Hannes Niederhauser, CEO at Kontron since the beginning of December, has a clear goal: "We want to displace Advantech from the number 1 position in the embedded market again." Under his leadership, Kontron aims to regain its former strength and, together with S&T, increase its turnover to EUR 1 billion within two years. Kontron is unlikely to have reached a turnover of EUR 400 million in 2016; final figures are not yet available. S&T generated a turnover of EUR 468 million in 2015.

Hannes Niederhauser must know what he is talking about: between 1999 and 2007, he built Kontron AG into the world's largest provider in the field of embedded computing as a major shareholder and CEO, before investing in and becoming involved in S&T after retiring from Kontron's Management Board and Supervisory Board.

To get back on the road to success, Niederhauser is focusing on IoT and Industry 4.0: "The average value of an embedded system is 950 euros; if this system is connected to IoT, its value is 2260 euros," the CEO calculates. His goal: together with the companies Ennoconn (shareholder in S&T) and S&T(shareholder in Kontron), coordinated product and service offerings are to be created with which embedded cloud environments can be put together for an Industry 4.0 environment.

The wild card: the embedded cloud

The Kontron blueprint of an embedded cloud including the embedded server. With connection to a superimposed cloud outside the company premises.

© Kontron

But what is behind the term 'embedded cloud'? The Industry 4.0 concept generally involves linking product and production data and using it with object dependencies. This presents companies with the challenge of having to merge data from very different systems in the CAD/product data, ERP and store floor worlds. Such an Industry 4.0 approach merges the applications of operational IT (information technology) and OT (operational technology/production environment). The computers involved form an embedded cloud on site, as real-time requirements and security concerns in particular mean that not all information can be outsourced to an external cloud. The majority of tasks are therefore processed within the physical boundaries of the company in the embedded cloud.

Two groups of providers are currently tackling the emerging field of embedded cloud applications. On the one hand, these are providers from the traditional IT sector and, on the other, automation technology providers. According to Niederhauser, both providers have so far only fulfilled parts of the embedded cloud requirements. Kontron, on the other hand, "together with its partner companies Ennoconn and S&T, covers the entire range of products and requirements, from embedded computer systems in the manufacturing environment right up to the cloud servers of the IT world." What is currently still missing, however, is a cloud server solution for the industrial environment. Niederhauser comments: "Kontron is already working on a corresponding implementation." - a solution that combines the computing and storage power of cloud servers (300+ cores and a storage capacity of 100+TB) and the robustness of industrial servers (extended temperature range, shock and vibration resistance). Kontron presented a corresponding device study at embedded world 2017.