Satish Kumar Gorantla, Sr. Sales Manager, Kontron Technology India, speaks with Dilin Anand from EFY.
What is Kontron’s vision for India?
Kontron is a pioneer in IoT providing a combined hardware-middleware portfolio with a secure and connected IoT platform solution. Being a leader of embedded computing technology, we want to push our embedded solutions to every critical application with innovation and services through our network. We intend to extend our market leadership in strategically important segments like Defense & Aerospace, Transportation and Automation with focused support and comprehensive value added services.
What influence has open industry standard products had on the market?
The market of Open industry standard products is continuously growing. Many small to large equipment manufacturers are moving from non-standard architecture to open standard platforms, which helps them to move out from legacy and proprietary based designs. This also helps equipment manufacturers to keep their products and projects alive for a long time and help them to find the easy path while upgrading to latest cutting edge technologies.
What are the most popular platforms in the industry?
Some of the industry leading embedded platforms are System on Modules (SOM), CompactPCI, VME and VPX, standalone computers, ATCA and MicroTCA. These platforms can be used across all major verticals in the industry. Most of the Kontron embedded application ready platforms are designed on a modular concept for easy customisation, better connectivity and scalability.
What trends have you observed in relation to monitors, panel PCs and tablets?
Sales of monitors, Panel PC’s and tablets are raising at a rapid rate. With the level of competition increasing in both the tablet and Panel PC markets, pricing is expected to continue to decline. At the same time, we expect a lower quality of our competitors’ products.
What would be one important function or feature that all HMI should almost always have?
Ruggedness is an important area. Equipped for extreme environments, Kontron’s Endurance Tablet functions submerged in water, covered in dust, high heat, frost, shock and even after dropping. Rugged capabilities include IP65, MIL-STD-810G, and 5 feet drop resistance.
What are the broad technology advances in aerospace, defence and transportation as observed by Kontron?
Today the embedded computing industry offers a variety of board and box-level solutions that system developers can use to integrate with the compute-heavy platforms needed for the defense Industry. Using a COTS based platform for military design is well proven and even encourages design industry. By working with modular, plug-and play payloads, developers are maximizing combat capability, flexibility and efficiency in the face of these evolving threats.  Kontron COBALT, STARVX, AIRES series systems bring super commuting I/O Bandwidth and performance to harsh environments like radar, sonar, autonomous vehicles and other 3D reconstruction-based systems, Avionics and, amongst others, transportation markets are gearing up for business, driven by commitments to a greener, faster, safer and more connected transportation experience.
What are Kontron’s growth strategies for APAC?
The APAC region is one of the most important future markets for embedded technologies. Last year Kontron strengthened its regional presence with a number of important initiatives, including the opening of a state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facility in China and enhanced R&D and repair capabilities in Malaysia. Furthermore, Kontron acquired its joint venture partner in India a country that represents a significant market opportunity for Kontron from increasing demand in many strategic growth sectors, including defence, industrial automation and transportation. As many global OEMs have large development centres in India, Kontron customers will now have easier access to our world-class engineering and support services resulting in shorter design-in cycles and a faster time to market. Together with industry partners, Kontron opened an Internet of Things cloud data centre and research laboratory in Malaysia. The facility enables individuals and organizations to collaborate and access IoT-related knowledge and know-how through research and development (R&D) activities to enable collaborative research in engineering, science and technology. In January 2016, Kontron AG and ENNOCONN Corporation announced a strategic partnership, which positioned Kontron solutions in APAC using Ennoconn or Foxconn channels and reputation to gain market share. These announcements show how we have strengthened our presence to increase direct and indirect sales, drive new revenues and bring more value added services to local and global customers.
