Taiwanese IoT equipment provider Advantech says it has received early access to the next test release of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

Microsoft is continuing to push Windows 10 IoT Enterprise forward at a rapid pace, with major changes expected towards the second half of 2021, including footprint reduction, silicon support expansion and the integration of Linux modules.

As a key embedded partner of Microsoft, Advantech has early access to the next test release. It hopes to use this to position itself as the one-stop-shopping partner to provide services built around Windows 10 IoT Enterprise to the ecosystem.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC releases are long-term supported versions of Windows that are released every two to three years. Users typically receive security-specific updates for ten years by design. Excluding unnecessary feature updates is critical in many vertical domains because it reduces the production impact of embedded systems.

Since the most recent release for LTSC in 2018, Microsoft has continued to invest in expanding the capabilities of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise unleashes the power of Windows 10 Enterprise for use in vertical-specific embedded systems, such as those used in kiosks, retail PoS, smart gateways, robotics and many other types of devices.

Microsoft continues to enhance its features and help OEMs with optimising embedded IoT image and footprint needs. In a nutshell, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise strikes a balance between having a lightweight image and small footprint with powerful Windows capabilities.

With the next release, Microsoft is planning to make Windows 10 IoT Enterprise available on NXP’s i.MX8 processors in addition to the existing support for Intel, AMD and Qualcomm processors. NXP is a silicon choice for IoT across many verticals.

The integration of i.MX8 and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise is potentially exciting in many ways. Being part of the EEAP Microsoft partner programme, Advantech has been allowed to test a private preview on ROM-5720 and start to have an early experience of Windows on Arm.

Going forward, partners with Windows 10 IoT Core deployments on x64 and Arm 64 silicon will be expected to move to Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. 

The Windows IoT install base can deploy Linux modules. This is critical for cross-platform users to get the best of both worlds.

Advantech provides software add-on services with utilities, API and hardware products as a Windows ecosystem contributor. For example, Advantech’s Windows 10 IoT Lockdown Utility simplifies the process for users to enable and disable lockdown features in Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and this utility will remain available in the next generation of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. The service list of Azure deployments, including IoT edge modules or IoT edge runtime, are also in the firm’s mission for this continuously growing cloud ecosystem.