There’s a saying that size matters. This concept of size – particularly “smaller” – was definitely one of the recurring themes at the Embedded World 2017 conference held in Nürnberg, Germany earlier this month.

Established in 2003, Embedded World is a leading international fair focused on embedded technologies and one of the first pioneers to showcase M2M and IoT solutions in a global context. Today more than 30,000 attendees – from Europe, Asia, and the Americas – gather at Embedded World to share ideas and explore cutting-edge embedded solutions. Lantronix has been a veteran exhibitor at the event for nearly 10 years.

Right now, you may be thinking that the title of this blog and the first paragraph were a series of tragic typos. We all know that IoT adoption is growing and that more and more of the world is becoming connected. So if the connected device ecosystem is expanding, then how can the world of IoT be shrinking?

Today, size is becoming an important factor for OEMs and engineers developing more powerful IoT solutions. With hundreds (if not thousands) of electrical components all serving a specific function within a device, the need to maximize space is critical. Whether the concept is one involving IoT-enabling a huge factory tool, a high-speed bullet train or something as small as a tattoo pen (I’m not kidding), the recurring question we heard from Embedded World attendees was: “I need a solution that is small. Do you have that?”

Of course, an OEM’s wish list doesn’t stop there; size is only one element of building a smarter, connected machine. Features such as security, data management and accessibility can make all the difference between whether an OEM’s engineering team is able to go to market quickly with their smart connected solution or spend a substantial amount of time and resources in product development and creative industrial design!

Lantronix has been a leader in developing IoT-enabling solutions for OEMs that meet these types of rigorous requirements for nearly 15 years. At this year’s Embedded World conference, we demonstrated our most advanced IoT gateways, including our SGX 5150 and the upcoming xPico^® 200 series, the industry’s smallest embedded IoT gateways. These powerful solutions are designed to deliver secure IoT connectivity for virtually any device and alleviate costly integration concerns shared by OEMs.

If you Google “IoT gateway,” chances are that you will see solutions that range from the size of a simple home router to a desktop CPU or even larger. Typically these solutions are positioned between multiple machines and the cloud and perform functions such as protocol translation, device security, data access and management. They are often used in enterprise environments involving many different types of machines that must work together.

Today’s complex connected machines frequently handle more than one function or application – often interacting with more than one audience. This is why Lantronix is shrinking the IoT gateway and incorporating these same types of functionalities into solutions that range from slightly larger than a dime (xPico 200 series) to the SGX 5150 IoT device gateway, which weighs slightly more than 1/3 of a kilogram. With enterprise-grade security features, industrial design that can withstand extreme temperatures and advanced protocol translation and data management features, these little Lantronix solutions pack a lot of IoT into compact form factors.

The world of IoT solutions is getting smaller – but not all solutions are created equal. Because it’s not just about the size, but the smarts that go with it.

–E.E. Wang, Director Corporate Marketing