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Polywell: mini PCs in OPS and SDM form factors

Product
Developers: Polywell Computers
Date of the premiere of the system: 2021/04/15
Last Release Date: 2023/03/27
Technology: Office equipment

Content

Main article: Computer

2023: Expansion of the OPS product line with a 12th generation OPS-U12A system based on the Intel Alder Lake-P Platform

Polywell Computers announced on March 27, 2023 that it is expanding its OPS product line with a 12th generation OPS-U12A system. The variety of hardware platforms of Digital Signage players, as well as form factors, creates a choice for system integrators, on the one hand, but on the other hand, they face many compatibility problems with their own solutions for both Digital Signage players and displays. In 2010, Intel, NEC and Microsoft introduced OPS, which stands for Open Pluggable Specification. The goal was to overcome these problems and eliminate the need for system manufacturers to independently develop and implement such a standard.

OPS-U12A

As a result, a standard was introduced for a computing module completely enclosed in a 180 mm x 119 mm x 30 mm box with an 80-pin JAE plug connector. The system shall support the following interfaces: power supply; HDMI/DVI и DisplayPort; audio; USB 2/3; UART; OPS control signals.

Since its introduction, OPS has not become an overwhelming standard in Digital Signage applications, it coexists with other player form factors and occupies a significant part of the market. Polywell manufactures an extensive portfolio of OPS computers based on Intel and ARM processors. In addition, Polywell Computers introduced another class of industrial computers based on OPS - SwapPC, which is widely used to ensure high availability of endpoints at remote sites without the involvement of technical personnel.

Polywell Computers has released the 12th generation OPS system - a OPS-U12A based on the Intel Alder Lake-P Platform (SOC).

It can run on 12th generation Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 P-series processors, which are a trade-off between performance and power/heat consumption.

OPS-U12A has two SO-DIMM slots for up to 32GB of high-speed DDR4 3200MHz memory. The system graphics subsystem is based on Intel Iris Xe 12th Gen. UHD Graphics, 8/4K resolution. It supports three graphics ports: HDMI 1.4 port with 4K resolution support and DP 1.4 port with 8K resolution support, available from the front panel. In addition, the system is equipped with a JAE connector, through which the 4K HDMI 2.0 signal is transmitted to a compatible display in which the system is installed.

OPS-U12A is equipped with one gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbps) Realtek network adapter , which supports waking up the network (WOL) and remote loading diskless (operating system PXE boot). The system can be equipped with a dual-band adapter Wi-Fi with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and BT 4.2. An additional gigabit LAN can be added using the USB LAN module. The subsystem data storage includes one M.2 2280 slot (for SSD SATA-6Gb/s or PCIe x4 NVMe). The model is equipped with one USB Type-C port, two USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0. OPS-U12A (like all Polywell Computers mini PCs) is made of industrial grade components. This ensures the high reliability of the computer and the openly declared MTBF in the 100000 hours, which is an attractive offer on the market.

The system can be supplied with MSWindows 10/11, Windows IoT, Linux. It can be used in a wide variety of fields, including, but not limited to, Digital Signage, white boards for education, information boards at airports, etc.

2021

Certified to run Stratodesk products

According to information for November 2021, mini PColywell Computers have been successfully tested and certified to operate under the control of Stratodesk products.

Announcement of the line of embedded PCs in OPS and SDM form factors in Russia

On April 15, 2021, Polywell Computers first presented in Russia its lineup of embedded mini PCs in OPS and SDM form factors.

SDM-N3000S
OPS-7000-S044

According to the company, back in 2010, Intel developed the Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) to simplify the installation, use, maintenance and update of the Digital Signage infrastructure.

This open standard includes the electrical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics of media players boards and display boards connected together via an 80-pin JAE connector that supports, among other things, widely used interfaces such as DisplayPort and USB. The overall goal is to allow digital signage manufacturers to deploy replacement systems faster and in larger volumes, while reducing deployment and implementation costs.

For April 2021, the fast-growing digital signage market is highly fragmented, limiting compatibility and interoperability between current and emerging components such as media players and displays (e.g. LCDs, plasma and other types).

OPS-U10S

A further development of OPS was the Intel specification - SDM (Smart Display Module). Now that digital displays are getting thinner and display installations are becoming more integrated into energy-efficient environmental designs, Intel SDM-S and SDM-L specifications are being used. They provide the same level of intelligence and interoperability as OPS, but in a smaller form factor.

The SDM Small, which is nearly a third the size of an OPS, has no chassis. The SDM Large offers a slightly larger form factor - it's almost the size of the OPS, albeit thinner. The shell-free SDM Small measures only 60 mm x 100 mm with a maximum thickness of 20 mm (depending on the thermal solution chosen).

Intel SDM uses a PCIe connection that supports multiple generations of Intel processors. This connector will also support more bandwidth and resolution displays, as well as provide built-in I/O that eliminates the need for external I/O.

SDM-7000L