Anders and Tilcon to deliver enhanced user machine relationships with Microsoft Windows Embedded CE

Based on a shared vision of delivering the ultimate user experience for embedded devices, the new joint venture will see Anders focussing on hardware development for current and future UMR intelligent display platforms while Tilcon continues to enhance the GUI development offering. Effective immediately, the partnership launches the first co-developed product, the ‘UMR IDS’, (interface development suite). This enables outstanding GUIs to be created using the UMR desktop Interface Builder and then seamlessly delivered to the UMR display platform, ready for deployment in the field. This offers product developers a totally unique, end-to-end, out of the box solution for developing next-generation products with rich user interfaces.

This combined intelligent display and GUI development offering, optimised for Windows Embedded CE, mirror Microsoft’s embedded market strategy by enabling high fidelity, next- generation graphical user experiences for embedded devices. The result is a range of display interface platforms that can be used to quickly and easily create enhanced user experiences in a wide range of industrial, medical, automotive and home appliance applications.

The Anders UMR-X10 family of intelligent colour display platforms feature a multi-configurable, PXA270 computer, pre-integrated with either a 3.5-inch VGA LTPS TFT or 7-inch WVGA TFT with resistive touchscreen and Windows Embedded CE and are designed to easily ‘plug’ into developers’ application hardware as a ready-to-use, highly optimised embedded display interface. Tilcon’s GUI development tools enable organisations to streamline their development process, produce superior interfaces and deploy those interfaces faster for sustainable competitive advantage.

Rob Anders, the CEO of Anders Electronics, comments: “The combination of the Anders display platform with Tilcon’s GUI tools provides developers and integrators with an effective UMR interface builder – a solution that can deliver the ultimate user experience while reducing development costs, minimising time to market and enabling customers to focus more time on their own core competencies. We see the agreement with Tilcon as the beginning of a long-term partnership based around a shared passion for making products easier and more enjoyable to use by moving from a pure ‘engineering-centric’ to a more ‘user-centric’ approach.”

“We are delighted to be teaming up with Anders Electronics and excited about delivering turnkey solutions for rich immersive graphical user interfaces,” says Prosanto Sarkar, CEO, Tilcon Software Limited. “Our customers will not only have the ability to quickly realise stunning custom user interfaces, but will also gain significant advantage from the agile business models that are enabled by the exciting combination of Tilcon GUI technology and Anders intelligent display technology.”

As part of the new venture, the Anders-Tilcon UMR IDS will be available as a free 60-day evaluation with UMR development kits. The IDS is optimised for Windows Embedded CE, a fact immediately acknowledged and supported by Microsoft.

Manoj Rami, Senior Marketing Manager, Microsoft Windows Embedded Business Group, comments: “Microsoft is committed to enabling companies to bring connected embedded devices to market quicker. It is exciting to see our partners collaborating to develop fully integrated and optimised solutions to customers worldwide.”