Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. has launched a smart-glass, augmented-reality PC for enterprise customers in its first technological breakthrough in years.
The wearable device, which combines the business features of a Windows 10 Professional PC with the rugged characteristics of industrial-grade smart glass, is billed as enhancing mobility, productivity and security in a variety of settings, from remote job sites and manufacturing plants to warehouses and assembly floors.
“We’ve been working on this project for about two years,” Mark Simons, chief executive of the Irvine-based digital-products, imaging, storage and telecom unit, told the Business Journal in an exclusive interview.
The system runs on Windows 10, the most widely used enterprise operating system, with more than 500 million total installations on a variety of platforms, including Xbox One consoles.
“This is the first Windows-based solution that is ready for the field,” Carl Pinto, vice president of marketing and product development in the Client Solutions division, said during a demo last week at the company’s headquarters at University Research Park.
The glass display is clear and unobtrusive, and can be adjusted away from the user’s direct line of vision.
Several applications are accessible via a five-button touch pad or by swiping and clicking the side of the glass frame, including video conferencing, video and photo capture, document retrieval, task flow data, remote instructions, and bar code scanning to ensure quality control.
In one example, the bar code of a component is scanned by the glass for a specific task, such as assembling a fuel tank. If it’s the wrong component, the user will be alerted and unable to move to the next installation step.
A software subscription, priced based on the number of users, is required to run the device and access functions.
TAIS partnered with AR business software expert Atheer Inc. on one of the two subscription offerings.
Joe Kiani, founder and chief executive of Irvine-based device maker Masimo Corp., is on the board of the Mountain View company.
The other software product was developed and built in-house.
Completing the Windows 10 integration with Microsoft Corp. eliminated several challenges for potential customers, according to Pinto, such as adding security layers, developing compatible apps, migrating existing work sheets and managing mobile devices, while keeping sensitive data on the PC device rather than in the cloud, where it’s more susceptible to breaches.
“We wanted to use something that they can integrate into existing infrastructure,” Pinto said.
TAIS customers have tested the product in the field for months, early adopters in the transportation, airline, auto manufacturing and insurance sectors.
“The interest and demand from the customer is really there,” Pinto said.
The company declined to name specific customers before the launch.
Behind the Glass
TAIS, Toshiba’s largest local unit, with annual sales of about $3 billion, is part of New York-based Toshiba America Inc., a unit of financially troubled Toshiba Corp. in Japan. It sells laptops; LCD and LED televisions; Blu-ray and DVD players; camcorders; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; and storage products for the automotive, computer and consumer electronics sectors.
The March 12 global launch was led by its Irvine-based Client Solutions division, part of a larger team of over 25 engineers, marketers and sellers who molded the first rough sketches and early glass and mobile PC designs into a prime-time release.
Toshiba’s research and development center in Tokyo handled hardware development. It partnered with Rochester, N.Y.-based optics and virtual reality specialist Vuzix on glass development.
The bundle, which consists of the dynaEdge AR Smart Glasses, dynaEdge AR100 Head Mounted Display and dynaEdge DE 100 Mobile Mini PC, costs at least $1,900. Shipments start this month.
The package also includes a wireless keyboard, mouse, replaceable lithium-ion battery and protective neoprene holster. The mini PC includes a USB-C port, USB 3.0 port, a microSD card slot and headphone/mic combination port. The smart glasses include a USB-C multiport hub for desktop and mobility with several connection options via VGA, HDMI, USB, USB-C for input-output and charging, and LAN ports.
Accessories, such as head mounts and bands, will be sold separately, adding another revenue stream.
The PC, powered by Intel’s sixth-generation core processor, weighs less than 11 ounces and is 6.5 inches long, 3.3 inches high and 0.8 inches thick.
The TAIS product will have to compete against the likes of Intel Corp. and Alphabet Inc., though the latter hasn’t had much success with its smart-glass products, and the former is testing a prototype, called Vaunt.
It wasn’t that long ago that Google Glass was all the rage at CES and other trade shows, but consumers didn’t give it a second look, prompting the Mountain View giant to halt consumer sales in early 2015.
Last year its X research unit, led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, released an enterprise version that cost about $1,800.
The consumer glass market may be dead, but business applications have opened the door for a refresh.
Corporations are forecast to spend $3.6 billion on smart glasses by 2025, when 14.4 million U.S. workers will use them in some capacity, according to a report last year by Forrester Research.
The Massachusetts-based market tracker said U.S. companies spent $6 million on the technology in 2016, 400,000 workers using the devices.
“We think we’re just at the beginning of that transformation,” Simons said.
Recent Challenges
The launch and big bet on adoption is a gamble for TAIS, which hasn’t poured such resources into a product launch since the 2013 release of KIRAbook, a high-end touch-screen laptop developed to compete with Apple Inc.’s line of MacBooks.
The $2,000 price tag, along with some performance issues and a clunky Windows 8 operating system, failed to win over consumers.
Three years later it exited the consumer PC business altogether amid changing habits of end-users, industrywide PC sales declines, and other lingering challenges facing legacy manufacturers in Japan and across the world.
The unit had been in the consumer PC business for 21 years and laid claim to releasing the world’s first laptop PC, the T1100, in Europe in 1985.
TAIS and its parent have faced other challenges over the years.
Last year the Business Journal broke the story that it shuttered its U.S. commercial phone service division. TAIS’ Telecommunication Systems division, based at its former Spectrum campus, employed about 150, making it No. 8 among the largest telecom employers with operations in Orange County, according to Business Journal research.
The telecom division, established about 31 years ago, provided IP, digital and cloud-based phone systems and services, and related support and maintenance.
Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. is facing a cash crunch stemming from its bankrupt U.S. nuclear energy unit and other underperforming business lines. Late last year the conglomerate agreed to sell part of its lucrative flash memory unit for $17 billion to a consortium of buyers, including Bain Capital, Apple and Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Inc.
The deal has yet to close.
The Business Journal reported last week that the 23rd edition of the Toshiba Classic, which concluded March 11, will be the last under its longtime sponsor.
The senior circuit showcase was established in 1995 as the Toshiba Senior Classic at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. It moved the following year to Newport Beach Country Club, steps from the shoreline and Pacific Coast Highway, where it carried the distinction as the longest-running venue on the PGA Champions tour with the longest-running title sponsor.
A new title sponsor was to be named at a March 10 VIP event, but that announcement was delayed, the Business Journal learned.
