Mitsubishi Electric Arrow
Company Employs Embedded Technology for Rapid Rollout of Award-Winning Photo Kiosks
Business Situation
The Spanish branch of Mitsubishi Electric Europe, which develops digital photography and multimedia kiosks, isbased in Barcelona. To kick off the development of a new generation of kiosks, executives at Mitsubishi neededan embedded software environment optimised for retail solutions. Mitsubishi Electric Europe employed Microsoft�Windows� Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) to develop the kiosks cost effectively in just 10 months. Theenvironment was designed specifically for retailers, providing a small footprint that integrates easily such asBluetooth. With WEPOS, designers could make the most of their creativity and deliver a reliable solution thatsupports the latest developments in photographic technology.
Mitsubishi Electric Europe wanted to develop a new range of versatile, self-service kiosks for developing digitalpictures. The devices, designed for different locations such as shopping centres and photography shops, were tocombine a user-friendly menu and a touch-sensitive screen to execute state-of-the-art photography services. Thedevices would also include Bluetooth technology for printing pictures from mobile phones, as well as multimediaMP3 services for downloading ringtones and games.
Solution
After reviewing a number of embedded operating systems, Mitsubishi Electric Europe made an in-depthassessment of Microsoft� Windows� Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS). The business value of the solutionwas immediately clear. �The operating system was optimised for solutions in the retail marketplace,� Gomez says.�The Plug and Play features ensured that integrating the system with peripherals was simple.�
Benefits
- Existing skill sets drive innovation
- Software encourages creativity
- Solution improves product development
- Customers gain user-friendly experience
- Solution ensures peace of mind
WEPOS is the Microsoft Windows Embedded technology designed specificallyfor retailing needs. It is optimised with only the features and components forfully functional point-of-sale systems in a retail environment, which minimisesdevelopment time, reduces costs, and maintains competitive advantage.Maximising efficiencies within the development life cycle was paramount forMitsubishi Electric Europe. The company set a tight deadline for productrelease of less than a year. Development of the software environment began inthe summer of 2005, with a timeframe of just two months to complete work.At this point, the organisation turned to Windows Embedded Partner ArrowIberia.
Development of the software environment ran smoothly. Programmers atMitsubishi Electric Europe integrated WEPOS with the kiosks’ Intel-based CPUsand combined Bluetooth, USB, and card-reader technology for digital storagedevices. Gomez says: �Our experience of developing with Microsoft technologyhas been excellent. We see Microsoft as the industry standard for developmentwork today. Using WEPOS, we found the basic system we needed was more orless fully implemented, ensuring minimal development work was needed.�
�Indeed, we provided support. It was important to preventillegal access to the software environment through theUSB. We helped solve the problem, ensuring access to thedrivers only by execution of scripts in the log-on process.�
Antonio Fernandez, Marketing Manager at Arrow Iberia