It’s common to assume that by browsing the internet companies are collecting boatloads of personal information about you and your devices.
If you go to Amazon and buy some toothpaste via their app or browser, then like idiots there will be ten different sites that start showing you ads for toothpaste.
No thanks, I just bought some…
Paranoids like me tend to torque down our browsers and refuse Javascript or cookies. Many sites stop functioning and become inaccessible.
Accessibility should be provided to all whether or not we want our personal information harvested right? Then it becomes inaccessible. Maybe the WCAG testers missed that.
Simple Things to Do
Don’t use Chrome (or Outlook for that matter)
Don’t sign up with your real email. Use a proxy.
My email address is [email protected] — Duck sanitizes it for me before forwarding onto my real address.
Some of the better options than Chrome are Firefox, Opera, Brave (though I heard they laid off some people) and MS Edge.
On the mobile I use DuckDuckGo (they don’t support my Linux desktop yet).
Block the trackers on your mobile phone with Duck
There will be situations where the VPN may not like browsing external sites with poor credentials. Example was me trying to use the airport Wifi at Tulsa International. No way Duck would let me. Solution? I couldve turned duck off but instead opted for nice fast 3G from T-Mobile. Worked great and might even be faster than the WiFi (almost 100 Mbps is fair especially for Oklahoma…:-)
It may be time to consider a Chromebook or Linux machine to increase your safety factor. I manage a group on Thin Clients and lots of choices. These days speed of application comes down to speed of your internet connection (unless you are running Windows)
Here are a few pictures for context, real context. These are from my mobile phone this morning October 10th. First one is the main screen showing 36,000 blocks in the last 7 days. Bear in mind that most of that time I was at a KOA campground on a bare minimum internet connection (1.1 Mbps)
Okay, that kind of sets the table I think. Here is a closer look at what they want from my Android phone (Pixel4)
As a PSA I just posted a note on HIPAA and Costco. Costco sued for HIPAA. Allowed Meta to track users on website.
I have the Costco app on my phone. I rarely ever use it (or the website for that matter). Anyway I thought I would open it and navigate to 2 or 3 places and see what was tracked. I went to Shop, then Pharmacy, and then Travel. 360 blocks from just 4 clicks.
Conclusion?
Never underestimate the tech companies. As Nick Danger used to say Relentless. They really aren’t much different than the Russian or Chinese hackers trying to install ransomware on your corporate computers.
This is an article by Kiosk Kiosks so a photo of some kiosks is mandated to appear relevant. Here is partial photo of CLEAR line at DIA and TSA Pre on Thursday morning at 6:30am. Line of machines twice as long.
New product by Elo for Linux – I-Series Slate Linux Debian 10. Complete with a brilliant 15.6-inch Full HD interactive display, Linux Debian 10 OS and Rockchip processor, the I-Series Slate delivers a stunning design, enhanced durability, increased touch accuracy and brilliant display clarity. Has an option POE adapter as well to eliminate the brick.
With decades of development and customizations made to support global enterprise customers, Elo’s Linux-based platform offers Linux device drivers, uniform SDKs, a constantly growing set of tools and an expansive lineup across sizes and form factors.
Other Announcements
Be advised that the PayPoint and PayPoint Pro for Android are being discontinued and will be replaced by the new EloPOS™ for Android product line including the EloPOS Z10, EloPOS Z20 and EloPOS Z30. Explore the values and differences between the models in the info sheet.
Be advised that Intel has discontinued the J4125 CPU included in the EloPOS Celeron models. As a result, the affected models will be discontinued and transitioned to Intel’s G4900T Coffee Lake Celeron processor. While we work to minimize product changes, they are needed from time to time. When this occurs, we try to offer a suitable replacement product with equal or better specifications. Please view the PMB 783 for more information.
YORK, Pa. – KioWare is excited to announce the release of a KioWare OS for Linux product. Originally only available for Android, KioWare OS for Linux is our most secure product to date. Both options were created to provide customers with an industry-leading, customizable kiosk solution that saves time and money.
[Note too that for hardware Elo has just announced a new line of Linux terminals]
linux kiosk kioware
Our new KioWare OS product has been designed to enable a device to become a kiosk appliance where KioWare OS for Linux is completely in charge of the device from power up to power down, and only loads what is necessary to operate as a self-service kiosk. Our Configuration Tool makes it easy to set-up the kiosk and allows you to control exactly how you wish the kiosk to function.
KioWare OS for Linux is lightweight enough to run on smaller devices, such as the Raspberry Pi or ASUS Tinkerboard, as well as larger x86-64 devices.
Many features that you’ve come to love with other KioWare products are available for Linux, including:
Blocking for popup window control, domain/page lists, and file downloads
Kiosk Security such as browser lockdown, OS lockdown, keyboard filtering, basic authentication and start on boot
User Management including clearing private browser data, attract screen management, browser resetting, and more
User Interface such as custom toolbar skins, virtual keyboards, native PDF viewing, tabbed browsing and docked browsers.
KioWare OS for Linux is currently available in our Lite format. For a full list of features and pricing information, click here.
Analytical Design Solutions, Inc. dba KioWare has been in business since 1991 providing IT consulting to businesses of all sizes is located in York, Pennsylvania, and is a worldwide market leader in self-service kiosk and purposed device markets. KioWare is kiosk system software that kiosk applications are built on and is used in over 15,000 projects in over 140 countries with project deployments that range from a handful to many thousands of kiosks.
Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.
Get information on the LG 27” FHD All-in-One Thin Client with IPS Display, Quad-core Intel® Celeron J4105 Processor, USB Type-C™. Find pictures, reviews, and tech specs for the LG 27CN650N-6A
LG offers various Thin Client form factors. LG’s excellence in display products can add value to your work environment with better performance.
With advanced Quad-core Processor and a powerful system memory option, the 27CN650N-A helps you complete your work.
LG’s 27CN650N-6A supports up to 4K UHD resolution dual displays. With the flexibility for multi-monitor set-up, seeing more is easy.
*27CN650N display supports up to Full HD resolution (1920×1080).
Ergonomic Stand
Create a comfortable workspace with versatile screen tilt, height, pivot and swivel adjustments and the one click stand feature.
ChromeOS Flex
A Fast and Modern Work Experience
Blocked executables and sandboxing technology eliminates the need for antivirus software with ChromeOS Flex. Combine this with our All-in-One Thin Client to keep work safe and secure.
Purchase of 1000 Chromebooks Notes Granbury ISD is looking to purchase a minimum of 1000 Chromebooks with this minimum specs: 4 GB RAM 32 GB Storage 2 in 1 capability (Tablet Mode) Touchscreen Chrome OS license evaluation will be based on best price 60% and availability 40% Contact Information Name Bradee Watson Address 217 N. Jones St Purchasing Granbury, TX 76048 USA Phone (817) 408-4087 Fax (817) 408-4033 Email [email protected] Bid Documents Document name Format Data pager Data pager 1 Page size: PageSizeComboBox select 10 15 20 50 2 items in 1 pages Bid Invitation (please login to view this document) Acrobat / PDF Public Question & Answer (please login to view this document) Acrobat / PDF Bid Attachments File Name Description File Size Data pager Data pager 1 Page size: PageSizeComboBox select 10 15 20 50 2 items in 1 pages IWT bidder_requirements rev 4-17-17.pdf (please login to view this document) Bidder Requirements 83 KB General Terms and Conditions 4-17-17a.pdf (please login to view this document) General Terms and Conditions 108 KB
INVITATION FOR BIDS NO. 88-230036-TH
CENTRAL PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Procurement Department Offers will be publicly opened: 02/09/2023 2:00 P.M.
Issue Date: 01/26/2023
Refer ALL inquiries regarding this IFB to:
Tim Hawkins [email protected]
704-330-2722 ext. 3025
Commodity Number: 43211
Description: Thin Clients
Using Agency: Central Piedmont Community College
See page 2 for mailing instructions. Requisition No.: PR12516092
.SPECIFICATIONS
Table 1: Atrust t176W Client
Processor Intel Braswell Quad Core 1.04GHz (Turbo 2.0G)
Memory 4GB System Memory
Storage 32GB Flash Memory
Warranty 3 year warranty
Wireless WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Operating System Custom CPCC-Provided Image – Windows 10 2019 LTSC
Other Citrix Ready Certified
Other Software Atrust Device Manager (ADM) / Atrust Client Setup License
(ACS)
FURNISH AND DELIVER
ITEM # QTY UNIT DESCRIPTION UNIT COST EXTENDED COST
1 85 Each Atrust t176W Client as specified in SECTION
3.9 TABLE 1
2 85 Each Centralized Device Management Software as
specified in SECTION 3.9 TABLE 1
3 85 Each Atrust t176 VESA Bracket – customized to fit Dell
P2319H Display
4 85 Each Atrust t176W Customized operating system
image with customer-specific applications preloaded
Total Offer Cost for Year 1 ___
Analysis of the FY 2023 NDAA appears to show some cloud-related work.
The annually-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) often contains provisions dealing with the procurement and use of technology by the Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies. The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2023, passed in mid-late December, was no exception, containing several provisions dealing with cloud computing. Today’s post continues an analysis of that legislation (begun last week with this post on inflation) for potentially useful information.
Support for R&D of Bio-Industrial Manufacturing Processes
Section 215 concerns the esoteric subject of R&D for bio-industrial manufacturing. Directing the Secretary of Defense to support “the development of a network of bio-industrial manufacturing facilities to conduct research and development,” the provision outlines that such support “may consist of funding one or more existing facilities or the establishment of new facilities.” These facilities will facilitate the creation of “materials such as polymers, coatings, resins, commodity chemicals, and other materials with fragile supply chains.”
Cloud computing likely comes in with the provision’s demand that the DOD establish “an interoperable, secure, digital infrastructure for collaborative data exchange across entities in the bio-industrial manufacturing community, government agencies, industry, and academia.” While not explicitly mentioning cloud, past collaborative research efforts along these lines have tended to leverage cloud infrastructure for the dissemination of data. One can look at research on cancer at the National Cancer Institute and on meteorology at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for examples. Other examples can be found in the annual budget supplement put out by the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program, too. Call it a hunch that this effort results in cloud-related work.
Plan for Commercial Cloud Test and Evaluation
Section 1553 instructs the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with industry, to “implement a policy and plan for the test and evaluation of the cybersecurity of the clouds of commercial cloud service providers that provide, or are intended to provide, storage or computing of classified data of the Department of Defense.” The final plan adopted is supposed to include a “requirement that future contracts with cloud service providers for the storage or computing of classified data … permit[s] the Secretary to conduct independent, threat-realistic assessments of the commercial cloud infrastructure
Clauses will be inserted into contracts with CSPs handling classified data giving the DOD permission to access and test the cloud infrastructure being used to house the classified data in question. This provision appears to be related to the forthcoming Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. Presumably, the first contracts that will see these new provisions will be those awarded for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability. I don’t have access to a copy of the finalized contract to confirm if a similar clause is not already in those documents.
Demonstration Program for Component Content Management Systems
Section 917 orders the DOD Chief Information Officer to carry out a pilot program that demonstrates “the application of component content management systems to a distinct set of data of the Department.” The use of cloud-based content management systems is growing rapidly across the federal government so I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts that the CMS piloted will be a cloud-based capability hosted by one of the JWCC CSPs. This would be the path of least resistance. If that isn’t the route taken then industry partners should keep an eye open for a Sources Sought notice this fiscal year.
The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System is seeking proposals for the purchase of 220 Dell Optiplex 3000 thin clients for a hardware refresh project. The exact specifications of these thin client models can be found in section D.2 – Requirements. January 11 deadline
IGEL Ends Production of IGEL-branded Hardware, Partners with Leading Device Manufacturers to Expand Global Software Reach
IGEL teams with HP, Lenovo, and LG to deliver its managed endpoint operating system, enabling partners and customer to derive more value from their investments in Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware VDI, DaaS and SaaS solutions
UK, Reading. November 17, 2022 – IGEL today announced it is ending production of IGEL-branded hardware and is partnering with leading device manufacturers HP, Lenovo and LG, to deliver its managed endpoint operating system for the modern workplace.
“We believe that the timing couldn’t be better to become singularly focused on the delivery of a software platform that improves security and manageability at the endpoint, enhances productivity, and optimizes the employee experience,” said Jed Ayres, CEO, IGEL. “Through our alliances with HP, Lenovo and LG, we are also expanding our global reach and doubling-down on innovation that enables our partners and customers to derive more value from the investments they are making in Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware VDI, DaaS and SaaS solutions.”
After nearly 20 years of market leadership as the No. 1 thin client manufacturer in Germany and one of the top three globally, IGEL began its pivot in 2016 to a software-focused company. “Expanding the global adoption of our endpoint operating system was the right decision, especially at a time when there is more demand than ever for a more secure, manageable, cost-effective and rich Windows experience across a growing array of endpoint devices that support today’s hybrid work environments,” added Ayres. “We would like to thank Arrow Electronics and their Intelligent Solutions Group for their guidance and support in helping us successfully make this transition.”
Kristin Russell, President, Global Enterprise Computing Solutions at Arrow Electronics, said, “Arrow is proud of the strong relationship we have with IGEL, not only as a value-add distributor, but as the provider of global integration and supply chain services that served as a catalyst in helping them successfully exit the hardware business. We are excited to see IGEL complete this strategic pivot and become a leading provider and innovator in the EUC space with the delivery of a managed endpoint operating system that is tailored to meet the needs of today’s VDI, DaaS and SaaS-driven workplaces.” To view the Arrow Electronics case study “How IGEL successfully transitioned to a software-centric business model,” click here: https://www.arrow.com/ais/stories/how-igel-successfully-transitioned-to-a-software-centric-business-model
HP, Lenovo, and LG are all members of IGEL Ready, an extensive partner ecosystem featuring more than 120 providers of software, hardware, and peripheral solutions that have been validated for integration with IGEL OS. IGEL Ready gives technology partners the ability to reach more than three million IGEL OS-powered endpoints, more than 17,000 IGEL customers, and thousands of resellers who are addressing a variety of end-user use cases and environments.
IGEL also hosts an active and growing EUC community with more than 10,000 members.
Integrated endpoint devices from HP, Lenovo, and LG, that are IGEL OS certified and supported are showcased on dedicated pages demonstrating the transition partners and customers can make in the delivery of IGEL OS through these partners. A limited supply of IGEL-branded hardware is still available from authorized distributors and resellers with promotional programs running through Q1’23, or until inventory has been depleted. IGEL will continue to support its five-year warranty for new and previously purchased hardware systems.
Supporting Quotes
“IGEL and LG have built a very productive partnership so far, and with IGEL’s strategic decision to focus on the software platform, our partnership will grow stronger with LG offering competitive endpoint devices powered by IGEL’s platform. The availability of IGEL OS on LG’s All-in-One, Desktop, and Mobile Thin Clients will provide enhanced end-customer benefits and employee experience for a broad range of vertical markets including healthcare, financial services, education, and the public sector.” ~ Young Jae Seo, Senior Vice President of IT Business Unit, LG Electronics.
“Our collaboration with IGEL provides hybrid workforces with superior options for digital workspaces. Available on a range of HP’s industry-leading thin client platforms, IGEL delivers a rich user experience that is secure, easy to manage, and cost-effective.” ~ said Alex Thatcher, Sr. Director, HP Cloud Clients.
“The shift to hybrid work has challenged many organizations that must now manage widespread VDI, DaaS and SaaS deployments. IGEL provides a simple, more secure, and cost-effective way to deliver these applications, and when combined with Lenovo’s end user computing solutions for the modern workplace, gives any business, from SMBs to global enterprises, the ability to enable more secure, productive hybrid work while reducing the cost and complexity of managing desktops and users.” ~ Andy Nieto, Senior Solutions Manager, Lenovo.
“Citrix and IGEL have been working together for many years to deliver secure solutions that provide end users the freedom to work securely, from anywhere, on their device of choice. By teaming up with leading hardware manufacturers HP, Lenovo, and LG to deliver IGEL OS, our mutual customers will benefit tremendously from greater flexibility in selecting the right hardware platform, delivering VDI and DaaS infrastructure in a way that optimizes the employee experience.” ~ Calvin Hsu, Vice President, Product Management and Product Marketing, Citrix, a business unit of Cloud Software Group.
“Our clients rely on CPC to source, configure, and deliver end-to-end technology solutions that are reliable, easy, and powerful. The alignment of IGEL with HP, Lenovo, and LG creates an incredible opportunity for us to grow our IGEL business because of IGEL’s huge ecosystem of solutions that we know and trust.” ~ Bruce Poor, President, Computer Products Corp.
“IGEL’s alliances with three of the leading hardware manufacturers – HP, Lenovo, and LG – is exciting news for us and for our clients. We pride ourselves on working with our clients to select the best solutions for solving the unique business and technology challenges they face, and this now gives us greater flexibility of choice when it comes to selecting the right endpoint hardware for the delivery of IGEL within our clients’ Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware environments.” ~ Mike Strohl, CEO, e360.
“ADN has had a long-standing relationship with IGEL in helping it become the No. 1 thin client in Germany. We look forward to continuing supporting IGEL in this transition to a 100% software-driven model as it offers us greater flexibility of choice on existing or new hardware for the delivery of IGEL OS within our clients’ Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware environments.” ~ Hermann Ramacher, Founder & Managing Director, ADN Group.
“IGEL’s alliances with three of the leading hardware manufacturers and long-term strategic partners of Bechtle, HP, Lenovo, and LG, is exciting news for both us and our clients. We are working with our clients to select the best possible solution for solving the unique business and technology challenges they face, and this now gives us desired flexibility in selecting the right endpoint hardware for the delivery of IGEL within our clients VDI, DaaS or SaaS environments.” ~ Ralf Beck, Director Software Product Management, Bechtle Logistic & Service GmbH.
“Our clients rely on Cancom to recommend solutions that are reliable, easy to use and sustainable. The possibility to reuse existing hardware and the alignment between IGEL and HP, Lenovo, and LG creates an incredible opportunity for us to grow our IGEL business by providing access to a larger ecosystem of solutions.” ~ Carsten Pavlovits, Director Competence Center Enterprise Workplace, CANCOM.
“Getech has been delivering IGEL OS on a variety of third-party hardware offering, including LG, for over a year and this announcement further validates that customers who chose to secure their system with IGEL OS have the freedom to reuse or replace their existing hardware.” ~ Guy Watts, Managing Director, Getech.
Register Now for the 2023 DISRUPT EUC Forum
IGEL brings this active EUC industry together every year at the DISRUPT End User Computing (EUC) Forum, the ultimate EUC event. IGEL is the only company in the world to host global events focused solely on the EUC space. DISRUPT EUC will return in 2023 as two large, multi-day events featuring industry innovators and thought leaders, a technical bootcamp, and an expo with hands-on demonstrations from IGEL ecosystem partners.
The 2023 DISRUPT EUC Forum will take place in Munich, February 14-16, 2023, followed by the North America event in Nashville, Tenn., April 3-5, 2023. Now through December 31, 2022, discounted registration is available for $199 per person using the code EARLYBIRD. After December 31, 2022, registration will be $399 per person. To register, visit: www.disruptEUC.com.
IGEL offers the leading platform for endpoints to deliver a rich end user computing experience that’s secure, manageable, and cost effective, across VDI, DaaS and SaaS. The company has a growing ecosystem of more than 120 IGEL Ready technology partners. IGEL unlocks a productive digital workspace experience for leading enterprises in healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, higher education, and government. With offices in Europe and the United States, IGEL is represented by partners in over 50 countries. For more information on IGEL and to download IGEL software, or request a certified endpoint, visit www.igel.com.
In Brief — To us, Google Flex seems to be an answer for corporate environments trying desperately to milk their old Celerons, i3s and i5s for one last cycle. Upgrading to Windows 11 isn’t free but it does come with the usual domain management that most IT departments are addicted to. The cost of Flex is about on par with Windows except that now IT has two OS’s to support. They already get bothered by the Apple devotees (with high position in hierarchy) but those are the exceptions. Windows terminal manager gives the zero client for the most part.
It is making a play for digital signage media players but that is a limited market too and they have no robust CMS to dovetail into that. Hard to imagine digital signage networks running off old PCs but who knows. Another segment proposed is kiosks but there any new kiosks are more likely to come with Dell computers preloaded with Windows. Kiosks in the field that could use Flex is just informational web-based kiosks (wayfinding e.g.). Any transactional kiosks (with myriad of devices) are not going to be candidates. Major kiosk installations running LTSB are even less likely as the horrors of patch management have been mitigated (mostly).
For the most part it appears to be Google’s attempt to monetize its acquisition a few years ago and provide a surrogate OS for the old generation computers that are not Chromebooks but basically can be. To date it is mostly motto-based. We checked on a quote from resellers such as Synnex and they seem unprepared to provide configuration quotes. Mostly it seems to be a big excuse to have that endless “tell me about your situation” user dump. And once you go enterprise with monitoring, the costs even out for the first + you have new recurring monitoring cost + you have to manage some with this and some with that. Hopefully that power supply, memory or hard drive that is 5 years old doesn’t crap out on you.
There are some early success stories such as hotels converting their windows pcs. We would not be surprised to see banks and financial institutions which are historically tight budget, try to convert. The security is a good selling point and managing Windows patches is as close to hell as you can come.
The video goes thru a lot of the problems you may run into and it is always good to get point of view from both sides of the aisle so to speak.
You’ve probably heard about Google Chromebooks. Like Android, Chrome OS is based on some variant of Linux, but it is targeted at the “cloud first” strategy so Chromebooks typically don’t have a huge amount of storage or compute power. If you have a real Chromebook, you can also use it to run certain other kinds of programs via virtualization. However, Google has recently pushed out Chrome OS Flex which is meant to install on a spare laptop you might happen to have hanging around. Seems attractive to take that only Windows 7 laptop and repurpose it to run Chrome OS, especially if you can run Linux apps on it. Unfortunately, Chrome OS Flex has a very different use case and I would only recommend installing it if you meet the exact use case it addresses.
The other option, of course, is to just install Linux on that old hardware. There are several distributions that are made for that purpose and, honestly, even most of the major distributions will work fine on older hardware with a little tweaking to turn off some of the more resource-costly features. That assumes you know how to install, tweak, and maintain Linux.
THAT’S WHAT IT IS FOR
That is, in fact, the exact use case for Chrome OS Flex. If you want to give Grandpa your old laptop, putting Linux on it can be very challenging, unless Grandpa is pretty tech-savvy. Even people who are pretty comfortable with Windows or the Mac can find the number of options, log files, and command lines daunting for Linux. Some distributions are better than others, but in the end, if you are having a bad day, you really need to know something about the system or be willing to learn it.
Chrome OS deliberately doesn’t give you much choice. The installation is painless but inflexible. You have to create a USB drive on a working computer and the installer gives you no options to, say, install as a secondary operating system. You can boot from the USB and either try the OS in live mode or install it, wiping out your hard drive. That’s it.
If all you want to do is surf the web and use Chrome-based applications, that’s great! The system works well and is pretty snappy. But what about running apps from other systems? Unlike real Chrome OS, you can’t run Android apps or much of anything else. You can, maybe, run Linux applications, but there are a few catches.
I would say that e-waste is the real nightmare here and that Flex, with its limitations and drawbacks, is at least a potential solution. For the sake of the planet, we need to change the mindset that says we should just throw away perfectly good hardware because it no longer gets updates. I realize that Flex is only a drop in the bucket, but anything that keeps older hardware out of landfills gets my vote.
I feel like this video didn’t really go over Chrome OS Flex. It seems to be more about Chrome OS having issues installing Linux and running programs that are extremely resource heavy that would have a hard time running anyway.
I put Flex on my daughter’s $150 mini desktop and it works just as good as Xubuntu 22.04 maybe even a little better. YouTube video playback is certainly better, and basically that’s the most demanding thing she does with it anyway. I think if you keep your expectations reasonable it’s a decent OS. The main selling point for me is that I don’t have to really do anything as far as maintenance.
The next generation payment devices really don’t care what OS you are running. You could be running Flex, Linux, Android or Windows for that matter. You do need an Ethernet or Bluetooth connection though. Cloud payment systems have come a long way from Avalara and website e-commerce. Now cloud-based payment unifies mobile pay devices which are increasing ever faster and using the web to handle the transaction.
Another consideration is that within a restaurant or POS location, while it may have kiosks equipped with these devices, an establishment can extend other modern digital wallet payment methods to customers at the counter. Maybe I want to pay using my Paypal account. Why not?
McDonalds and printers is a good example of just buying one kind of printer, when in fact they really have two usage models. One is a simple receipt and the other is being able to print stickers for merchandise thru the drive thru window. They purchase the upscale model in large quantities and get a discounted price. They only have to worry maintenance wise about one single device.
DC Direct embeds payments logic into the Ingenico Group Telium TETRA and Pax Android line of padsto facilitate a direct communication between the device and NETePay Hosted – no Datacap hardware or software is necessary.
George Hurdock with datacap — All of our middleware lives on the card entry device, and communicates directly to our NETePay Hosted gateway architecture, so as long as the POS developer can perform an http/https post, it doesn’t matter which OS they are communicating from.
Our Developer Portal is designed to help developers rapidly integrate payment processing using Datacap’s hardware and processor-agnostic payment interfaces.
Including Full API documentation for:
dsiEMVUS®
EasyCheckout™
dsiPDCX®
Pay API™
DC Direct™
dsiEMVApple™
dsiEMVAndroid™
DSIEMVClientX®
TranCloud™
IM30 Info
PAXBiz® Powered by Android™
5″ Color Touchscreen
IP55 | IK08 Physical Protection
1D/2D QR Code Scanning
The IM30 is an all-in-one unattended payment terminal that is designed to handle all payment methods including EMV®, MSR, and NFC contactless, QR code, as well as NFC-enabled mobile wallets. Built to last in any environment, it offers added conveniences and security like push-to-talk, picture surveillance, and automated customer identification. The IM30 performs best in all kinds of indoor and outdoor self-service environments with high transaction volumes, such as vending machines, ticketing machines, on-street and off-street parking, petrol forecourts, car-washes and store kiosks, self-service checkouts, and more.
Background
Digital wallets
A digital wallet is a virtual version of your everyday wallet. It stores a user’s various payment types–credit cards, debit cards, bank account information, loyalty cards, and more–on an app or browser that can be accessed easily and quickly online or in-store to make a payment. Businesses can accept digital wallets online and in person through a wide variety of point-of-sale solutions.
• An estimated 4.4 billion global consumers will shop with a digital wallet by 2023, accounting for 52% of ecommerce payments globally.
• 1.6 billion global consumers will pay by digital wallets at the point of sale (POS) in 2023, accounting for 30% of POS payments.
“With the increased acceptance of digital transactions, coupled with consumer preference, there’s going to be an acceleration in [digital wallet] usage, even more than there already has been,” said Dave Duncan, EVP, chief product officer at Global Payments.
The California Air Resources Board recently announced a new goal of tripling electric vehicle (EV) sales over the next four years, reaching 35 percent of all new vehicle sales in the state by 2026. An executive order is already in place dictating that zero-emission vehicles will be 100 percent of all new vehicle sales in California by 2035. Electric vehicles only represent about 1 percent of the 250 million vehicles on U.S. roads today, but that is quickly changing. In addition to the California mandates, there are many other state and federal goals, along with automaker electrification plans, contributing to a rapid rise in EV sales nationwide. General Motors, for example, plans to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035, and the Biden administration has a stated goal of 50 percent ZEV sales by 2030. Multiple estimates put the number of EVs on U.S. roads by 2030 at 22 to 25 million.
Significant investment is needed to develop the EV charging infrastructure required to keep pace with the rapid growth in EV adoption. There are three basic types of EV chargers, also known as Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE) – Level 1, Level 2, and DC fast charging. Capabilities vary, but in general, L1 charging, which is your basic AC outlet, can provide about 4 miles of range per hour, L2 (240V AC) can provide ten range miles in an hour, and DCFC can provide an 80% charge from empty in about 30 minutes (for a standard range EV). The bulk of the EVSE needed will be L2 and DCFC, but the mix of each and where and how this will happen is still uncertain, as I will explain below.
Understanding the current state of public and shared private EVSE infrastructure can get muddy. Different sources sometimes use the terms EV charger and charging station interchangeably, which isn't always accurate. An EV charging station can have one or more chargers, and a single charger will typically have either one or two ports, which is the number of vehicles that can be simultaneously charged. According to the California Energy Commission, there are about 36,000 public EV charging stations in the state.
Per the US Department of Energy, there are about 47,000 public charging stations in the country. These numbers need to increase dramatically to support the expected number of EVs over the next several years. It's well understood that most drivers will rarely need additional public chargers, provided they can charge at home or work. Federal Highway Administration data from 2019 showed that the average American commuter drives about 40 miles per day. So, for those living in single-family homes with the ability to install an L2 residential charger, their needs would be covered mainly by plugging in overnight (excluding occasional road trips). But what about people living in apartments, townhomes, condominiums, and mixed-use dwellings? About 31 percent of the overall population lives in these types of residences. In large urban areas, it's often higher – a recent survey by Plug In America indicated that 70 percent of Los Angeles residents lived in multi-unit spaces. There are many federal and state incentives to help defray the costs of adding EVSE to multi-family structures, and more funds are becoming available with the new infrastructure bill. Still, additional obstacles to making charge-at-home more prevalent for apartment dwellers. Many pre-existing properties and parking garages can't support the power requirements for more than a small percentage of spaces to have even L2 chargers. And tapping into the grid for extra capacity is extremely and usually prohibitively expensive. Load balancing can help boost the number of EVSE systems that can be supported, but we're still talking about small numbers of chargers relative to the number of tenants. Many states are amending their building codes to require some number or percent of spaces to have EV chargers for new residential and commercial construction, which will further help expand our EVSE infrastructure. However, grid capacity is still a major roadblock to rapid EVSE deployment. A recent article by McKinsey and Company estimates that the power demand for charging the number of anticipated EVs in 2030 would equal 5 percent of all U.S. power generation today. Other models have put that number as high as 25 percent. Either way, the message is clear, we need a lot more grid capacity to enable the transition to electric vehicles.
Parallel to the development of EVSE infrastructure, new wind, solar, and other renewable energy installations will be needed to set up Smart Grids capable of handling future charging demands. Where and how much energy is required also depends on the type and location of EVSE. Most of the media buzz around EV charging is centered on expensive DCFC installations and superhubs that mimic something closer to traditional refueling stations. Still, most public and semi-private EVSE will likely be L2. A DC fast charger's total install cost is around 10x – 20x that of an L2, and having many vehicles plugged into DCFCs in one area can put enormous demands on the local grid.
For the interstate system, DCFCs are needed, and establishing strategic Alternative Fuel Corridors with EVSE located every 50 miles is the top priority for the $5B allocated to EV charging deployment in the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. However, in cities and urban areas, the high cost and grid demand of DCFCs make L2 chargers the clear choice in most situations, with some exceptions, including DCFCs to support future electrified ride-share vehicles and fleets.
Just exactly how the future deployment of EVSE and grid expansions will play out is complicated, and there are a lot of smart technology companies working on different aspects of the solution and from different perspectives. Still, the number of market variables makes it difficult to predict what the EV charging landscape in the U.S. will look like. While there are a lot of good federal and state incentives for multi-family structures and businesses to add EV charging capacity, the up-front costs have to be weighed against short-term ROI and long-term futureproofing. For example, California requires public EV chargers to accept credit card payments via chip card to ensure
potential consumers' greatest level of access. Apartments and workplaces can restrict their EVSE access to tenants and employees and maintain private status under California law. This enables them to avoid the additional initial cost of an EV charger that accepts EMV-certified card payments, but then they miss out on future monetization opportunities.
In some cases, attracting new residents or employees may be the only ROI for adding EVSE that is needed. Another model for supporting EV adoption among renters who don't have access to charging where they live is called power-sipping or snacking. In this model, drivers top up their batteries as they go about their business at grocery stores, shopping malls, big-box stores, movie theaters, etc. It's been well studied that EV charger usage can significantly increase dwell time at shopping locations, translating into real dollars. Additionally, big box stores and large retail chains have more resources to add EVSE infrastructure. They will likely be a large part of the EV charging solution as internal combustion engine vehicles become scarcer. It's interesting to note the complementary trends in brick-and-mortar retail – increasing foot traffic and dwell time is the primary benefit of adding EV charging capacity. Still, physical retail also continues to compete with online sales by offering services like BOPIS (buy online, pickup in-store) and enhanced delivery services like Walmart's new In-your-fridge grocery delivery service.
The U.S. lags well behind Europe and China in EVSE infrastructure and needs to accelerate quickly to meet the anticipated goals of EV adoption. Government incentives, public-private partnerships, and utility investments will be required to deploy chargers and expand the grid. In theory, drivers only need to charge at home, work, or along the highway for longer trips – but the reality of developing charging infrastructure is much more complex as we have seen, and it will undoubtedly be interesting to see how the charging market develops.
Mike Harris is responsible for ELATEC Inc's business development efforts in the Americas, focusing on strategic verticals including EV charging, Industry 4.0, and access control. He has more than 20 years of experience in product management, engineering management and R&D. Mike can be reached at [email protected] or 772-210-2263.
Mike Harris, Head of Business Development for ELATEC Inc.
Pretty interesting option by LinuxTop ($189 Euro) for complete media player and OS for digital signage or kiosks.
-Memory:1 GB RAM & 16 GB internal flash
-Quad Core 900Mhz (ARM)
-OS Linutop OS XS preinstalled
-Size 9x6x2,4 cm (3.6×2.4×1 in) Weight: 92g (3oz)
-Power: 4W (100-240 AC adapter)
Use: Digital signage player (video hd,PDF, …) -Includes: US, UK, Europe and Australia power plugs
-1 HDMI, 4 USB2, 1 Ethernet
-Software: Epiphany, Libre Office, VNC, Linutop Kiosk, VLC
-Silent
Full featured Digital Signage Player
Comments
The kiosk versions supports either Firefox or Chromium engines and available for Raspberry Pi.
Libre Office (MS Office compatible) is supported
Kiosk is euphemism for controlled browser with no external device support – that’s a little disappointing and only informational “kiosk”
Editors Note: Kiosk partners closest is MeldCX and they use kiosks from American Kiosks. They are at Hitec next week in Orlando and they will have a kiosk there with Chrome OS computer and MeldCX. The demo will show AI based check-in, identity verification, object recognition, secure payments, and other operational efficiencies to improve the customer experience. For more information or arrange a demo at the show email [email protected]
Nine digital signage software (aka cloud) partners
Google trial ballooned this back in 2015
Recently has “beefed up” the kiosk and digital signage solution area
The huge increase since pandemic has been in education. We can vouch for that.
The return to work since pandemic has energized the work environment
Recently, Google sees additional trends lined up with ChromeOS so Google is investing in kiosks and digital signage (again)
End to end solution – four components –
capabilities of OS which includes Security, APIs, core functionality
management
Appleistic validation and regression testing of solution partners (nine of them)
Partners typically develop web-based apps that are lightweight, robust and work well on Chrome as a web-based operating system.
Bluescreens are bad (poke at MS)
Zero ransomware attacks ever reported on Chrome OS
Security is baked into the OS, not a bolt-on
Flex lets you repurpose old PCs into cloud-PCs (or thin clients)
ChromeOS good for fixed-point kiosk. Android might be better (ie tablet iteration) for mobile.
Pricing – $25 per device per year gets ChromeOS (not sure about Flex)
Comments
Kiosk partners. Really don’t see any. Closest is MeldCX and they use kiosks from American Kiosks. They are at Hitec next week in Orlando and they will have a kiosk there with Chrome OS computer and MeldCX. The demo will show AI based check-in, identity verification, object recognition, secure payments, and other operational efficiencies to improve the customer experience.
Something to be said for generational incubation. Used to be we all shopped as adults at stores our parents took us shopping to as kids. Later in life those grown up kids tend to shop at that same stores. Or convincing kids that smoking or vaping is cool and proves you are grown up. Now the schools enable the students, the kids adopt and learn the computer (Chromebook) and in many cases migrate that preference to their parents. For sure Google won the Education segment hands-down. Microsoft tried but failed.
Linux – that’s complicated isn’t it? Though worth noting the these days MS is liberally borrowing from Linux the desktop and widgets along with streamlining patch/system updates. Linux is a lot like Android (cloud driven) but Linux is more reliable than Android and supports any number of devices
What OS is ChromeOS derived from (Android and IoS are Linux)
Not a single word about Privacy. I wonder if smart city kiosks might be ideal for Chrome-based kiosks. Generally those units are offered for free (Houston, Tampa, NYC, etc) and selling data would seem to be their only corresponding revenue play.
The word “device” is used 39 times but there isn’t a single mention of an actual device (barcode scanner, camera, POS terminal). Device is used instead of “station” or endpoint or terminal or PC with a screen.
No mention of touchscreens
Pricing – $25 per device per year gets ChromeOS — Its been awhile since we reviewed the MS pricing for IoT Devices but last I checked it was $34 for the lower processor tier Celeron Win10 Ent LTSB (which lets you turn off updates and manage them yourself)
We actually are a certified reseller for Chrome for Education and Workplace and had to go thru training and certification at Google. Its fairly involved administering Chromebooks and the depth of granular control is impressive (and can be daunting at times). For school children you definitely want that depth of control. For kiosks, one only needs to administer via a mature kiosk remote control agent like Sitekiosk or KioWare or Nanonation or 22miles and its day and night difference on what elements are focused for alerts and configs.
We wonder about filtering. There is no porn filter? What about hacksites?
What about different layouts, templates, zones?
What about screen readers and assistive technology?
What about WCAG?
Many in-house administrators have tried to configure Windows, and failed in one way or another.
Naveen Viswanatha: Yeah we’re very excited about that. The new SKU is called the kiosk and signage upgrade, and what it does is it unlocks all of the signage capabilities that an organization wants, but none of anything else that you need. And what I mean by that is that Chrome OS is an operating system that serves end user computing, as well as signage. On the end user computing side, you need capabilities to manage users, user profiles, logins, different types of login modalities. But on the signage side, you don’t really need that, right? Even if there’s end user interaction, there’s a lot of user modes and user capabilities that are not part of that overall management…
Because it’s a dumb end point in a hell of a lot of cases?
Naveen Viswanatha: I wouldn’t use the word dumb, but because it’s a highly focused endpoint, and as a result of that, we tailored a SKU which is $25 per device per year. So that’s half off, two bucks a month basically, enterprise SKU, and for that, you get this 50% off SKU and very focused functionality, still gives you all the security, all the device controls, cloud management, reporting and insights. You just don’t get the user controls that you get with the Chrome enterprise upgrade SKU, and that’s the full SKU.
But if you did want those user controls, for whatever reason it may be, could you use those? And could you run a blended network with both kinds of licenses?
Naveen Viswanatha: Absolutely and we have a lot of customers that that, that are doing exactly
10ZiG Technology Adds New UK & Ireland Distributor for Their Thin Client and Zero Client Solutions for VDI, DaaS and SaaS
LEICESTER, UK – 10ZiG Technology are pleased to announce that they have entered into a distribution agreement with UX Distribution (UXD). With immediate effect, UXD are an active 10ZiG Accredited Distributor for their full range of Thin Client and Zero Client solutions for VDI, DaaS and SaaS in the UK & Ireland market.
UXD is a fast-growing digital workplace focused distributor with a wealth of knowledge around End User Computer (EUC), DaaS and SaaS marketplace and are perfectly positioned to onboard and support specialist reseller partners and MSPs who focus in this area. Their specialist digital workplace knowledge and years of industry experience will significantly help support and reinforce the 10ZiG message “We offer customer driven solutions, making our devices fit your customer’s environment and not the other way round.”
Andy Gonzalez, UK & Ireland Channel Manager – “With UX Distribution, we have an excellent partner who can help 10ZiG reach new resellers and markets. As one of the top focused cloud and digital workplace distributors in the UK, UX Distribution will bring additional benefits to our customers and partners, and I am looking forward to working with them.”
Partners in the UK & Ireland can discuss their Thin & Zero Client endpoint requirements with Paul Hathorn, UK Sales and Partner Manager of UXD and their team of sales and technical experts.
“We are delighted to bring a leading vendor like 10ZiG into our portfolio which underpins why we are the leading cloud and digital workplace distributor. With the 10ZiG range of Thin & Zero Client hardware and software solutions, our partners can go one step further in providing their clients a total solution”, said Hathorn.
About 10ZiG
10ZiG Technology is a world-market leader in Thin & Zero Client endpoint devices for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), DaaS and SaaS. We provide leading Intel and AMD based Dual and Quad Core Thin & Zero Clients for Citrix, Citrix Cloud (DaaS), Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Microsoft (Azure Virtual Desktops (AVD), Microsoft RDP, Windows 365 (Cloud PC), VMware Horizon, VMware On-Premises and VMware Public/Private Cloud environments, in addition to a full range of Teradici PCoIP Zero Clients. Free, no-obligation demo devices, US & EMEA based Tech Support, and the free “The 10ZiG Manager™” software solution with Cloud capabilities and unlimited user licenses, gives us our cutting edge.
About UX Distribution
UX Distribution (UXD) is a specialist Cloud and Digital Workplace distributor focused on the cloud and hybrid workplace, covering Cloud, Security, Management, Endpoint and Networking. UX Distribution is unique in providing a ‘complete solutions’ stack’, from the edge to the data centre/cloud helping their partners transform their customers to a cloud first digital organisation.
Nice post from Sixteen-Nine on Industrial Raspberry PI– interesting too that the upcoming unit will come with 2.7″ touchscreen for unit status. First of its kind.
Excerpt
The folks at OnLogic have evidently looked at the volume of Raspberry Pi boards going to industrial and commercial applications and determined it’s a viable market, making industrialized, rugged versions of the company’s signature orange products built around the latest Pi – the Pi 4 compute module. The company says its new Factor 201 Raspberry Pi-powered device is available for pre-order and a Factor 202 version is also coming.
“We’re delighted that OnLogic has chosen to develop the Factor 201 around Raspberry Pi. Using Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with their custom-designed carrier boards and industrial enclosure has allowed OnLogic to offer their customers flexible and reliable solutions, and we see Raspberry Pi hardware being increasingly widely adopted in industry with products like this one,” says Gordon Hollingworth, Chief Product Officer at Raspberry Pi Ltd.
“OnLogic has been designing computers for industrial applications for nearly two decades, so the CM4 was a natural fit for us to develop a new device around,” says Maxx Garrison, Product Manager at OnLogic. “When Raspberry Pi unveiled the CM4, they mentioned that over half of the Raspberry Pi computers sold were being used for industrial and commercial applications. The Raspberry Pi community already has a huge wealth of experience building Industry 4.0, SCADA, and IoT solutions using Raspberry Pi. Our goal with the Factor 200 Series is to provide them with new tools to continue to innovate, no matter where they may need to install these systems.”
Available for pre-order starting today, the Factor 201 is a compact, passively cooled computing device intended for use as an industrial gateway, automation controller or edge computer. In addition to the Raspberry Pi CM4, the system features an operating temperature range of -20 to 60°C, options for DIN Rail or wall mounting, and 12-24V power input. The device can also be powered via an ethernet cord utilizing PoE Power Delivery (PoE-PD), enabling single cable installation to provide both network access and power to the device.
The upcoming Factor 202 is being developed specifically with industrial control in mind. In addition to all of the features of the Factor 201, the Factor 202 adds digital and analog inputs and outputs. A 2.7 inch capacitive touchscreen will provide status updates and system control. OnLogic expects the Factor 202 to be available later this year.
More information about both models in the Factor 200 Series is available here: www.onlogic.com/factor200.
Previously, using Chrome OS was limited to dedicated hardware like the Chromeboxes, all-in-one screens and even sticks a small set of manufacturers were putting out.
The pitch for Chrome OS Flex is that it makes PCs and Macs secure, fast, auto-updated and managed from the cloud. Devices, and now not just ones with Chrome in the name, are all managed via the Chrome device management console.
The Flex license is free and I assume Google and its resellers make money though the management software.
First noted on Sixteen:Nine — The solution is as much or more about things like big displays for control rooms and ops centers, but more conventional workplace digital signage would be another type of endpoint.
Editors Note: Generally, AV-over-IP is the long version of PoE. Big deal in thinclient world. Advantages are: Cat5 already in place, much greater distance than traditional baseband, really no limit on devices that can be connected. Only requirements are Cat5/6 and a modern router.
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., Jan. 31, 2022 – LG Business Solutions USA and Canadian software company Userful are introducing an end-to-end, software-defined AV-over-IP solution that combines Userful’s Visual Networking Platform and LG’s webOS Signage™ platform to optimize display networks for control rooms, digital signage networks, corporate signage and video walls. This announcement is the latest in LG’s continued efforts to build strong relationships within its partner ecosystem to deliver next generation solutions for the customer.
As a result of the Userful-LG collaboration, digitally-integrated enterprises in key markets around the world can now deploy IT-managed services from virtually any source to webOS displays with advanced streaming capabilities, flexibility in deployment and NIST-caliber security. Whether it’s providing immediate video and data through real-time streaming protocols (RTSP) for control rooms or managing 8K content across hundreds of displays, integrators and end-users can expect to enjoy a powerful, streamlined display network management experience with the Userful platform and LG displays.
According to Gianni Restaino, LG Business Solutions USA’s vice president of engineering, the alliance will deliver the future of display network management just in time to help integrators and enterprise businesses capitalize on the exponential growth forecasted for AV-over-IP in the next five years. “Together, LG and Userful have created a digital display network management platform that can both simplify and empower LG installations to enable security, content delivery speed, and flexibility in content delivery and display deployment,” he said.
“With the acceleration of new services and digital transformation, there is a clear need for a centralized platform to manage visual services in combination with data, IoT and AI,” Restaino added. “Userful’s software-defined platform uniquely integrates all of these, and delivers them through private/public cloud servers to webOS signage displays optimized for the network, enabling AV services across an entire organization.”
The companies jointly recognized the growth potential of AV-over-IP in 2019 and began developing a custom, lightweight software solution that runs on top of LG’s webOS Signage platform for flat-panel and direct-view LED displays, focusing on simplicity, reliability, flexibility and security. According to Userful, the resulting platform is expected to deliver significant hardware and energy cost savings while helping to reduce carbon footprints.
The potential market growth is enormous, with applications ranging from mission critical displays and enterprise-wide digital signage networks to corporate lobby video walls and large conference room displays. In fact, according to Maia Research, the AV-over-IP market is poised to grow from $3 billion today to $51 billion in 2027, with 85 percent of growth expected in the corporate, government and education sectors, positioning the LG-Userful solution to meet the demand for display network improvements and enhanced capabilities.
Userful CEO John Marshall praised the hard work of both companies and noted that other display manufacturers have been unable to match LG’s level of software integration, making this alliance even more valuable and unique.
“The industry underestimates the difficulty of optimizing traditional AV products for an IT environment, especially with network distribution challenges and demanding enterprise applications,” Marshall said. “The AV industry has historically worked with NAB codecs and AV standards, focusing on the highest-quality AV over cabled HDMI technology – the addition of multi-protocol-driven networks is an entirely new challenge. That LG was able to integrate such IT protocols into its core firmware, at the very heart of its media pipeline, is beyond impressive. Simply put, this solution simplifies the job of IT and can reduce installation and maintenance complexity.”
In addition to LG, Userful worked with other display manufacturers “who proceeded to fail at such sophisticated integration of IT standards in their firmware,” Marshall said. “Such developments highlighted the difference between low-cost display manufacturers and modernized IT-ready displays that suit the needs of the modern enterprise. We’re proud to work together to lead the way forward for the industry and deliver new solutions to improve enterprise business operations.”
About Userful
Userful is a leading platform-as-a-service provider in the Enterprise AV-over-IP market—the fastest-growing segment of the IT industry. Userful’s Visual Networking Platform is disrupting the market with a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model that allows customers to choose from a suite of highly-integrated AV applications (SaaS offerings, secure, SSO, integrated UI) to support modern service needs across the enterprise. From corporate signage to control room solutions to streaming platforms and data metrics, Userful’s solutions enable modernized business operations for IT leaders and the functional departments they support. Userful helps organizations advance the way they work, learn and govern with secure, scalable and centrally managed solutions for employee and customer engagement worldwide.
About LG Business Solutions USA
The LG Electronics USA Business Solutions division serves commercial display customers in the U.S. digital signage, lodging and hospitality, systems integration, healthcare, education, government and industrial markets. Based in Lincolnshire, Ill., with its dedicated engineering and customer support team, LG Business Solutions USA delivers business-to-business technology solutions tailored to the particular needs of business environments. LG Electronics USA is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc., a $56 billion global force in consumer electronics, home appliances and air solutions. www.LGSolutions.com.
For further press information, media assets or to schedule interviews, please contact:
Danielle Alfaro, PR & Communications Manager
Userful Corporation
E: [email protected]
A leading provider in endpoints and management software for VDI and Cloud, 10ZiG recently enhanced its exclusive NOS™ line of Zero Clients for yet another Microsoft solution.
10ZiG Technology’s NOS-M Zero Client Series has been powered to support capabilities for Microsoft Windows 365 Cloud PC across several endpoint devices.
LEICESTER, UK – In case you don’t know 10ZiG, we pride ourselves on not just what we do, but how we do it. A leading provider in endpoints and management software for VDI and Cloud, 10ZiG recently enhanced its exclusive NOS™ line of Zero Clients for yet another Microsoft solution.
NOS™, or Next-to-No Operating System (OS), is the exclusive platform in which 10ZiG customizes its Zero Clients with extremely lightweight and extremely secure OS, for accessing Microsoft solutions – including AVD, RDS, and now Windows 365 Cloud PC. With the 10ZiG NOS™ platform, you experience lightning-fast boot-up times, very low power consumption, and simple and intuitive configuration locally or via Cloud with The 10ZiG Manager™ – our free endpoint management software. The NOS™ Zero Client lineup provides a solution for all user types, from simpler task workers to more demanding power users.
Andy Martin, 10ZiG COO, “It’s not enough that 10ZiG works diligently to leverage our NOS™ Zero Clients, or any of our client endpoints for that matter, with the latest Microsoft Solutions and others – we know what we do is our best. It’s also how we do it. We deliver cutting-edge custom hardware that is supportive of all these advances, with people who care, and offerings that truly help IT professionals. We deliver great products, great technology, great service, and the 10ZiG guarantee – we customize our products to work in the customer’s computing environments, and not the other way around.”
This latest 10ZiG Microsoft support feature enhances NOS™ Zero Clients 4648qm, 5948qm, 6048qm, and 6148m – task to knowledge to power workers – in that order. Microsoft Windows 365 Cloud PC securely streams the Windows experience to any 10ZiG endpoint device including personalized apps, data, and settings. It reduces security risks by storing information in the Cloud, and not on devices. It allows end users the flexibility to work where and when they choose to, with Windows in the Azure Cloud. For today’s remote and hybrid work situations, end users are enabled to access a full Windows PC virtually.
###
About 10ZiG
10ZiG Technology is a world-market leader in Thin & Zero Client endpoint devices for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Cloud. We provide leading Intel and AMD based Dual and Quad Core Thin & Zero Clients for VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, etc., environments, in addition to a full range of Teradici PCoIP Zero Clients. Free, no-obligation demo devices, US & EMEA based Tech Support, and the free “The 10ZiG Manager™” software solution with Cloud capabilities and unlimited user licenses, gives us our cutting edge.
Raspberry Pi was very nice and sent us one of their Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kits. Featuring a quad-core 64-bit processor, 4GB of RAM, wireless networking, dual-display output, and 4K video playback, as well as a 40-pin GPIO header, Raspberry Pi 400 is a powerful, easy-to-use computer built into a neat and portable keyboard. Available on Amazon for $99 (just add a monitor).
We unboxed it and set it up in 10 minutes
plugged in mouse
hooked up internet
plugged in HDMI to the 32″ monitor
connected power
We ran two sets of tests. The first was just 10 minutes of “typical usage” to see if any “slowness”. The kind of lag you might experience with one of the old Celeron or J1900 (or lord forbid an Atom) compared to the typical Windows i5 desktop with Intel graphics.
Typical baseline for us is a Linux laptop with 4Ghz i7-8750H with Intel 630. 16GB RAM. (We recommend System76!)
Typical monitor is BenQ EW3270L.
The linux desktop ran at 1920 resolution.
The Raspberry PI ran at 2560 just to make it tougher
Outcome: Couldn’t tell the difference…No discernible difference browsing, viewing big images or playing multiple videos on Vimeo.
Second test we used Loadninja. The usual graphics performance tests historically started with Norton SI way back when and progressed to a Windows (or Android these days) download app. That works for local performance benchmarks but not really for a thin client (given consistent network connection). We didn’t test over WiFi (yet) but we will see if 5Ghz supported and test it later.
For this test you record a macro and then play it back. We used kioskindustry.org (a very fast site at 400ms) and did a typical 6 screen navigation scrolling and clicking. We’ll speak with the Loadninja people next week to get their recommendations. You also select the number of Virtual Users and we took the default 10.
Run 1 Scenario2 = typical linux workstation
Click for full size
Test run comparison
Other Test Conditions
Desktop Comparison Client Used
Pop!_OS 18.04 LTS (64-bit) with full-disk encryption
15.6″ Matte 1080p LED Backlit Display
4.1 GHz i7-8750H (2.2 up to 4.1 GHz – 9MB Cache – 6 Cores – 12 Threads)
Intel® HD Graphics 630
16 GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2400MHz (2× 8 GB)
United States Keyboard
120 GB M.2 SSD
Video Parameters
BenQ EW3270ZL 32 inch 2560 x 1440 Monitor, 10 Bit, 3000:1, 4ms, Brightness Intelligence Technology, HDMI
2560×1440 for Raspberry test (59 Hz)
1920×1080 (23.98 Hz refresh) for Gazelle
Internet
Hard Ethernet via gigabit switch – Internet — 425 Mb (google) and 470 Mb Ookla
Chart for Raspberry
click for full size
click for full size
Power Considerations
Nice writeup by Helmut Neikirchen comparing Pi to Intel J4105
The Raspberry Pi 4 consumed idle 3.8 W to 4.0 W. With 1 core being busy, it consumes 4.5 W. With 2 cores being busy, it consumes 5.0 W. With 3 cores being busy, it consumes between 5.4 W and 5.5 W.
For internet browsing you would be hard-pressed to name which is which
We have an older generation HP Chromebook and will run the same tests on it to see the comparison
Add a lockdown and you have an internet station.
The keyboard is surprisingly nice to use though in a public-facing context it might be better as a service keyboard
All said there are two spare USB ports + an extra micro-HDMI for second monitor. I suppose I could test that too.
Totally pleased with the unit and setup and documentation. Nice to see user friendly doc. It comes in a nice book.
Lots of kiosk projects are using these and I suspect thin client environments as well as digital signage projects. Fair to predict use in robotics given the extremely low price.
As I did not install Linux yet, it was running Windows 10 and idle refers to having only the built-in task manager running in foreground (to display clock frequency) and all the background services that Windows 10 has by default. CPU load was generated using a batch file containing an endless loop.
The J4105 clocks down to 0.78 GHz when idle and the power consumption of the whole system (with one mSATA and one SATA SSD) is then 3.8 W.
With 1 core being busy, it still clocks up to 2.4 GHz and consumes 7.2 W.
With 2 cores being busy, it still clocks up to 2.4 GHz and consumes 10.3 W.
With 3 cores being busy, it clocks up to 2.35 GHz and consumes between 11.8 W and 12.1 W.
With 4 cores being busy, it clocks up to 2.19 GHz and consumes between 11.4 W and 12.0 W. (So it seems the reduced clock saves power).
I did run it with 4 cores being busy for an hour, and the measurements did not change, e.g. no thermal throttling seems to have occurred (nor did the case get hot, so a really good passive cooling — or the contact between CPU and case is bad, but then thermal throttling could have been expected).
Raspberry Pi 4 measurements
I had OSMC with KODI running, but nothing else, i.e. the KODI UI being idle, but all the background services running. The latest firmware as of 4. June 2021 was used, storage was SDHC card only. CPU load was generated using the stress command.
The Raspberry Pi 4 consumed idle 3.8 W to 4.0 W.
With 1 core being busy, it consumes 4.5 W.
With 2 cores being busy, it consumes 5.0 W.
With 3 cores being busy, it consumes between 5.4 W and 5.5 W.
With 4 cores being busy, it consumes 6.0 W.
Temperature with the cooling case from https://www.coolingcases.com/ was approx. 52° C (so it prevented thermal throttling that would start at 80° C). Surprisingly, even in idle mode, the temperature was 40-42° (the tiny case does feel much warmer than the bigger case of the Intel system — so, it seems: size matters).
Conclusions
In summary, the idle power consumption of both systems is comparable and while the busy consumption is lower with Raspberry Pi 4, it is of course less powerful than the J4105 system. For the J4105, I never observed the full 2.5 GHz burst clock rate (but 2.4 GHz). Even though the CPU TDP is 10 W, the whole system consumed up to 12.1 W (e.g. the RAM, the two SSDs, WiFi, HDMI output, external power supply, etc. probably also to add their share — during boot, I even saw 14.8 W).
Note that others suggest 2.7 W idle for the Raspi 4 (but seems to require switching off a lot of I/O, e.g., HDMI etc. — which I did not do, nor did I minimise background processes) or even as low as 2.1 W. On the other hand, many other report that they neither (with either a fan or a heatsink) get the system cooler than 42° in idle, so getting the Raspy warmer than the touch of your hand seems to be normal, but the J4105 system with the bigger case was considerably cooler.
One of the developers for Raspberry Pi, Linucleus, sent us this from Amazon.
ALL-IN-ONE RASPBERRY PI MONITOR — EVICIV 10.1″ touchscreen monitor with durable& hard -wearing case to protect improves its appearance while keeping the board neatly tucked away behind it. It comes with Pi3 Side Panel and Pi4 Side Panel to meet different needs. EVICIV Raspberry Pi 4 Screen with a built-in cooling fan to guarantee heat dissipation.
10-POINTS CAPACITIVE ACCURATE TOUCH — Raspberry pi display adopted capacitive (PCAP) touch technology allows you to swipe, scroll, select, zoom in, zoom out, and move a cursor in 3-5 ms. What’s more, EVICIV adopted touch rotation technology to solve touch inaccurate problem for portrait orientation.
PLUG and PLAY FEATURE — EVICIV touch screen monitor has an impressive feature of plug and play that doesn’t require any driver installation. This LCD monitor not only works with raspberry pi devices as well as computers with HDMI interface, phones with Type-C 3.1 ports, supporting Raspbian/ Raspberry Pi 400/ Linux/ Win10/8/7 OS.
HD VISUAL ENJOYMENT — The raspberry pi 3 screen with HD 1920×1200 resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio gives high color restore the display. Features a 16:9 aspect ratio. IPS 178° full wide viewing angle gives you a crystal-clear viewing experience of all your content.
OSD MENU FUNCTION AND THREE STAND WAYS — You can manage the color/image adjustment, language setting for this portable monitor via OSD Menu Button. It is with Foldable stand/VESA hole /Wall-mountable hole, You can choose the most comfortable use way as you like.
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