Acer and BYOC™ Alliance Partners Showcase New Cloud Solutions
Editors’ Summary:
- Acer BYOC Alliance includes IoT device and chipset makers, application developers, cloud solution providers.
- BYOC connects the vast range of IoT devices/solutions, empowering them to interoperate and function to the greatest potential.
- BYOC ecosystem combines hardware, application software, and smart devices with a focus on creating people-centric services.
- New cloud solutions include communication network system, big data analytics, customer services, mobile sensor hub for location and temperature, health management, biometric authentication, and more.
SOUTH AFRICA, Johannesburg, Mar 2, 2015 Acer is showcasing its latest Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC™) developments at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 in Barcelona, which extend beyond applications to connecting the Internet of Things (IoT) devices with cloud computing.
Under the theme of Acer BYOC Empowering Your IoT Stories, Acer is collaborating with its alliance members from different fields including device and chipset makers, application developers, cloud solution providers, and empowering them with BYOC solutions. Acer BYOC is also connecting the numerous and diversified range of IoT devices/solutions on the market so that each can be empowered to interoperate and function to the greatest potential.
The initial offerings and alliance members of the Acer BYOC ecosystem was announced in mid-2014; today, Acer is combining hardware, application software and smart devices with a focus on creating people-centric services, to embrace the new C&C (Computing and Communication) era. At MWC (Booth Hall 1, Stand G50), Acer will showcase some of its latest BYOC offerings with its alliance members.
Technologies for the New Era of C&C
abPBX plus series – a global communication network that overcomes the limitations of traditional hardware-based systems. Based on an all internet protocol with software defined network, abPBX plus integrates traditional office telephony systems with tablet PCs, smartphones and other mobile devices. Smartphones become the company staff’s portable phones/extensions with instant messaging and group chat functionality. abPBX plus offers enterprises with a major advancement in manageability, efficiency, and security while lowering the total cost of ownership.
Big data analytics – Acer BYOC can help corporations to process real-time datasets for big data analytics on a global scale. From collecting large quantities of data to utilizing analytic tools, BYOC provides the technology for gathering the critical insight customers need to make better decisions. Acer’s real-time cloud activity map provides a big data solution that helps corporations visualize the activity of devices, including location, time, density, and more.
Customer services – Acer currently offers three customer cloud services solutions built on the Acer Open Platform (AOP) SDK, which have been tested, improved, and implemented within Acer’s operations.
- Field Service Engineer (FSE) enables onsite service engineers out in the field to obtain information more efficiently. It manages customers’ documents, takes pictures and shares information like product manual, price list using the corporate network instead of sharing via instant messaging apps. FSE enables the engineer to order spare parts with more visibility on priority and SLA[1] compliance, generate repair completion report and get instant feedback from customers via the mobile device.
- Acer Care Center (ACC) app enables Acer customers to register their new products, raise service related queries, track the service status and find location of service centers. ACC app helps to manage customers’ proof-of-purchase documents and to enable customers to view/download service documents. It also enables customers to register and track all Acer products.
- Droplet app enables Acer’s repair center team in collecting customer documents like invoices and asset failures more effectively through a photo snap using their smartphone or tablet, then transferring the photos to a central server in real time for a seamless service intervention handling. Droplet eliminates the time spent on document scanning, transferring, attaching and uploading into central systems of traditional processes.
BYOC Empowered Solutions for IoT
Mobile sensor hub DevKit – is created for IoT device developers looking to collect and store mobile sensor data in a secure and convenient way, and easily accessed through mobile apps or other systems. The DevKit, jointly designed by Acer andMediaTek, includes GPS location and temperature sensors built on the AOP SDK and MediaTek’s LinkIt™ IoT systems with Aster SoC. With this kit, which meets the OIC[2] specifications for interoperability across connected devices, IoT device developers focus on application development and need not worry about the cloud infrastructure operations.
abApps – help consumers to “Build Your Own Cloud” on their own devices wirelessly and simultaneously, syncing and providing access to their digital life anytime, anywhere. With abApps, consumers can snap photos using their smartphone or tablet, or listen to music stored in their home PC on the go. The PC ultimately becomes the personal cloud data center.
Personal health management – brings together AOP and EBM Technologies’ health solution to improve the quality of medical services and personal health management. Patients’ historical records are stored in a private cloud on Acer’s aBeingsmart center allowing authorized doctors or family members to access their complete information remotely.
Biometric authentication – the BYOC-empowered authentication solution on a smartband by EgisTec uses biometrics, such as fingerprints, to verify the identity of users with the highest degree of confidence. The smartband is equipped with a fingerprint sensor that meets FIDO™ [3] standards for authentication and privacy protection and is able to recognize fingerprints under less than ideal conditions, such as on fingers that are overly oily or moist. With Bluetooth® Smart connectivity, the smartband can be connected and synced with a smartphone, and upload sensor data to Acer BYOC.
Expanding the World of IoT
Acer is also announcing separately the partnerships with other companies to expand the world of IoT. Advanced digital imaging solutions developer, OmniVision Technologies, will bring HD video streaming capabilities to Acer’s BYOC solution with its battery-powered video processor. NTI Corporation, a BYOC alliance member since May 2014, will integrate Acer BYOC into its popular PC Backup software, and preinstall the integrated solution on Acer branded PCs. And finally, the provider of coding education, AppTog, will jointly develop IoT cloud solutions to address the growing coder maker education market.
