It may have permeated seemingly every corner of the office, but the trucks that deliver business supplies, the cabinets and refrigeration units that store them, and the remote buildings where they’re often installed have remained outside the Internet of Things (IoT) movement’s reach – until now.
This week at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, Dell Technologies Inc. revealed Edge Gateway 3000 series, a new line of hardware aimed at bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to enclosed spaces – specifically trucks, storage units, and remote buildings such as oil rigs – scheduled to be released in Canada this summer.
In a Feb. 27 statement Andy Rhodes, vice president and general manager of Dell’s IoT division, said it had become clear to the company that as the number of connected IoT devices increases, the more critical connecting devices at the edge of the network becomes.
“The IoT continues to enhance customer experience, drive business growth and improve lives, making it central to organizations digital transformation strategies,” he said. “The small and mighty 3000 Series opens up new opportunities for our customers and partners to get smarter with their data and make big things happen.”
The 3000 Series includes three models targeted specifically at the industrial automation, energy, transportation, and digital signage markets. With these new Edge Gateways, businesses can securely collect, transfer, and analyze data from devices such as vehicles, refrigeration units, digital signs, or even rooftop HVAC units.
“Customers are looking for faster, real-time analysis of the massive amount of data produced by devices on their networks, to perform immediate, smart decision-making,” Dell wrote in its Feb. 27 release. “For some, it’s too expensive to move all the data from the edge of the network near the devices to the data center. Computing at the edge helps determine which data sets are interesting, relevant and need to be sent back to the data center or the cloud for further analytics and longer term storage, saving bandwidth and reducing costs and security concerns.”
All three models include the following specs, with specific models optimized for the industrial, transportation, and retail industries:
- Intel Atom processor
- 2 GB RAM and 8 GB eMMC storage, with a 32 GB model available and SD card support
- Ethernet and USB support, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE certification
- Integrated 3G or 4G LTE cellular options
- Extreme temperature support ranging from -30ºC to 70ºC
- Integrated digital GPS, accelerometers, and atmospheric pressure sensors
- Input power support ranging from 12-57 VDC (with vehicle transient voltage protection)
- Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support
Like its IoT-based siblings including the Edge Gateway 5000 series and Embedded Box PC 3000 and 5000 series, the Edge Gateway 3000 series comes with the Dell Command Suite and optional support for the company’s Edge Device Manager, a tool that allows customers to manage all of their Dell IoT devices through a single dashboard.
For more information, visit the Dell IoT partners website.