Kontron Micro Client II: Next generation industrial HMIs for operating and monitoring

Kontron announces its second generation of the successful Micro Client industrial HMI: the new Kontron Micro Client II. By focussing on intended use as an industrial thin client including touch functionality for operating and monitoring, the new Kontron Micro Client II provides all the latest features required for thin client oriented HMI applications in a cost-optimized design that includes a modular IP65 protected front panel with touch screen.

The Kontron Micro Clients II can be implemented with either SATA, CompactFlash or Ethernet boot functionality. This makes them the perfect fit for all common server-orientated HMI client technologies. Depending on the application needs, the fanless and scalable Kontron Micro Clients II are equipped with embedded processors ranging from the AMD LX 800 processor with 500MHz up to the 1.0 GHz Intel® Celeron® processor. To suit the requirements of numerous control and monitoring applications in machine and plant engineering as well as the building automation, automotive, medical and transport sectors, the Kontron MicroClient II industrial HMIs are available with a resistive touch screen in all prevalent display formats (7, 10.4, 12.1 and 15 inch). As a cost effective, turnkey solution for high volume projects or applications with several decentralized HMIs, the new Kontron MicroClients II help OEMs and application engineers improve operational safety, user friendliness and overall application usability by means of intuitive and easy to use touch menus and web-based visualization without compromising application costs.

For extensive communication capabilities the Kontron Micro Clients II offer 2 x 10/100 Ethernet, 2 external USB 2.0 ports, 1 x RS232 with optional RS422/RS485, as well as an optional CAN bus interface. They also feature sophisticated embedded graphics for intuitive GUIs, as well as touch-beep and optional AC97 sound for multi-media oriented operating and monitoring applications including acoustic feedback. The fanless design enables silent operation, reduced maintenance costs and lower total-cost-of-ownership due to the impressive MTBF of over 40,000 hours.

The new Kontron Micro Client II thin clients integrate all these features in a compact housing with IP65 protection on the front. For versatile use the front panel can be omitted, enabling the Kontron Micro-Client II to be integrated into all custom specific housings including vandal protected systems for public use. In this case, the OEM needs to integrate the optional touch screen functionality. With bolt or clip panel mount plus the optional VESA mount, the new Kontron MicroClient II HMIs are easy to install, even in existing applications. Moreover, since all Kontron panel PCs (Micro Client II and V-Panel Express) with the same screen size are interchangeable, customers can easily scale the performance of their thin client PCs up to systems with multicore processors without changing the design of the (custom) housings.

Shock and vibration resistance, thermal stability and compliance with the strictest EMC standards are standard features of the Kontron Micro Clients II as is long term availability of at least 5 years.

The new Kontron Micro Clients II are certified in accordance with CE and cULus and are available now with support for Windows CE.net, Windows XP Embedded and Embedded Linux as standard along with numerous protocols, including http, XML and Remote Desktop Protocol.