OnLogic's Rugged PCs Connect Anywhere with Integrated Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Modules

Quick Facts

Company

OnLogic
www.onlogic.com

Customer Profile

Founded in 2003, OnLogic has served over 60,000 customers and is fueled by a unique direct-to-customer business model that combines vertical integration, modular product design and a powerful online platform.

Objectives

Design a rugged, industrial-grade computing platform that provides uninterrupted connectivity in areas where Wi-Fi isn’t available
Offer a solution that reduces the time and monetary burden for customers through pre-certification with governing bodies and carriers

Results

The Extrovert 4G LTE modem enclosed in its industrial hardware provides customers with a guaranteed reliable and secure operation
Pre-certification with international standards bodies and network carriers allows OnLogic to offer their customers significant time and money savings

Sierra Wireless Products & Services

EM Series embedded modules for 4G LTE-Advanced and LTE networks

Introduction

OnLogic designs highly configurable computers engineered for reliability, security, and ruggedness. The company’s systems operate in the harshest environments and power innovation in the evolving Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Founded in 2003, OnLogic has served over 60,000 customers and is fueled by a unique direct-to-customer business model that combines vertical integration, modular product design and a powerful online platform.

We serve customers in a variety of mission-critical industries where uninterrupted, high bandwidth data access is imperative. We chose the Sierra Wireless modules because they can provide these capabilities, including support for LTE Advanced Cat-6

Murat Erdogan,
Senior Product Manager,
OnLogic

Challenge

Maintaining connectivity can be challenging in industrial and IoT applications. In mobile and remote locations, Wi-Fi is often not practical. In industrial locations, machine vibration can interfere with short-range signals. So it’s no accident that embedded and industrial computer vendors have come to understand that Wi-Fi cannot be the only connectivity option for their devices.

OnLogic designs its industrial PCs with integrated cellular connectivity for those times when Wi-Fi or wired LAN isn’t sufficient. While this sounds like an easy feature to enable, certification with regulatory bodies and meeting rugged specifications add a complexity that OnLogic’s customers want to avoid.

“Certifying a device to operate on the 4G LTE network requires approval from the PTCRB (PCS Type Certification Review Board), as well as individual cellular carriers, which can cost upwards of six months and as much as $50,000,” explained Murat Erdogan, senior product manager at OnLogic.

In addition, many existing 4G LTE connectivity solutions rely on external networking devices or dongles to connect to the network, which are easy to remove or tamper with and are seldom industrial grade. This type of design is not an option for rugged PCs.

OnLogic’s answer was to develop its own cellular modem that comes built into its Extrovert line of rugged PCs. But the company required an embedded 4G LTE module provider who could offer them a pre-certified, industry-standard form factor small enough and rugged enough to meet the needs of OnLogic’s mobile and industrial customers.

Solution

After evaluating offerings from other industry vendors in the market, OnLogic selected the Sierra Wireless® EM Series of networking modules for 4G LTE-Advanced and LTE networks.

The industrial-grade module enables easy integration of wireless on a variety of mobile computing and industrial networking device platforms. The connectorized module provides plug and play connectivity on the world’s fastest LTE networks, providing unprecedented speeds, bandwidth, and network performance.

“We serve customers in a variety of mission-critical industries where uninterrupted, high bandwidth data access is imperative. We chose the Sierra Wireless modules because they can provide these capabilities, including support for LTE Advanced Cat-6,” said Erdogan. “The company was also very responsive to us during our initial evaluation and eventual development process.”

OnLogic’s Extrovert 4G LTE Modem is an available option in a wide range of its Industrial PCs. Extrovert enabled systems allow users to connect PCs in remote locations to the 4G LTE network where Wi-Fi or wired connections are unavailable. With the pre-certified cellular modem that works in the majority of OnLogic’s hardware, users can select from a wide range of industrial PCs to create 4G LTE connected devices without the cost and time associated with certification.

With the Sierra Wireless embedded modules, Extrovert systems also offer a fully integrated solution, eliminating the need for awkward and vulnerable external dongles or LAN/USB-connected dongles. Sierra Wireless’ AirVantage® firmware over the air (FOTA) Edition offers the added security and operational benefit of free unlimited firmware-over-the-air updates to keep OnLogic’s customers network-optimized and updated with the latest security patches.

Results

Connected systems are the present and the future, with edge, cloud and fog computing enabling real-time and uninterrupted data monitoring and analytics in myriad business operations. Whether experiencing the intense vibrations of factory floor operations or the extreme temperature variations in an outdoor surveillance operation, OnLogic can offer a rugged PCs that can keep its customers’ applications running.

“Some of the applications that have been deployed with 4G LTE are energy usage monitoring in remote deployments, data offloading for mobile security, and failover protection for building automation control systems,” said Erdogan. “The Extrovert 4G LTE modem perfectly addresses our key customer benefits of ruggedness, reliability, security, ease-of-use, and cost and time savings.”

By providing pre-certification with international standards bodies and network carriers, OnLogic offers their customers significant time and money savings. In addition, by providing an internal cellular modem enclosed in its industrial hardware, customers are guaranteed reliable, secure operation. And the embedded modem is available for a range of hardware configuration options, unlike the fully locked down and limited hardware choices of competing systems.