New class of cloud-connected wireless M2M solutions based on Intel architecture

Digi International and Wind River, have just announced a collaboration to deliver a new family of cloud-connected wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions. The M2M Solution Builder kits will include a combination of hardware, software, cloud connectivity and access to tailored M2M development services. This complete end-to-end solution, tailored for performance- and connectivity-driven applications, dramatically simplifies the creation of an M2M solution.

It is expected that by 2015, intelligent M2M systems will account for more than one-third of the volume of all embedded systems worldwide, according to IDC (Worldwide Intelligent Systems 2011-2015 Forecast: The Next Big Opportunity, September 2011) . From real-time traffic data communicated to a vehicle’s GPS, to remote health monitoring systems transmitting data to a doctor's computer, to smart meters transmitting data on utility usage, the spectrum of ways in which intelligence from remote machines can and will be used is vast. With these possibilities come opportunities for companies to use this data to become more efficient, cut operational costs, improve customer satisfaction and create new revenue streams.

“We are excited to work closely with Wind River and Intel to create differentiated smart device solutions,” said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Digi International. “In addition, the close relationship with Wind River allows us to offer customers a complete and field-proven software solution for smart connected devices.”

“The M2M industry is in need of a complete end-to-end solution to accelerate market adoption,” said Jim Robinson, general manager of operations and marketing for intelligent systems at Intel. “Complete solutions from industry leaders like Digi and Wind River will allow developers and OEM’s to quickly build connected products and cloud-enabled services with confidence.”

“Wind River’s value proposition is built on streamlining and supporting the enablement of M2M services with our leading software and middleware, complemented by our extensive hardware and software M2M partner ecosystem,” said Roger Williams, vice president of alliances and business development at Wind River. “The integration of the iDigi Device Cloud will allow customers to build secure and cloud-enabled M2M solutions with Wind River software, adding cloud-based data analytics capabilities and remote device management to new and existing applications. The seamless integration of cloud-connected services and applications is a natural extension of Wind River’s proven software and services for smart connected devices.”

The M2M Solution Builder kit will integrate performance and connectivity in a fanless and compact form factor. It is suited for a wide variety of applications such as transportation, smart energy, building automation, access control, security/surveillance, m-health, digital signage, kiosks, and fixed/mobile asset tracking/management. The M2M Solution Builder kit will feature the following:

• Intel® Atom™ processor E6204.
• Wind River Linux environment with an M2M software development kit (SDK).
• iDigi Connector™ integration, which allows any device to integrate easily with the iDigi Device Cloud, a proven cloud infrastructure for remote device management and cloud-based information exchange providing “Any App, Anything, Anywhere™” capabilities to connected devices via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or cellular connectivity.
• Wind River Workbench, a collection of tools based on the Eclipse framework.
• A wide range of connectivity options, including certification to 2G/3G cellular, dual-stream 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.15.4, dual HDMI, audio, USB 2.0, internal MicroSD card slot, up to four internal PCI Express Mini Card slots, and an integrated low-power three-axis accelerometer.
• Future options are expected to include 4G/LTE cellular connectivity, Bluetooth 3.0, ZigBee, and Solid State Disk (SSD) storage.

As part of the kit user experience, customers will be able to exercise complete iDigi Manager Pro remote management capabilities and cloud-based desktop and mobile web dashboard applications out of the box. In addition, through iDigi Application Development Services and Digi’s Spectrum Design Services, Digi offers custom iDigi web and mobile application development as well as full wireless and hardware design services, addressing needs from product customization to complete turnkey development.