Multi-Tech (News - Alert) Systems Inc. earlier this month unveiled a new dongle and late in September introduced PCI Express Mini Card. Both solutions from the 43-year-old company were designed for machine-to-machine applications.
Gregg Zastrow, Multi-Tech Systems senior product marketing manager, tells TMCnet the QuickCarrier USB-D is the first true end-to-end M2M dongle in the industry. It leverages a module from Telit, and has a long lifecycle. Speaking with TMCnet at the Telit DevCon event in San Jose, Zastrow says consistency, reliability and upgradability of equipment like the QuickCarrier USB-D are important in M2M deployments, which can involve large numbers of unmanned devices.
A press release announcing this product quotes Don Miller, Multi-Tech Systems senior product manager, as saying: “Low-cost or even no-cost dongles don’t really reflect the true costs of this type of solution for M2M. There’s a constant need to drive down costs and adapt technologies for the consumer market, which initiates redesigns and other changes. And that’s fine for consumers who are buying and using one device. But when companies are deploying hundreds of devices over time, things like a driver update can be problematic, causing service calls or re-work. The QuickCarrier USB-D fills a huge gap in the market; our customers and partners are extremely excited about this.”
Other features of the QuickCarrier USB-D include AT command compatibility and pre-certification by major regulatory agencies, an internal antenna, short message service, Windows and Linux drivers, and support for 3G HSPA+ and EV-DO.
As for the PCI (News - Alert) Express Mini Card, this module brings to the European market another form factor from Multi-Tech Systems, explains Zastrow. This solution, he says, is ideal for use in the retrofit market to get cellular connectivity going.
The card, named the MultiConnect PCIe, supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or GPS. It also comes with a SIM card holder, Zastrow tells TMCnet, so customers don’t have to design for a SIM card elsewhere, keeping the solution small in size.
The release announcing this product quotes Zastrow saying: “What really makes this device stand out is the host of options in one highly integrated M2M package. Perfect for remote video surveillance, asset tracking or a whole host of M2M applications, the MultiConnect PCIe provides build options to meet diverse deployment requirements.”
Edited by Rory J. Thompson