powered by AMD, Intel, NXP, Nvidia, Qualcomm and TI embedded processors. In a recent interview, Gianluca Venere, SECO Director of Global Sales & Chief Strategy Officer, explained the company's global strategies for developing embedded system market sectors and its further business development in Asia region.One of the most well-known product lines of SECO is its computer on module (COM). It embraces a cross-platform philosophy with a modular design aiming to provide flexibility of switching between different CPU/APU with the same form factors. Whether it is switching from x86 to ARM-cored CPUs, or changing different grades of ARM-cored microprocessors to tackle cost concerns, SECO's cross-platform carrier boards give the freedom of switching CPUs without adjusting any dual inline package switch (DIP switch) or changing jumper settings. The beauty of this design comes from the similar concept of seamless transformation satisfying diverse applications with intensive computing requirements in various embedded systems, enabling both extreme flexibility and vast scalability.Today, this cross-platform design has been extended to support FPGA chips, Venere stressed. Customers could change between FPGA chip vendors such as Xilinx and Altera. As far as the promising AIoT and edge computing are concerned, intelligent medical solutions are just beginning to take off, and edge computing powered by AI-enabled FPGA chips is even more exciting. With the advantage of flexibility, fast speed and low-power consumption, FPGAs have been rapidly more attention from smart medical solution providers, Venere highlighted.FGPA technologies have advanced to the point where engineers can build much larger, more complex chips with pre-built modules for anything from processor cores to custom algorithm accelerators. Leveraging the on-the-fly reconfigurable nature of FPGAs, SECO has implemented the new design with hardware-software integration to meet customers' requirements. Besides FPGA technology support, the cooperation with Wind River, a global leader in embedded software and a real-time operating system vendor, also helps SECO provide complete embedded solutions to customers.As the center of the global economy gradually moves from the west to east, attention is shifting from mature to emerging markets. With the unique strength of cross-platform technology to provide customers with flexible and fast time-to-market solutions, SECO has been servicing the fast growing Asian markets since 2012. Medical solutions are currently a key focus of development. Although it will take time to build relationships with targeted first-tier partners/customers in Japan and South Korea, Venere still feels very optimistic because of SECO's complete range of embedded system solutions.To establish a strong presence in Asia, SECO will establish a solution development center in Taiwan in 2019. This is an important investment for linking with Taiwan's IT talent and industry, and providing support for customers in Asia.SECO is showcasing its products at Computex 2018, at Nangang Exhibition Hall 1, Booth K0102. On display are solutions in SECO's Qseven, COM Express and SMARC product lines. SECO welcomes visitors to its booth to get first-hand experiences of its products.Gianluca Venere, Director of Global Sales & Chief Strategy Officer, SECO

Litemax Electronics, a leader in enabling intelligent vertical market platforms, is exhibiting at Computex 2018, one of the most prominent trade shows specializing in IOT. Litemax has enjoyed a strong reputation in high brightness, resizing LCD, with numerous high-profile success stories around the world.Recently hundreds of units of Litemax's resizing LCD series, known as Spanpixel, were chosen to improve the passenger experience in Jakarta airport express. Litemax Spanpixel is a custom-sized, stretched display that fits right in on-board trains. In addition, all 28-inch Spanpixel models are certified with EN50155, an internationally recognized certification designed for rolling stock systems in the transportation sector, covering electronic equipment used on rolling stock for railway applications. With EN50155 certification, Litemax Spanpixels are proven to be anti-shock, anti-vibration, low in EMC noise and highly reliable - perfect for transportation.Litemax is also working closely with Intel to develop the new SDM (Smart Display Module) series. In the IOT era, screens need to be connected, with the beauty of SDM, you can swap and upgrade easily, depending on the calculation power you need. Litemax is showcasing turnkey solution of facial recognition with software partner TCIT & Quividi to be a market ready solution.As Litemax's resizing technology advances, more and more innovative designs begin to roll out. At this year's Computex, the world's first resized, 4K2K LCD Curvedpixel displays will be showcased to set the standard for all casino gaming display makers. The 4K2K Curvedpixel models come in several sizes engineered for the best practice in the vertical, ranging from 43-inch to 51-inch.2018 Computex BC Award : Litemax IPPS-2118-KBL5-WP00This product is one of the few ultra-thin touch-control computers that has both ultra-high brightness and IP68 waterproof for the entire machine; it is applicable for various rigorous environments such as offshore oil-drilling platforms and other high-salt, high humidity environments.This product uses AOT(Advanced Optibond Technology) to increase the quality and reliability of the entire system, an internal/external pressure balancing system to allow it to adapt to different altitudes and temperature changes, and it has a built-in automatic temperature control design.IP68 Panel PCs - protected against dust and waterThe abbreviation IP stands for International Protection and classifies electronic devices into different types of protection with regard to their suitability for various environmental conditions. Therefore so-called "IP codes" are used. The first digit stands for protection against dust, the second digit for protection against water.The rugged panel PC from the Litemax IPPS-2118-KBL5-WP00 are categorized with an IP68 protection class and are dustproof and can even withstand submersion in up to 1m of water. High tolerances also apply to the operating temperature range of -20 degrees C to +50 degrees C. The extremely sturdy touchscreen panel PCs are therefore well prepared for harsh industrial environments and outdoor applications.Litemax IPPS-2118-KBL5-WP00SUD5193 / ISDM-5502 SDM Ready