NUREMBERG, Germany — Nov. 27
, 2012
— Reduced labor costs. Shorter time-to-market. These are more than just goals for modern manufacturers; in the intensely competitive world of global industry, they’re essential for survival. To gain an edge, manufacturers must transform their operations, their approach to building innovative products and processes, and the way they grow their businesses.
Microsoft’s technology, strategic leadership and partner ecosystem empower companies by enhancing interactions among co-workers, customers, suppliers and regulators across their value chain, helping companies meet their transformation needs. This includes intelligent systems that offer a high degree of sustainability and security at reduced costs and reduced time-to-market, aligning industry devices, customizable applications and the cloud to enable machine-to-machine communications for greater business agility and effectiveness.
In the U.S. and Europe, Microsoft is working closely with its manufacturing partners, and providing the technology platform and services they need to develop intelligent system solutions. These intelligent systems connect industry devices to enterprise applications and cloud services across a complex infrastructure, securely fueling real-time data between diverse technologies and locations from the factory floor to decision-makers. Harnessing the resulting data allows companies to uncover strategic business insight for increased agility and productivity.
One such solution is powering productivity for customers of Italian systems innovator ASEM, whose Ubiquity software platform enables the remote monitoring and control of industrial equipment. Utilizing the power of Windows Embedded Standard, Ubiquity allows machine builders to manage remote systems via embedded devices connected to a control center that is compatible with most versions of Windows software, including the new Windows 8. A second component connects the control center to the devices via Windows Azure.
The solution offers ASEM’s customers, including machine manufacturer Breton, greater ease in the remote monitoring of equipment. With a massive fleet of stone-cutting and processing machines to maintain and monitor, Breton credits ASEM’s software with a potential 30 percent savings in total service costs, thanks to the elimination of in-person service calls and greater equipment reliability.
Today at SPS IPC Drives, Microsoft shared its vision for how intelligent systems powered by Windows Embedded benefit manufacturing businesses. Following its recent announcement of a new family of Windows Embedded 8 products, Microsoft said the release preview of Windows Embedded 8 Standard is available now and affirmed it will be generally available in March 2013.
With Windows Embedded 8, Microsoft is extending the value of Windows 8 to industry devices, supporting leaner, more efficient processes and access to critical data. In Europe alone, Microsoft works closely with partners such as ASEM and vertical solution providers to create intelligent systems for customers, including these:
For more information on intelligent systems, visit the Windows Embedded website.
