What Is a Panel PC?
As factories, hospitals, and other workplaces become more connected and digital, panel PCs provide workers—from factory managers to neurosurgeons—with a simpler method for viewing data, assessing conditions, and optimizing outcomes.
As opposed to a traditional PC system composed of disparate components such as a monitor, computer case, keyboard, and mouse, panel PCs combine all the essential elements into a single contained device. Users interact with these machines primarily through touchscreen interfaces.
Intel helps power panel PC innovation through processing, networking, and management technologies. We work with our broad ecosystem to unlock powerful use cases across all industries—and provide the expert guidance and tools required to create intuitive, reliable, and accelerated software solutions.
Why Migrate to a New Panel PC?
While touch panel PCs have long been a part of many industrial and healthcare facilities, recent innovations make them even more well suited for solving modern challenges and ensuring users have the most natural tools for engaging with systems and data.
As new generations enter the workforce, ensuring that your organization provides the state-of-the-art tools that they expect is critical to employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity. And because modern panel PC systems are designed with a focus on modularity, they can help extend the life of your investment and enhance future flexibility.
Critical features to look out for in your next panel PC investment include:
Multitouch Operation
Multitouch displays featuring capacitive-touch technology help users work more quickly and effectively, with more-intuitive operations.
High Resolution
Panel PCs that feature high-resolution screens offer enhanced visual fidelity and allow users to engage with more information at once.
Accelerated Performance
Panel PCs need to keep pace with their increasing role in mission-critical workflows. Intel® solutions for panel PC performance include Intel® Core™ processors as well as Intel® Xeon® processor D and E families.
Remote Access and Manageability
For faster troubleshooting, panel PCs should provide easy remote access for IT staff. Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) enables in-band and out-of-band remote management so that IT managers can discover and repair networked panel PC assets.
Ruggedization and Medical-Grade Construction
Panel PCs need to offer the latest protections against the harsh conditions often encountered in industrial environments, including compliance with the international IEC 60529 standard. In healthcare, they should comply with the IEC 60601-1 standards for medical-grade safety and performance. Across both sectors, the IP65 standard helps ensure that panel PCs can withstand regular cleaning and dusty environments.
Security
Connected operations in manufacturing and healthcare cause new cybersecurity concerns to arise. Hardware-level security can help prevent unauthorized access or other malicious activity.
Panel PCs in Manufacturing
Panel PCs are deployed as industrial computer systems that provide intuitive, easy ways for workers to access dashboards and control panels as they go about their daily duties on the shop floor.
Systems engineers use panel PCs to review and monitor processes, diagnose problems, and visualize data. The centralization of manufacturing data, driven by IT/OT convergence and the Industry 4.0 shift, means that operators no longer need to walk the plant floor and manually record conditions to chart progress or understand production status.
Industrial panel PCs can communicate with plant floor machinery and equipment, such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), in near-real time to enable an ideal human-machine interface for engaging with data and using it to enhance decision-making.
In the factory environment, panel PCs can be deployed in several ways—including systems that are embedded into equipment and stand-alone units that connect to machinery but can be positioned independently. Sunlight-readable displays help ensure industrial panel PCs are simple and easy to use when they’re placed outside. Fanless systems should be used for areas with air quality or particulate concerns.
Manufacturing Use Cases
Production Tracking
Track performance data, production status, and other KPIs to optimize plant efficiency.
Machine Management
Control machine input and output and view machine status from an easy-to-use dashboard.
Data Visualization
Quickly visualize real-time, mission-critical data to make faster and more informed decisions.
Communication and Data
Sharing Empower workers to easily share information on the plant floor, even when social distancing is required.
Enabling Workload Convergence on the Plant Floor
In manufacturing, panel PCs provide a powerful way for manufacturers to consolidate multiple IT and OT workloads onto a single, flexible device through virtualization technology. Doing so, they help enable smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 use cases that can dramatically reduce costs at their factory sites.
Try our convergence calculator today to see for yourself how much your business could save
Learn more about how IT/OT convergence can benefit your operations
Panel PCs in Healthcare
As healthcare becomes more connected and data-driven, panel PCs provide a simple and intuitive way for staff to review records, charts, and other information. They’re often outfitted with antimicrobial surfaces to help prevent the spread of germs and infectious diseases.
These devices can be mounted in patient rooms, positioned on mobile carts, placed in offices, or used as part of medical or laboratory equipment. With all required information at their fingertips, medical staff can make faster and better-informed decisions regarding treatment. The easy information access enabled by panel PCs also means that doctors, nurses, and other staff are not burdened by paper charts and documents as they go about their daily duties.
Panel PCs with integrated camera and microphone technologies help unlock remote care and telehealth opportunities for healthcare organizations. Doctors can carry out routine patient consultations without leaving their desk, helping them be more efficient and see more patients in less time.
In addition, panel PCs provide multimedia capabilities that help hospital or clinic staff share information with patients more effectively. For example, a doctor could display an animated visualization of the human respiratory system to help better explain a patient’s condition or treatment plan.
Medical Use Cases
Information Access
Access patient data, applications, and other care-critical resources with an intuitive, easy-to-use device.
Presentation and Engagement
Easily relay health or treatment information to patients through video, visuals, or interactive content.
Video Consultation
Conduct convenient video consultations with patients to help doctors and staff save time and be more productive.
Equipment Control
Medical equipment, such as ultrasound machines, are now offered in portable, touch-based panel PC form factors—providing simple, intuitive interfaces and rich information display for critical healthcare tasks.
Advantages of Panel PC Innovation with Intel
Across panel PCs, rack-mounted PCs, and equipment-mounted PCs, Intel is enabling performance, flexibility, and security for the next generation of connected healthcare and manufacturing facilities.
From powerful embedded processing technologies to Time-Sensitive Networking solutions for industrial applications, remote management platforms, and virtualization tools, we’re fueling the panel PC innovation and performance required for today’s most advanced applications.
Additionally, Intel offers training, guidance, and off-the-shelf hypervisors to help streamline the migration process and simplify the transfer of legacy operating systems, applications, and customized settings. Turn to us for expertise, guidance, and solutions as you explore the possibilities of industrial computer systems, medical computer systems, and panel PCs.
Tools for Panel PC Application Development
Intel also provides tools that help streamline workflows for those building panel PC medical and industrial applications, such as:
Power Data-Driven Operations with Intel
Intel® technologies for IoT are helping the world respond to new challenges with intelligence from edge to cloud.
Industrial PCs
Learn more about how industrial PCs can help you drive your smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 strategy forward.
Industrial IoT
Get to know our IoT building blocks that can help you connect, secure, and manage the latest applications.
Sustainable Manufacturing
Find out how Intel is helping unlock smarter processes and practices that minimize negative environmental impacts.
Healthcare Technology and Solutions
See how we’re enabling more personalized, connected, and intelligent care through technology.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
A panel PC is a self-contained touchscreen computer. It combines all of the essential components of a traditional PC with an integrated touchscreen display that removes the need for a keyboard and mouse. Panel PCs can be placed flexibly throughout a variety of environments, making them valuable tools for enabling data-driven operations across industries. Embedded panel PCs are integrated directly into manufacturing equipment.
In the manufacturing sector, industrial panel PCs are used to provide operators with intuitive management dashboards for plant processes, at-a-glance views of KPIs, data visualization tools, and data sharing capabilities. They’re a critical element for realizing the full potential of connected operations and data-driven Industry 4.0 strategies. Rugged panel PCs can be deployed in hazardous areas.
In a healthcare context, panel PCs are used to provide staff with easy access to patient records and other medical data. They’re placed in rooms, in offices, and on mobile carts to facilitate easy interaction with data and systems. They’re also used to enable patient/provider videoconferencing and enrich in-person interactions with multimedia capabilities.