| Microsoft officially entered the embedded marketplace in November 1996 with the release of Windows Embedded CE 1.0. Since then, Microsoft has expanded into a full line of embedded operating systems, enabling developers to build next-generation 32-bit devices with a range of products that provide toolsets and development platforms for small to large device footprints.
Thousands of embedded devices have been built with Windows Embedded products, from portable ultrasound machines to GPS devices and from ATMs to devices that power large construction machinery. With comprehensive features, easy-to-use tools, free evaluation kits and access to a large network of community support, Windows Embedded helps yield faster time to market and decreased development costs. |
| The Windows Embedded Product Family |
|  | Windows Embedded CE 6.0 allows you to develop small-footprint devices with a componentized, real-time operating system. The componentized features in Windows Embedded CE are optimized for small devices with limited memory and processing resources, for mobile devices that require power management capabilities, next-generation devices that require rich networking and communications standards, or for real-time devices that require deterministic responses to interrupts. Examples of Windows CE-based devices include portable navigation and communications devices. |
|  | Windows Embedded Standard is a fully componentized version of Windows. Windows Embedded Standard allows you to develop advanced commercial and consumer devices to run thousands of existing Windows applications and drivers. Windows Embedded Standard includes Silverlight, .NET Framework 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, RDP 6.1 and Network Access Protection. With Standard, you can optimize the size of the OS footprint on your device because you can select only the drivers, services, and applications you need. By using only the components you need, you can reduce development time, optimize operating system size, lower hardware costs, and scale as low as 40MB in size with a bootable kernel. Windows Embedded Standard is used in devices such as Thin Clients and kiosks. |
|  | Windows Embedded POSReady is a flexible operating system optimized for the retail industry, with built-in networking capabilities and standards-based plug-and-play support. It lets you connect a variety of retail or hospitality device peripherals onto a single POS system. Windows Embedded POSReady is used in a wide range of POS devices, including self-checkout systems, customer-facing information kiosks, cash registers, fuel pumps, automated teller machines, and digital signage.Windows Embedded POSReady is a flexible operating system optimized for the retail industry, with built-in networking capabilities and standards-based plug-and-play support. It lets you connect a variety of retail or hospitality device peripherals onto a single POS system. Windows Embedded POSReady is used in a wide range of POS devices, including self-checkout systems, customer-facing information kiosks, cash registers, fuel pumps, automated teller machines, and digital signage. |
|  | Windows Embedded Enterprise products are fully functional versions of Microsoft’s Windows desktop operating system intended to power dedicated embedded devices that require Windows application compatibility and the flexibility to deploy a custom user interface. When footprint size is not an issue, developers use Windows Embedded Enterprise for its visual and differentiated user interfaces, connectivity capabilities, and reliability in building secure applications. Successful applications using Windows Embedded Enterprise include kiosks, ATM systems, POS devices, kiosks, complex industrial automation controllers, complex medical devices, and gaming machines.
The Windows Embedded Enterprise Family includes:
- Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems
- Windows 7 Ultimate for Embedded Systems
- Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems
- Windows Vista Business for Embedded Systems
- Windows Vista Ultimate for Embedded Systems |
|  | Windows Embedded NavReady is an operating system and set of development tools that allows you to build handheld portable navigation devices (PNDs) that connect to online services, Bluetooth capable mobile phones, Windows-based PCs, and the Internet. Windows Embedded NavReady is based on Windows Embedded CE. PNDs built on Windows Embedded NavReady provide location-aware services and connect to other devices to make hands-free phone calls, stream music, and exchange data. |
|  | Windows Embedded Server is a fully functional version of Microsoft’s server operating system with built-in security, reliability, and availability features intended for use in an embedded solution consisting of purpose-built hardware and application software. Windows Embedded Server is used to build a wide variety of server solutions including Medical imaging, security and surveillance, industrial automation and telecommunications. |
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|  |  | |  | | Windows Embedded Fast Facts | | More than 2 billion embedded devices shipped in 2006, that’s one device for every three people on the planet. Venture Development Corporation By 2014, there will be 100 million devices with 3G and 4G technology embedded in them. The first recognizably modern embedded system was the Apollo Guidance Computer developed at MIT in the 1960s for the Apollo Space Project. Wikipedia
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