Microsoft’s Intelligent Systems

The Internet of Things	Our Mission and Vision	Industry Focus	Impact of Edge Devices	Our Solutions Approach

The Internet of Things

Internet-enabled devices generate tremendous amounts of valuable data, transforming decision making for enterprises and revolutionizing the customer experience. Self-contained industry devices are being replaced by end-to-end solutions that transmit vast amounts of data to back-end analysis systems. These Intelligent systems are helping to realize the potential of the Internet of Things by optimizing business intelligence with anywhere, anytime access to critical information. Intelligent systems are now considered essential for the growth of today’s enterprise; IDC forecasts the market for intelligent systems will double from more than 2.3 billion units and $1.3 trillion in revenue in 2012 to nearly 4.6 billion units and over $2.3 trillion in revenue in 2016 (source: IDC Worldwide Intelligent Systems 2012-2016 Forecast: The Next Big Opportunity Accelerates, doc #235404, June 2012). Together with the power and resources of the cloud, intelligent systems with edge devices running on Windows Embedded span companies, communities and countries within the Internet of Things.


Previous	Next: Our Mission and Vision

Our Mission and Vision

Actionable data fueled by intelligent systems is the new currency for business, and its value is expected to increase exponentially, improving how people live, learn and conduct business. Gartner predicts that big data will “deliver transformational benefits to enterprises” in the coming 2-5 years, and that by 2015, enterprises that employ big data strategies “will begin to outperform their unprepared competitors within their industry sectors by 20 percentage in every available financial metric.” (Source: Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing, August, 2012.) With intelligent systems, Microsoft is helping organizations access and transform critical data into operational intelligence by providing a wide range of operating systems, tools, and systems and services.

Our mission is to drive business growth and competitive advantage for our enterprise customers and partners through technology innovations that capitalize on the vast potential of data. Your investment in Windows Embedded is backed by Microsoft’s proven commitment to intelligent systems through more than 15 years of experience in the market.


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Industry Focus

Intelligent systems are revolutionizing business and Microsoft is focused on driving innovation in retail and hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, and automotive industries. Customized solutions built with Windows Embedded harness Microsoft technologies to address specific industry needs by connecting devices on the edge of enterprise networks with existing IT infrastructures—on a single platform. The resulting intelligent systems help retailers deliver personal, seamless and differentiated experiences to customers; manufacturers increase efficiencies at every level of the operation to deliver innovative services, implement best-practice operations and enhance planning and decision-making processes; healthcare institutions optimize patient care and outcomes by bringing people, processes and information together; and automakers evolve “intelligent car” experiences, allowing drivers to access innovative in-car communication, infotainment, navigation and fuel-efficiency features.


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Impact of Edge Devices

Whether digital signs or point-of-service terminals in a store environment, handheld devices, robots on the manufacturing floor, or thin client devices in hospitals, Microsoft-based industry devices transform business intelligence to actionable operation intelligence. Organizations gain the ability to translate data into new insights that can be used to grow, expand and streamline operations, and improve customer, employee and partner interactions. Every device running Windows Embedded contains the power, familiarity and reliability of Windows. In addition, when it’s time to deploy your intelligent system, you have the added ability to work with a solution provider to customize, secure and manage your industry devices.


Previous: Industry Focus	Next: Our Solutions Approach

Our Solutions Approach

Microsoft’s tools and technologies for intelligent system solutions extend beyond a software package or device; the great power and flexibility of industry devices running the Windows Embedded platform is that it works in concert with Microsoft’s cloud products and services, and with existing IT infrastructure to customize a complete connected system.

Windows Embedded minimizes risk and complexity by providing one trusted platform with which to build solutions and broaden business opportunity. Windows Embedded fits with your needs, connecting data across a diverse set of technologies, providing compatibility across your existing systems, and enabling customization through a worldwide network of partners, to increase ease of use and drive efficiency. And a Microsoft solution extends the intelligence of your organization, increasing opportunities for your workforce to act on data and insights that would otherwise be out of reach.


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Key attributes of an intelligent system

Drive sustainable competitive advantage for your enterprise by creating a customized solution built on Windows Embedded, and you’ll reap real-time, tangible benefits that can be defined by six key attributes of intelligent systems.

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Identity

Collecting and delivering the right data in the right context to the right person or device makes organizations smarter and customer service better. But it’s a complex challenge to manage identity as inputs increase across users, devices and discrete sub systems. Intelligent systems based on Windows Embedded help companies strike a balance between the increased complexity caused by more users and devices, and the increased value created by greater data generation. An identity-driven intelligent system has the promise of enabling key business decisions based on an individual person or device, leading to smarter interactions and greater effectiveness in achieving business goals.

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Security

Security was simpler when systems or devices were isolated and the number of entry points to a system could be tightly controlled. Now, business value is found in more connected systems—and is increased when more data is available to be analyzed—making security more difficult and costly. The more devices connecting to a system, the more vulnerable that system becomes. Data security is also more complicated with more systems using the same data source for different types of analytics, yet each system has its own unique vulnerabilities and consumes data differently. Solutions built on Windows Embedded create intelligent systems that are connected in an endless loop from edge to back-end, at one time connected and secure.

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Connectivity

A system that creates a constant dialog between edge devices and data-analysis systems is more intelligent and flexible, able to quickly implement system-wide changes. This level of connectivity contributes directly to a company’s ability to innovate and compete, but the cost of having all devices or sensors connected all the time can be prohibitive. An intelligent system built on Windows Embedded makes it possible to control when and how these edge devices are connected, and what data should be captured, increasing the ROI from these solutions. Built on trusted Microsoft technology, these solutions are also future-proof, able to evolve with the market and provide long-term support. This level of connectivity contributes directly to competitive edge and rapid innovation in any industry.

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Manageability

Data flows two ways in an intelligent system; Edge devices transmit data to back-end analysis systems for business insight, and management systems monitor and update devices and systems. An intelligent system built on Windows Embedded allows devices to be managed and even programed remotely from any location, ensuring continuous safety and security, and enabling customization to a company’s requirements or different user’s preferences. An intelligent system can reduce the time and cost it takes to manage a device, and make updates possible at any time, from any place. Improved manageability means changes can happen quickly, without delay in implementation—from productivity, to efficiency, to customer-service improvements.

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User Experience

Employees have come to expect the same easy-to-learn, intuitive interactions they get from consumer devices in the technology they use at work, and Windows Embedded partners and OEMs are responding. Natural user interaction (NUI) capabilities, such as touch and voice, are appearing in many edge devices, increasing ease of use, reducing training time, and making employee and customer experiences more enjoyable overall. In considering user experience, an intelligent system can be made to capture data never before available, and make it accessible to the whole system, rather than just within a single discrete solution. Serving up an intuitive user experience at the edge can create new, user-centric data that yields greater insight into real customer and employee needs, feeding innovation for the business.

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Analytics

Never before has so much data been available, and enterprises that generate and tap into rich data sources are gaining a competitive edge. An intelligent system powered by Windows Embedded can uncover new areas of business intelligence, breaking through traditional data analytics to create a rapid-fire, continuous loop of insight and action. Companies can create strategies for storing and analyzing vast amounts of new data directly from edge devices, making decisions and acting on them in real time, maximizing efficiencies in everything from inventory to the supply chain, and making long-term plans based on ever-more sophisticated data analysis.

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Customer success story

"Microsoft and Windows Embedded technologies are critical to the success of InFront and our decision to resell it. The intelligence the solution provides through technology integration makes it easier to provide stellar customer service to keep the retail ball rolling."Lawrence Freeman,The Co-operative Group

To support growth and simplify innovation, the United Kingdom's fifth-largest food retailer, the Co-operative Group, replaced its Oracle customer-management system with a solution based on Microsoft data warehousing technology for strong support and interoperability. The solution reduced the cost of the company's growth plans by tens of millions of dollars, simplified reporting and development, and improved the security of customer information.

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