Mr. Bicker, how has Bicker Elektronik developed in recent years?
Bicker: Since the company was founded in 1994, we have been developing, manufacturing and distributing power supply and UPS solutions for industry and medical technology. In many projects, we have been able to gain experience with the most diverse applications of our customers, especially in the industrial PC and embedded computing sector.

Here, the perfect interaction between the power supply and mainboard plays a crucial role in system stability. Through the close cooperation between our engineers and technicians and mainboard manufacturers during the project-specific design-in process and not least due to customer demand, the idea was born around five years ago to offer all other central system components from a single source in addition to the pure power supply. This was the birth of our Power+Board program with perfectly matched and laboratory-tested bundles of power supply, mainboard and accessories in industrial quality.

What advantages do such bundle solutions offer system developers?
Bicker: The extensive search, pre-selection and qualification of corresponding system components is no longer necessary, time-consuming test runs are reduced to a minimum and you have a central and competent contact person who is responsible for all important system components. This - I would say - unique service goes far beyond traditional distribution.

How is the product portfolio for the bundles made up?
Bicker: Our customers can now choose from four mainboard manufacturers - Fujitsu, ASRock, Avalue and Perfectron - and the twelve form factors ATX, µATX, Mini-ITX, Thin-Mini-ITX, Nano-ITX, 3.5-inch SBC, 5.25-inch SBC, EPIC, UTX-SBC, COM Express, Qseven and NUC for their individual Power+Board bundle.

In addition, we were able to win Cervoz, a high-end provider of industrial memory solutions. These include RAM modules, memory cards, MiniPCIe cards and mSATA or M.2 memory modules - all in industrial quality and with a fixed BOM. On the power supply side, our portfolio offers a versatile range of high-performance IPC and industrial power supply units, highly efficient DC/DC converters, DIN rail power supply units and UPS solutions. We implement customized solutions for special, customer-specific requirements.

What were the highlights at the last embedded world?
Bicker: We were pleased to note that, in addition to the great interest in our Power+Board bundles with the latest Apollo Lake and Skylake processors, the area of UPS solutions also attracted particular attention from visitors. A live demo illustrated the possibilities of our new Supercap UPS solutions for the uninterruptible power supply of embedded computer systems in industrial environments. The major advantages of supercaps or ultracapacitors as energy storage devices compared to batteries are their high power density, long service life even at extreme temperatures and the ability to charge and discharge quickly. Due to the particularly high cycle stability of more than 500,000 charge/discharge cycles, supercap UPS solutions can be operated maintenance-free for many years. For decentralized embedded box PC and gateway systems in the IoT/Industry 4.0 sector, this is a decisive advantage for the operational reliability of entire production plants. Our customized UPS software makes it possible to control and set all important parameters. In the event of a 'power fail', the UPS signals the failure of the supply voltage via an integrated communication interface so that appropriate measures can be taken or a safe shutdown of the system can be carried out in the event of a prolonged failure. Ongoing system processes can be carried out and completed safely in any case.