As embedded devices move towards intelligent systems, the traditional video surveillance devices are also seeking to add more intelligence, in order to make differentiation in the highly-competitive market. In WPC 2013, Advantech introduced the trend of deploying intelligent video solutions in a wide range of vertical applications and how it will team up with partners to provide complete hardware and software solutions.According to market reports, the production value of analog cameras, IP cameras and DVR will reach USD 16.4 billion by 2015, and the CAGR for electronic surveillance equipment from 2012 to 2017 is 17.8%."Though the video surveillance market is still growing, the fierce competition has made pure video hardware manufacturers almost profitless," Victor Jan, Senior Director of iService-IoT Division, Advantech, said.Jan stressed that, "In order to survive in the market and create added value for video surveillance, moving towards intelligent video or adopting video analytics solution has become a must. This is also Advantech's strategy to drive the wider adoption of intelligent video from this year."As more and more cameras are creating video data at unprecedented rates, how to properly handle the unstructured content has brought new challenges for customers. In particular, relying on human operators alone to investigate and review all the video content is very time consuming and imprecise.Dale Small, Senior Product Manager of 3VR, explained that, intelligent video is a digital video technology integrated with analytical software to automatically track and identify objects, analyze motion and extract video intelligence from analog, digital, or IP video streams.With this search, analysis, alert, and report functions, video surveillance could be more intelligent to handle the tasks such as counting the number of customers entering a building during a specific time period, identifying the geographic location of something or someone, or detecting suspicious activity and triggering alarms and/or alerts.Steve Shaw, Founder of TCIT, also introduced how the company's face recognition-based intelligent imaging solutions can to used for applications such as VIP or blacklist recognition, age and gender estimation, and parking lot detection."It is the trend that intelligent video go to vertical applications, including retail store, traffic monitoring, digital signage, inspection and so on," Victor Jan pointed out.FullSee Technology, Advantech's partner in China, introduced its intelligent video solutions in intelligent transport systems (ITS) and traffic monitoring. Matrox talked about its intelligent video walls solutions.Intelligent Video Analytics (IVA) market in 2011 was worth USD 180 million, and is expected to grow USD 867.8 million by 2017, with CAGR of 30.4% from 2012 to 2017. The potentials are huge.To help customer move into the intelligent video market quickly, Advantech not only teams up with related software partners but also develops a full range of hardware solutions.Victor Jan commented that, analog CCTV will still account for the larger portion in the surveillance equipment market in next three to five years. In response to the trend of moving towards IP and HD-SDI cameras, a Tribrid DVR system, which can be compatible with IP, HD-SDI, and CCTV structures, will play an important role in the transition period.Advantech can offer hardware solutions to fully satisfy this market demand. Meanwhile, though the platform competition among SoC/DSP, RISC, and x86 is getting bloody, Advantech bets on TI's DSP technology. "TI should be the winner in SMB and project-based IP surveillance market," Victor Jan said. With a full range of hardware and software solutions available, Advantech is now seeking partnership opportunity with local companies to further expand the intelligent video market in China.Advantech can offer Intelligent Video hardware solutions to fully satisfy this market demandFinding more Advantech WPC information

In WPC 2013, which was held from November 21st to November 23rd in Suzhou, Advantech invited important guests from Intel, ARM, and Loogson to join a panel discussion on the theme of "The Latest Technology Advancements and Industry Outlook to Accelerate Intelligent Solutions" to share their vision and technology, and advise how companies can work together to grow the ecosystem.As the intelligent system market grows, the world becomes more interconnected, which will ignite new and huge opportunities for everyone involved in the design and deployment of connected devices, including silicon vendors, hardware providers, software providers and system integrators. Thus, a robust and broad ecosystem support is required to make IoT a reality.All these three companies emphasized the importance of building a strong ecosystem to drive innovation. And they all are key partners for Advantech's embedded offerings.Hu Weiwu, Chief Architect of Loongson, pointed out that, "The business potential for IoT in China is definitely huge. However, because there is no strong ecosystem support, the IT industry of China is big but very weak. The 10 trillion RMB IT industry revenue only produces 3%~5% profit, and the total profit of Top 100 IT companies in China is only 40% profit of one company in US (Apple). Therefore, in order to establish a healthy industry, China needs to set up an ecosystem for IoT."Loongson is now building an ecosystem, including CPU, BIOS, middle ware, and application around its MCU offerings. Hu Weiwu said, "Our ecosystem is still very small. We look forward to cooperating with companies like Advantech to build a unified technology platform and commercial ecosystem for IoT in China."On the other hand, Hu Weiwu indicated that IoT has much higher security requirement than traditional computer and handheld systems. For example, it is dangerous if the power station of China can be remotely shut down abroad. System designers should develop devices with built-in security to reduce any possible risk.From Intel's perspective, Jim Robinson, General Manager of ISG Segment & Board Market Division at Intel said, "We are now at a major inflection point for the IoT market. In order to lead the transition, Intel is investing heavily in all related fields. One of the actions we took is to form a new business group, which was just announced a few weeks ago.""This new organization, IoT Solutions Group (ISG), will include the original Intelligent Systems Group and Wind River organizations, bringing together the intelligent systems hardware, software, services and platform elements together into one group. In particular, the group will report directly to our CEO office for the first time, which shows how big and important the market is for Intel."Intel is a long-term partner of Advantech. With its complete processor, platform, security, and connectivity technologies, Jim stressed that, "We are uniquely positioned to help create the solutions for a wide range of IoT applications."Nandan Nayampally, Vice President of Application System Marketing at ARM, commented that, "IoT is a trend and not a single sector or market. This trend will need cost effective and power efficient sensing technology that can last for years not hours. These sensors can gather small amounts of data for long periods, so that users can benefit by unlocking the value of the data collected by IoT."ARM processors span all verticals, and are deployed in all segments from endpoints, gateways, to servers. "8.7 billion ARM processors were shipped in 2012. As sensors will be pervasive in the new IoT era, it is estimated the cumulative shipment of ARM processors will reach 150 billion by 2020. We are just at the beginning of the revolution," Nandan Nayampally said.He also echoed the viewpoint of ecosystem, saying that, "Enabling ecosystems that drive innovation is a critical part of what ARM does with its partnership based business model. We have commitment to collaborative partnership and will drive embedded applications by standard offerings."In WPC 2013, Advantech invited important guests from Intel, ARM, and Loogson to join a panel discussion on the theme of "The Latest Technology Advancements and Industry Outlook to Accelerate Intelligent Solutions."Finding more case study articles

In response to the rise of intelligent systems, Advantech is undergoing an embedded business model transformation, aiming to become an intelligent system enabler and to provide customers with integrated solutions.At 2013 Advantech World Partner Conference held in Suzhou, Miller Chang, Vice President of Advantech Embedded Computing Group, talked about the initiates that Advantech has been taking to embrace the era of intelligent systems at the presentation titled "Core Engine Accelerate the Era of the Intelligent City.""Embedded Computing Group (ECG) has made great achievements in the last 5 years," Miller said. "In 2009, there were only 3 key account customers worldwide, each contributing USD 1M sales of our board level products. But this year, we are expecting 35 key account customers, who each purchases more than USD 1M of integrated embedded solutions from us. It's a remarkable 10 times of growth!"He noted that, according to the shipment data in 2012, over 1.5 million embedded boards and system were shipped, as well as 800,000 sets of embedded OS, 600,000 pieces of peripheral modules, and 400,000 pieces of LCD displays shipped out. The meaning of these numbers behind is that customers are looking for one-stop solutions and more embedded integration, and the traditional single solution business model is no longer suitable.Building Fully Integrated, Turnkey SolutionsIn line with customers' requirements and the emergence of intelligent systems, Miller stressed that, the traditional business model is changing. We need to proactively provide integrated solutions for embedded market, which means that we will move from hardware to turkey solution providers.Advantech is now aggressively building up a full range of embedded computing platforms, form factors, software, modules, and design-in services to help customers achieve time-to-market goal. "It's our mission to drive the transition to intelligent embedded systems," Miller said.For Advantech, innovation is the key to realize technology integration. The company is taking the lead to drive embedded form factor design and innovation. For example, its RTX board is designed for ruggedized application, and Q7 for portable application, M I/O Extension provides modularizes flexible I/O, and UBC for M2M focused wireless sensor network.In terms of IoT gateway and edge computing, Advantech is also keeping up the IoT trend to develop various new products, including UBC-FA30 edge computer, UBC-WN100 IP-based WSN, and UTX-3115 miniature IoT gateway, for applications such as production monitoring, environment protection, and traffic security management.Not only standard products, Advantech also focuses on some vertical segments, such gaming, digital signage, and machine control to provide integrated solutions. Miller said that, "The acquisition of UK-based intelligent display player GPEK is another example to show our continuous commitments in embedded computing market. With its join, we can upgrade our total solutions to the next level in this area."Establishing M2M Product DivisionUndoubtedly, the opportunities of IoT and smart city market are huge, with billions of devices to be interconnected by 2020. However, moving to the next phase of growth, the industry is still lack of robust and complete embedded M2M solutions for implementing complex remote communications, and for connecting devices to develop monitoring and remote control applications.In order to bridge the gap, Advantech has established a new product division called Embedded M2M Solutions. The division will focus on providing ready-to-use embedded M2M solutions by integrating Advantech's current embedded platforms, wireless modules, and remote control software; in collaboration with ecosystem partners.Miller stressed that, "We will work closely with software and silicon partners to provide a wide range of integrated solutions. The new Embedded M2M Solutions division will be launched in 2014. Leveraging our resources at A+TC in China and Taipei-LinKou center, we will be able to help customers in keeping up with IoT trends so they can take the lead. We are ready and look forward to collaborating with more partners for the business growth in the embedded sector.""We will be able to help customers in keeping up with IoT trends so they can take the lead," says Miller Chang, Vice President of Advantech Embedd Computing Group

CAYIN will take part in the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) trade show in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on February 4-6, 2014. CAYIN will take this opportunity to demonstrate its brand-new and advanced digital signage players.Continuing its commitment to developing the best solutions for its clients, CAYIN's professional team will present brand-new SMP-6000, SMP-4000, and SMP-2000 digital signage players at ISE 2014. The state-of-the-art digital signage players are all embedded with the completely renewed and upgraded SMP-NEO system software. Users can easily choose the most suitable products based on various project requirements from the variety of product offerings.SMP-NEO features a stunning and completely renewed system that provides users with intuitive and seamless user experiences. SMP-NEO has successfully improved its system for smooth operation with many great new features.Here are six significant features of SMP-NEO:*An Intuitive user interface: By visualizing the information and the menu icons, it allows users to get started more easily and quickly.*Rich library resources: Users can easily enrich the content with a variety of materials in the library, including files, fonts, clocks, programs, and playlists. Moreover, the system allows users to upload desired fonts or images or to download the latest template resources from CAYIN's Cloud service for free.*Powerful scheduling management: The rich and easy-to-operate scheduling system becomes a great help for users in efficiently organizing their schedules. By taking advantage of the time filter function, users can better monitor and learn more about detailed information of each agenda.*Web integration support: Users can present different web content, including Twitter, weather news, etc., or retrieve specific website content and broadcast them onto the digital signage displays simultaneously. In this way, sharing with the world at any moment becomes easier than ever.*Real-time online help: A navigation tutorial is now available on each page, helping users to easily solve all kinds of problems.*Simple playback settings: By integrating the functions of the SMP-PRO and SMP-WEB series, the playback settings of SMP-NEO have been redesigned to become more feature-rich and user-friendly. With the addition of a preview feature, SMP-NEO allows users to get the most use out of their SMP players.Ravel Chi, Vice President of CAYIN Technology, said, "SMP-NEO is the most significant upgrade for us over the years. The software provides users with higher performance and stable technology than ever. We strongly believe that SMP-NEO will bring higher user experience to our clients. "CAYIN sincerely welcomes you to visit ISE 2014, the largest professional AV and system integration trade show in Europe, on February 4-6, 2014. You are more than welcome to visit CAYIN and share in its exciting new product debut.Booth No. 8-F182About CAYIN TechnologyCAYIN Technology offers a complete portfolio of appliance-based digital signage solutions, including media players, servers, and software, for various commercial applications, such as education, transportation, retail, hospitality, corporate use, and financial and public institutions. CAYIN is dedicated to being a reliable partner to its clients worldwide and has successfully set up various application references globally. In order to best facilitate the deployment of CAYIN products, the company also provides tailored services to satisfy the ever-growing market demand for almost limitless applications.CAYIN's professional team will present brand-new SMP-6000, SMP-4000, and SMP-2000 digital signage players at ISE 2014.

APLEX Technology Inc., a global industrial computer products solution provider, will be showcasing an array of its latest technology and innovation products at the SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg from 26th to 28th November, 2013. During the exhibition, Aplex will introduce a series of brand new industrial computers specially designed for vertical application customers who are looking for compact, rugged, and cost-effective product solutions.The APC-3593P features stainless steel enclosure and provides full IP65 and IP69k certified to target at strict hygiene regulations for food/chemical industry. AEx-P526 with ATEX (EN-60079:11) provides solution for hazardous application. Moreover, Aplex transportation management solutions help customers to increase visibility into mobile logistics environments by capturing real-time data about cargoes, trucks, deliveries, vessels and workers.Intelligent transportation applicationsAt the 2013 SPS IPC Drives, Aplex's transportation management solution will present how to manage a moving asset in an energy-saving and efficient way. Aplex's transportation applications include marine, railway, and fleet management. For instance, the APC-3920 meets the requirement of DNV standard IEC 60945 and fit in marine application. Moreover, when operating in a speedy railway, it is critical to have industrial solution provide anti-vibration and shock-resistance. Aplex ACS-2563 with EN50155 compliance guarantees high reliability and stability during the journey. To navigate route and transmit data for mobile vehicles, APC-3122 features communication functions including WiFi/GPS/3G to make sure the real-time data capture and fast response.Space-limited and harsh environmentsWith the growing demand for small size and rich I/O interface on a device, the ultra slim fanless ACS-2160 (less than 3cm in height) is a versatile BOX PC which can be installed in space-limited applications such as digital signage, KIOSK, and Point of Information. The ultra slim fanless ACS-2160 can be multifunctional turned your display into a panel PC when it is integrated with a LCD. For harsh environment application, the AEx-P526 equipped with EN60079-11 316 stainless steel enclosure provides solid and reliable protection for hazard applications such as coal mine industries and so on.Expert of stainless steel productExtending Aplex's successful line of stainless steel panel PC, the APC-3593P with full IP 65 rating and IP69K protection provides projected capacitive touch with multi-touch function, enabling zoom, pan and rotate functions and enhancing users touch experience.Aplex is displaying our comprehensive portfolio in the 2013 SPS IPC Drives, and in Aplex Booth in Hall 8, stand 8-200, your will see how Aplex makes our partners more efficient, flexible and productive in their business as well as create add value for our customers.

In line with the rising popularity of IoT (Internet of Things), FineTek (Group) Company, which has deepened its deployments in the industrial sensor market by utilizing its in-house developed technologies, has rolled out integrated wireless smart sensors based on IEEE 802.15.4-enabled Zigbee Pro and WirelessHART 7.3 standards for IoT applications.FineTek has also optimized a number of technologies for versatility of industrial sensors , including PZT (piezoelectric), magnetostrive, radar, optical, flow and RF technologies, to help upgrade the process automation industry, pioneer the development of wireless technology within the industry and formulate related standards and specifications for industrial certification.Enhancing R&D capability; setting international standards and certificationDr. Kelvin Cheng, vice president of FineTek, indicates that there are five categories of physical sensors: temperature, pressure, level, flow and power sensors. These sensors are widely used for process automation in cement, petrochemical, shipbuilding, refrigeration/air conditioning, steel, engineering machinery, food/pharmaceutical machinery industries.Since it began marketing its products under "FineTek" and "FineAutomation" brands in 2003, FineTek now has become a leading supplier of level sensors globally. With R&D personnel accounting for one-fifth of its total employees and R&D expenditure accounting for 12% of its annual sales, FineTek is typically a paragon of technology-oriented company, capable of handling R&D, design, marketing and manufacturing of sensor products in-house.With over 95% of owned design and manufacture in products, FineTek won the National Award of Outstanding Small and Medium Enterprises in 2009, the National Quality Award in 2010, and the Taiwan Excellence Award 2012-2013, and it was also inducted as one of the 128 National Backbone Enterprises in 2013. To encourage an integrated development and fundamental research among industries and academics, FineTek has invested large sums in holding an annual scientific thesis contest since 2012. Graduate students in electronics, telecommunications, machinery and related engineering departments are encouraged to participate in the contest.Dr. Cheng points out that the manufacture of industrial electronic sensors is a complex integrated process combining optics, mechanics, electronics and materials, featuring diverse specifications, customized applications, stringent operating environments and high reliability requirements. After decades of efforts, FineTek's brand image, product portfolios and explosion proof and intrinsic safety related products have built a high barrier that rival companies hard to surpass. This makes FineTek one of a very few companies in Asia that lead the industry in terms of R&D design, owned manufacturing, specifications ruling and owned marketing.FineTek was the sole representative of the manufacturing sector in Asia to take part in PTB-UL Workshop 2012. FineTek has also played an important role promoting the establishment of China's national (GB) standards, Taiwan's TS explosion-proof certification as well as Taiwan's national standards for low-pressure gas flow calibration.Enhancing technological services and new product deploymentsFineTek's competitiveness lies in its unique capability to pioneer the industry by providing its clients with its "SAVE" technological services that help integrate knowledge between clients and supply chains, shunning cut-throat pricing competition in 4P (product, price, packaging and promotion) areas, Dr. Cheng stresses.SAVE is an acronym of Solution, Access, Value and Education, representing the company's aims to provide its clients with integrated solutions that enable access to convenient procurement and technology services, that ramp up application value at clients, and that integrate educational training between clients and supply chains, Dr. Cheng explains.Under SAVE, FineTek offers a number of services to clients, covering product design, on-spot technical support and industry information. It also helps clients enhance their user experience by offering them integrated operating interfaces with wireless communications compatibility.For small- and medium-size enterprises in the process automation industry, FineTek not only provides them with physical sensors, but also helps them build up needed platforms for Internet connectivity and access to wireless sensor networks. FineTek also offers basic training and industry knowledge for human-machine interaction, as well as other educational programs and real-time technical support for industrial upgrading.Management consulting company McKinsey has pointed out that a total of 12 out of 100 major technologies currently being developed will have the highest potential in the future, and these 12 most promising technologies will generate total production value of up to 14-33 trillion USD by 2025. FineTek is currently involved in four of the most promising technologies: mobile Internet, Internet of Things (IoT), oil and gas exploration, and renewable energy applications.The global process automation industry requires the most demanding industrial explosion-proof certified devices. To meet such requirements, as well as rising demand stirred up by IoT development, FineTek is also delivering its core remote wireless monitoring and contactless smart sensing technologies aiming to stimulate new business opportunities worldwide.Applications for homeland monitoring and new energy explorationIn addition to deepening its development of IEEE 802.15.4-based wireless smart sensor solutions, FineTek has also ventured into the development of radar sensors and magnetostrictive level sensors. FineTek is also capable of offering next-generation low-power physical sensors which are built combining renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro and vibration) and wireless networks for new energy exploration in the wilderness, and environment and homeland monitoring in remote areas.Optimizing our core technologies and SAVE service model, FineTek's integrated sensor solutions cover microwave electronics technology, radar technology, magnetic components, wireless solutions, flow technology, and PZT and optical applications. These will be recognized as most reliable branded products in the international real manufacturer, fulfilling our goal of becoming one of the top-10 physical sensor providers globally.FineTek intelligent wireless sensor networking solutions

Featuring low-power consumption, small size, and a wide operating temperature range, RISC-based devices are playing an increasingly important role in the embedded market. At the panel discussion themed on "Key business growth driver – RISC", Advantech invited executives from Freescale, TI, and Advantech Europe and China to discuss its huge market opportunities as well as the challenges ahead, and how Advantech is collaborating with partners to provide complete RISC-based solutions.The RISC Market is BoomingFrom the perspective of power consumption and response time, RISC architecture such as ARM will have a considerable advantage in embedded application. With more and more smart nodes devices will be installed in the smart city, this represents a hug market opportunity for RISC devices.According to Aaron Su, Director of Advantech Embedded Computing Group, in the smart city network architecture, the middle level and advanced computing needs will still be taken by X86, while the entry-level intelligent system, such as "smart nodes" in intelligent cloud network, will be dominated by ARM. ARM-based micro computing will be the last mile technology of smart city.Carlos Betancourt, Sitara ARM MPU Marketing Manager of TI, is also optimistic about the future of RISC architecture, saying that it is estimated that ARM-based processors will be widely used in a wide range of IoT markets, such as point of service, smart grid, automotive, medical, and connected home, with CAGR more than 10%."The opportunity for ARM in China market is also huge," said Xiaofeng Ou, Sales and Marketing Manager of Advantech China. One of the reasons is that customers may switch from existing X86 architecture to ARM because of better power consumption. At the same time, for a better choice on performance, customers may also decide to upgrade from old models to new ones.However, though RISC-based products can offer a better P/C rate for embedded applications, there are still many challenges for the customers to us RISC solutions.Driving Growth through RISC Standards"As the industry is driving the progress of IoT applications, there are still plenty of challenges to overcome, such as issues of connectivity, power, security, design complexity and rapidly evolving standards," Carlos Betancourt said.In order to cope with these issues, what the industry needs are: broad variety of wired or wireless standards, the lowest power solutions for any applications, build-in hardware security technology, IoT solutions for everyone, not just experts, and flexible hardware and software portfolios to mix and match.Stephane Gervais-Ducouret, Director of Global Market for Consumer & Industrial, Freescale, echoed this viewpoint. He emphasized that, in the IoT era, the industry needs more flexible solutions, since one size doesn't fit all anymore. In addition to cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency, the main considerations should also include real-time and user interface, portfolio breadth that enables software scalability, and embedded architecture with a rich software ecosystem.He pointed out that board solution is the best way for fast adoption while addressing increasing number of new applications. And both TI and Freescale are teaming up with Advantech to offer a wide range of solutions.On the other hand, Vincenzo Difronzo, Sales and Marketing Manager of Advantech Europe, stressed that the lack of standard makes customers cautious about using ARM architecture because of its low ROI. Adopting RISC-based designs is time and cost consuming. Therefore, minimize design efforts is a must for the wide adoption of ARM architecture in IoT applications.In view of this demand, Advantech is actively participating in the specification definition for Qseven and SMARC to promote RISC-based industrial standards. In addition, for rugged applications, Advantech has proposed a RTX 2.0 (RISC Technology extended) form factor.Advantech has collaborated with partners to offer a full range of standardized modules such as Qseven, SMARC, and RXT. In addition to module solutions, Advantech also provides complete 3.5" RISC-based box computer products, such as the newly launched UBC-DS31, to help customers leverage RISC-based products more easily. Through partnering and speeding up the progress of standardization efforts, Advantech is well positioned to embrace the great opportunities of RISC market.Advantech has collaborated with partners to offer a full range of standardized modules such as Qseven, SMARC, and RXT.

2013 Advantech World Partner Conference (WPC) was grandly held in Suzhou China on November 21~23, 2013 with more than 500 partners attending this event. During the three days of activities themed on "Partnering for Smart City & IoT Solutions", Advantech clearly delivered the messages that how the new era of IoT will bring new opportunities to the traditional embedded market and how the company will strive for the next phase of significant growth.During his keynote speech titled "Leadership in Integrated Embedded Computing Solutions" KC Liu, CEO of Advantech, shared with the audience about the transformation of embedded business development and Advantech's strategies to address this evolution.Smart City & IoT to Drive Huge OpportunitiesThis year is Advantech's thirty-year anniversary, and the company has also achieved USD 1 billion of revenue this year. "For the past thirty years, Advantech has become one of the global leaders in embedded computing," said KC Liu. "When asked about the future of Advantech's next thirty years, I think the answer is clear: smart city and IoT solutions."According to IDC, there will be 25B IoT devices installed by 2020 to enable smart city, and it is estimated that the market size of Smart city and IoT will reach USD 10 trillion in 2030."I believe that in the coming 30 years, most cities in the world will become smart cities, enabled by technologies of IoT, sensors, iConnectivity, industrial cloud, embedded computing, and many integrated vertical solutions. With a huge number of things will be connected intelligently, there are great opportunities in front of us."The industry is just at the beginning of this great revolution, and it still takes time for each solution to get matured. But with the firm believe that smart city solutions will be able to change the world and people's lives, KC Liu emphasized, "It's our job to make it happen.""In response to the mega trend, the smart city industry will take a paradigm shift from horizontally-integrated PC era to segmented vertical solutions provided by domain focused system integrators. The winner in the smart city era will be B2B SI-oriented players like most of us.""Embedded computer and intelligent systems are the building blocks for smart city and IoT solutions, which are also the two main focuses of this conference. I'd like to make every partner aware that Advantech does not only selling computing boards, but also the leading provider of the core building blocks for upcoming new era."Initiating Sector-Lead Business TransformationAs the industry is moving towards the new IoT era, the traditional business model will also need to be adapted. KC stated that, Advantech is making transformation from previous product-lead business structure to Sector-lead business structure.Under this structure, Advantech will grow its global sales forces in iAutomation, Embedded Market and iService market respectively. Also, the company will pursue IoT evolution with i-Cloud and intelligent systems, covering intelligent video, network security, industrial cloud, equipment builder, and intelligent transportation.At the same time, In order to upgrade Advantech's offerings, it is evolving embedded business model from General platform, to application ready platform (ARP), and further to service ready platform/package (SRP).KC Liu explained that for the past years, Advantech has successfully transformed from general embedded platform providers to application ready platform (ARP) providers, focusing on building domain dedicated system platforms for a wide range of applications, including medical computing, POS, KIOSK, and digital signage, etc.In the next phase, Advantech will evolve itself again to SRP, covering domain focused integration services, ARP hardware, software solution, and industrial cloud, with the aim to realizing the vision of iRetail, iHospital, iBuilding, intelligent video and more. By doing so, Advantech will be able off SRP to its SI customers and make their jobs much easier.Chaney Ho, President of Advantech, echoed KC's statement. Ho pointed out that Advantech will change its business model from product selling to application and solutions selling and from regional sales to global integrated sector sales.In addition to this, Advantech is also setting up Local Growth Team (LGT), aiming to connect headquarter resources and then develop China needed products, so as to distribute them globally with competitive prices.Under this transformation, Ho is very optimistic about Advantech's future growth, saying, "We have taken 30 years to achieve USD 1B revenue. But with three key factors, including smart city and IoT era, sector-lead transformation, and collaborate with global partners, I believe we will be able to reach USD 2B revenue by 2018, only 5 years from now."In the end, Liu stressed that through collaborating, Advantech and partners can develop integrated and innovated solutions together to realize the vision of smart city. "The opportunity to change the world is in front of us," he said.2013 Advantech World Partner Conference (WPC) was grandly held in Suzhou China on November 21~23, 2013 with more than 500 partners attending this event.

Advantech+ Technology Campus (A+TC) is a newly-built, 40,000m2 four-building campus in Kunshan, which will officially open in January, 2014. For Advantech, the campus is positioned as a collaborative, embedded R&D design-in center in China, and also an important base for smart city development.The Role that A+TC PlaysAccording to KC Liu, CEO of Advantech, the campus was designed with two special concepts. First, it's planned to be a collaborative technology center with talents from all over China and even worldwide. So, there is a campus dormitory, with more than 90 rooms for long-stay talents.Second, it will be a demo center for smart city technology and solutions. The top two floors of the main building will be used as a long-term smart city solution demo place, where customers and partners can further understand Advantech's complete offerings for buildings a wide range of intelligent systems.This investment shows Advantech's commitment to long-term development of smart city and IoT solutions in China.KC stated that, the "+" in A+ TC stands for the constant pursuit of the Good to Great spirit of enterprise, and the word "plus" in Chinese also means "together", symbolizing that through A+ TC, Advantech will collaborate with partners to enable an intelligent planet together."In addition to be used for open design facilities, HW/SW design teams, and demo floors, the campus is aimed to achieve partner value creation effects, including Partner Joint Projects, Key account ODM, and the gateway for foreign partners to enter China market. We will develop fully integrated, highly flexible, and partner friendly design solutions here to help customers embrace the great opportunities in the new IoT era."Just 400 meter away from A+TC, there is Advantech Kushanh Manufacturing Campus (AKMC). Currently, there are 2400 employees working in this seven-building campus, providing 60% of Advantech's overall manufacturing capacities.Together with the manufacturing, customization, and logistics capabilities of AKMC, KC stressed that Advantech will be able to drive the rapid progress of smart city solution integration and China local growth business.Showcase of Comprehensive Intelligent SolutionsAt the eighth and ninth floors of A+TC, a broad range of themed pavilions are displayed. At the eighth floor, there are exhibitions of Intelligent Service, Digital Logistics, Digital Healthcare, and iAutomation.Visitors can have a better understanding of the actual applications and scenarios of intelligent systems, such as intelligent retail & hospitality, quality nursing care, and intelligent outpatient services and more.And in the ninth floor, there are several different pavilions, including embedded M2M/IoT modules, intelligent signage, embedded software, ecosystem center, embedded board and design-in service, cloud networks & communications, and embedded DSP.In particular, all the intelligent systems in these pavilions are connected with Advantech's SUSIAccess. It's a perfect demonstration of how Advantech's embedded computing builds connectivity to intelligent systems.On the other hand, the building of A+TC itself is actually a showcase of the company's wide range of intelligent products and solutions, including Building and Energy Management Systems (BEMS), human sensing control, smart card, intelligent video system, intelligent reception, intelligent meeting, and intelligent parking.For example, at the main entrance of the building, there is a control room showing various information of the building, such as power consumption, and the status of HVAC and parking lots and more. And at the lobby, there are signage systems delivering fresh digital content in the i-Reception area, and an interactive TV-wall, e-Catalog, welcome board and digital artworks will reside in various areas of the building. Advantech will make use of A+TC as an actual example of intelligent building and further promote its concept and market adoptions.Advantech+ Technology Campus (A+TC) is positioned as a collaborative, embedded R&D design-in center in Kunshan, China, and also an important base for smart city development.

Infinet Group, a leading sales channel of test and measurement solutions, expands sales partnership with Wilder Technologies to South Korea and Japan regions. Infinet Group is now the distributor of Wilder Technologies for Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan delivering complete high performance test fixture solutions and services.Wilder Technologies is the leading manufacturer of high performance test fixtures and has recently introduced the latest MHL, myDP test fixtures for high-speed data, voice and video transmission product test demands in the cloud-computing and high-speed mobile transmission era. Infinet Group delivers the fastest, most accurate and comprehensive MHL and myDP source/receiver/physical-layer test solutions and valued-services by integrating Wilder Technologies MHL (Mobile High-definition Link) test fixtures, Agilent oscilloscopes and network analyzers, and high frequency RF matched pair cables.About Infinet Group:Infinet Group (http://www.infinet.com.tw/) is a professional sales channel delivering leading test and measurement solutions in Greater China (Taiwan and China). Infinet delivers global advanced precision measurement instruments, industrial environment test tools, RF cable adapters, and high-speed digital test fixture product and services. Established in early 2000, Infinet has built a well-established organization in the region with strong sales, engineering, operation management, customer services, logistics, and marketing functions. Infinet Group builds up one Digital Laboratory and one Microwave Test Application Laboratory with test capacity and technical consultation service of USB3.0, DDR, HDMI, 10GBaseT, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, SATA, PCI Express, MIPI, LCR and Impedance, RF component test, and Wireless application test. Infinet Group includes Infinet-Taiwan, Infinet-China, and ATeam Scientific. Infinet is a subsidiary of Spirox Corporation (Taiwan Stock Exchange: #3055).About Wilder Technologies:Wilder Technologies (http://www.wilder-tech.com/) was formed for the purpose of utilizing the combined talents of highly trained and experienced engineers and scientists to design, create and characterize the most uniquely enabling technologies for high speed signal data transmission. Wilder Technologies uses a systemic approach to solving signal integrity challenges using time and frequency domain analysis, measurement techniques, state of the art tools and design methodologies to develop metrological solutions such as high-speed, high-performance test adapters. Wilder Technologies products are certified by various international standards: SAS, SATA, Thunderbolt, DiiVA, DisplayPort, HDMI, MHL, SFP+, QSFP+, Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE), FC16, M.2(NGFF).