OEM / Developer Solutions

Wed, 07/09/2008 - 22:38 — micg
Product Image: 
handshake.jpeg

Cubix as your OEM hardware partner

Cubix has over 30 years of experience in supplying hardware platforms to our OEM customers.   By working with Cubix, you form a comprehensive manufacturing relationship where you can draw upon expertise across a variety of disciplines that include electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, and software design.

Cubix’s goal in working with our OEM partners is to help you differentiate your solution and better your cost-efficiencies by leveraging Cubix’s ability to deliver state-of-the-art products, customization, integration, and stellar sales/technical support services.

Cubix’s OEM partners are using Cubix hardware platforms in markets that include IPTV, VoIP, simulation & training, communications interoperability, digital signage, telemetry, laboratory test environments, and many others.
 
Please take a moment to explore how Cubix can improve your sales potential, reduce your technical overhead, and better your bottom line.

Differentiation – would you like to deliver your solution on a hardware platform where you can protect your margins?

Identity Branding – would you like to deliver a turnkey product under your own identity brand and logo?

Integration – do you use specialized adapters in your solution that you would like integrated and tested in the factory before delivery?

Customization – do you have unique requirements for your solution that involve special designs to optimize space, weight, or sound?

Consistency -- would you benefit from having Bill of Materials management to ensure consistency in deliverables over time?

Consultation – would you like to be able to discuss potential design enhancements with knowledgeable engineers without being charged a fee?

Reduced Overhead – could you reduce your internal overhead and infrastructure by using Cubix to offload in-house manufacturing, integration, and testing services?

In choosing Cubix as your hardware partner, you can make your solutions:
• quicker to deploy
• easier to support
• predictable in their behavior
• consistent in their high quality
• branded with your corporate identity to establish market recognition for your solution.

For more details, read on…. Or call 800-829-0550 and talk with a sales engineer about your requirements.

Computer technology constantly changes

Putting a software product on the market without a defined hardware platform has its problems.  The first problem is that core PC technologies are in a constant state of change.  New interfaces for processors, memory, drives, busses, video controllers, peripheral connections and the like are constantly being introduced, improved and altered.  Each change has potential consequences as to how software will operate and perform -- and not all the consequences are good.

The second problem is that not all hardware is alike.  Most people would like to think that one computer is just like another, but that is rarely the case.  There are differences in BIOS, chipsets, interfaces and operating system support from vendor to vendor.

These differences may affect installation procedures and the operational aspects of the software products.  “It runs slow; it hangs up; I can’t get it to load; it blue screens after boot up; it doesn’t see the network” are all common support issues that technical service people hear.   And this does not begin to cover specialized functions and applications such as video/audio processing, multiple monitor support, IP routing, etc.

Plus, to save money, many end users are tempted to load newly released software on older existing hardware, especially if the hardware appears generic and not uniquely packaged as a solution.  This often leads to compatibility problems, especially with operating system revisions, patch levels, and older chipsets that do not support the newer software driver releases.  The results are typically technical support calls to the solutions supplier, which drains their resources and frustrates their customer base.

Most importantly, the reputation of the OEM may be damaged if the user experience is not pleasant, straightforward and without painful complications.

Finding the right partner

Having a clear deliverable in mind from the OEM’s point-of-view is the first step to finding the right hardware partner with the combination of resources needed to meet the objective.  Cubix will be the right hardware partner for you.

Change is the enemy, but change cannot be avoided.  If a product could be completed and frozen in time, then managing the product would be infinitely easier.  But as stated before, computer hardware has been and will be in a constant stage of change so the right hardware manufacturing partner must have processes in place to manage technology changes.

The service and support ramifications of adding PC hardware to a software product to create a solution vary and are numerous.  But with Cubix to manage the processes, they can produce great results.  We’ve had numerous partnering successes ranging from large prime contractors to niche market specialists.

If you are an OEM that wants a competitive edge in delivering consistently predictable high-quality, project-managed solutions to your customers, look to Cubix as your hardware partner.  Call us today at 800-829-0550 to discuss creating a relationship that will help your bottom line.  Or read the case study at the right to find out about one of our many OEM partner’s successes. 
 

A Successful OEM Partnership with Cubix

A leading airline wanted to better manage their application data at 250 airports across the USA.  They wanted to ensure customer satisfaction by monitoring response times on reservations and kiosk use, as well as monitoring network performance for such things as aircraft maintenance reporting and VoIP traffic.

Many companies competed for this project.  Some were software manufacturers and others were delivering appliance-like solutions.  One leading enterprise management software developer approached Cubix with the concept of creating a product that they could brand as a plug-and-play solution under their own corporate identity.  They reasoned that they would benefit by having visible name recognition at the data centers in the field.  In addition, they expected to receive grassroots recognition and endorsement of the branded products by the technicians and service people scattered about the country, especially if the product delivered the positive analytical management data to the airlines that they expected.  Also, they were confident that by having control of the hardware definition, they would provide predictably robust performance and reduced technical support calls from potentially frustrated installers.

After evaluating the combined hardware/software solution and seeing the potential cost-saving and improved customer service benefits that the products could produce, the airline awarded the contract to the software manufacturer.

Now that the contract was in hand, the hard part was figuring out how to successfully deploy the solution to 250 sites with varying sizes and configuration requirements.   Fundamentally, the airlines wanted a solution that could be made to fit a wide range of variables ranging from connecting to T-1 lines, T-3 lines, OC-3 lines and Ethernet networks – both fiber and copper.

Cubix worked with our OEM partner to create the different hardware/software turnkey solutions deliverables and manage the deployment and maintenance of creating an assurance of consistent high quality operation in the field at time of deployment and over the scope of the four year project. The results were satisfactory to the airline because quality assurance was the cornerstone for all aspects of the project. 

The OEM’s technical services department defined a “gold image” for Cubix that contained the application software content, operating system default settings, and patch levels.  This image was put under revision control by software technical services and Cubix manufacturing.  Every change to the image was recorded and verified.  

The network services company provided Cubix with the network properties parameters such as host names, IP addresses, subnet mask settings, DNS information, etc. for each of the 250 sites. 

Cubix manufactured the blade PC and standalone PC hardware platforms and sourced a variety of adapters to integrate within the Cubix hardware.  Cubix installed and configured the operating systems, loaded the gold images, archived each image revision, created custom installation screens, configured the network properties per site, tested the full configuration on test beds that simulated field conditions, and drop shipped the turnkey configured systems to the field services company’s personnel around the nation, who then connected the Cubix hardware to the airline’s network.

Then Cubix entered the hardware/software asset information into a web-accessible database that all five companies could access to see what was installed, when it was installed and by whom.   This database is maintained daily to record operational status, and any change in asset allocation in the field.

By taking this approach to partner with a turnkey hardware manufacturer like Cubix, the OEM delivered a consistently high quality product to their airline customer at time of deployment and over the course of the four-year contract.  The airline was relieved of the burden of sourcing, integrating and verifying the operation of a variety of different hardware/software platforms.  And they did not have to carry the overhead of managing the hardware configuration minutia at each of the 250 sites.

If your company could benefit from this kind of turnkey solution deliverable, please contact Cubix sales at 800-829-0550 today.