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ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS


providers (whose interests are often seen as counteractive to such developments) were on board. After all, the latter’s main concern is to safeguard their own network from the medical device. Integrating both sides into such a creative


process and identifying all their requirements was the ultimate aim of the co-creation process. The goal was to develop a product that fully satisfies both stakeholder groups. To achieve this it was necessary to evaluate various application scenarios to find out what additional requirements the prototype had to meet, and eventually – after several agile design sprints – to specify the final product design. After eight months, the two gateway products were ready for market launch.


uSer deciSionS


Ultimately, this co-creation approach enables human-centered design if the medical device manufacturer also gets the users on board, as their feedback helps increase the quality and precise match of the solution. Co-creation means that development is no longer driven by purely technical considerations and happening in isolation before being pushed out into the market. Instead, users decide what they want, with the effect that development changes from push to customer-centric pull. Naturally, building such co-creation teams


that operate across all departments, hierarchy levels and company boundaries requires a corresponding corporate culture and methodological skillset. For example, in a design sprint, everyone – from career starter to management – must be allowed to express their opinion freely. Every voice is important and welcome; and only when everyone is heard can the best result be achieved. This is also why it’s important to set up interdisciplinary teams. Everyone has the same voting rights and openness is encouraged.


forethought inStead of afterthought


This is an entirely different approach to product development. More holistic, it is ultimately also faster as it is easier to master a steeper learning curve by thinking and preparing ahead. Instead of waiting until the end of a long development phase to present the customer with a finished product based on the requirements specification, various intermediate loops are made as the product gradually approaches the desired target solution. “congatec offers the perfect solution kit for


such agile development processes. Standard modules and carrier boards are ideal for rapid prototyping. They are scalable from low to high performance and come with all interfaces. Adapting them individually at a later stage is also much faster than with full-custom solutions. If the quantities allow it, you can still implement a full-custom design with COM and carrier fusion. This is much faster and more efficient than any other approach,” explained Gerhard Edi, congatec’s chief strategy officer, accentuating the technological basis of the co-creation alliance. In the end, for medical connect Carna, the


choice fell on a Computer-on-Module that was optimised for the application. In the case of medical connect Athene, the decision was taken


FEATURE


The new secunet Carna and Athene products enable manufacturers to offer digital services without compromising the IT security of hospital networks.


to go for a new high-performance module based on the COM-HPC standard. congatec is the only leading embedded computing provider worldwide that focuses on core competencies around board level products, particularly Computer-on-Module technology. To better serve customers who, like secunet, demand individually tailored system- level products with full system responsibility, the company is investing in strong vertical market partnerships such as the one with S.I.E and aims to create similar co-creation offerings also for other vertical markets.


new challengeS


Such a co-creation offering is not just ideal for OEM customers in the medical device sector, it also suits any other customer requiring tailored system integration. From medical OEMs who want to redesign a medical device, to healthcare solutions that require comparable cybersecurity without a medical device, to companies outside the medical sector who simply want a full-custom design that can be developed quickly, efficiently and precisely to spec by a development partnership such as the one between S.I.E and congatec. After all, time-to-market and user-centered engineering are the keys to successful product launches. secunet medical connect also brings flexibility.


For instance, you can use Docker applications to enable own and third-party providers to process data from the medical device. Of course, only data that you want to process and have granted access to. The transfer of this data must be highly secure. It is precisely in this area that secunet offers outstanding core competencies with its own hardened operating system, proven security expertise over the entire lifetime of


systems, and the provision of secure virtualised execution environments to shield applications from the core functions of the secure medical gateway and server platforms. As a result, the solutions address any digitisation need and are open for future digitisation requirements despite their highly secure design.


Safe and Secure


“Looking only at the rising risk of cyber attacks to critical infrastructures and the need for a higher class of quality, traceability and documentation that comes with MDR regulations, we see an ever increasing number of applications that can benefit from the strategic partnership between congatec and S.I.E, which bundles each of our strong core competences into best-in- class quality for our OEM customers. Together, we offer an unparalleled value proposition with full system responsibility – from the computing core to certification, mass production and life cycle management. This is especially valuable if customers in regulated markets are looking for a source with central European roots,” emphasised Josef Krojer, CEO at S.I.E. System Industrie Electronic. In addition to critical healthcare infrastructures


and medical OEM equipment, S.I.E and congatec also aim to enter further embedded and edge computing markets with critical infrastructures, such as the financial and insurance sector, water and energy utilities, information technology and telecommunications, or transportation and traffic. All of these rely on cybersecure systems for their IT infrastructure.


Congatec www.congatec.com


DECEMBER/JANUARY 2023 DESIGN SOLUTIONS 31


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