iCOP Technology’s new ICE Box-PC building block system for extreme environmental temperatures

Rugged computing is a must for lots of new IoT, M2M and Big Data applications deployed in extreme environmental conditions. Hardly any embedded computing hardware, however, is equipped to operate in minus 60°C, let alone – 100 °C or to be immersed in water.

To enable passively cooled standard hardware to nevertheless be operated in such extreme environments, ICOP Technology has developed the ICE Box, a new modular building block system with IP67 protection (majorly hosting PC-104 form factor boards inside) and active heating, which automatically activates if the temperature drops below a configurable minimum temperature (standard value is -20 C).”

Owing to the modular build of the building block system, OEMs can order their individual ICE Box-PCs in numerous different configurations. Any required system configuration can be ordered from batch sizes of just one, including individual I/O covers and laser engraving of the housing and can be delivered within one week after specification approval. Applications can be found in outdoor, vehicle and marine deployment, as well as in refrigerated warehouses.

Amongst the standard components, which ICOP Technology offers for the ICE Box-PC building block system with passive cooling and active heating, are around 20 different standard CPU components with SFF, low power DM&P Vortex86 processor technology, power supplies as well as numerous I/O extensions for Ethernet and wireless (IoT) interfaces, USB, digital and analog I/O, fieldbuses as well as motion control applications. The interfaces can be mounted on the front or back panel according to requirements, paving the way for highly individual OEM configurations. The ICE-104 building block enclosure is suited for OEMs without MOQ needed.

Customers opting for ICOP Technology’s systems with DM&P Vortex86 processors profit from a rich, established ecosystem which has been developed over decades and can be immediately deployed. Besides these extremely energy-efficient x86 processors – which are equally suited to new IoT applications and long-tail deployments including ISA support – there exist countless special “off the shelf” solutions which still have to be developed for comparatively less established processor technologies. OEMs can also expect a much more stable expansion of the ecosystem, the advancement of DM&P Vortex86 processors caters for the long-term requirements of industrial computing with x86 technology and not for commercial mainstream demands, where tomorrow completely different features could be relevant.