When computing power needs to be upgraded, do you replace a module the size of a fingernail, or an entire board the size of a brick?
In the wave of intelligent manufacturing, industrial computers are playing an increasingly central "brain" role. However, a long-standing pain point for equipment manufacturers and system integrators persists: the contradiction between rapid technological iteration and the long lifespan of industrial equipment.
When a new generation of CPUs is released, computing power requirements increase, or new functional interfaces need to be added, traditional integrated industrial control motherboards often mean the high cost of replacing the entire board, re-debugging, and complete production line shutdown. This is not only a waste of cost but also a loss of time.
Today, Piesia officially launches the COMEIOA-UT100EA modular industrial computing platform with a disruptive modular design philosophy, aiming to completely solve this dilemma.
01 Industry Pain Point: When "Fixed" Hardware Meets "Evolving" Needs
In industrial settings, we often see the following scenarios:
• A production line visual inspection station needs to upgrade its AI algorithms to improve defect detection rates, but the existing industrial PC's computing power has reached its limit.
• A digital signage management company wants to expand its dual-screen output to four screens, but finds that the number of video interfaces on the motherboard is fixed and cannot be increased.
• An equipment manufacturer urgently needs to add a TPM security module to meet new data security requirements from overseas customers, but faces a lengthy process of motherboard re-selection and design verification.
• A medical imaging equipment manufacturer needs to upgrade its processor to improve the image processing speed and resolution of ultrasound and endoscope equipment, but the entire machine has already passed rigorous medical certification, and replacing the motherboard means a long and expensive recertification process.
The root cause of these problems lies in the "rigid" nature of traditional industrial control architectures. The computing unit, expansion interfaces, and functional chips are all soldered onto the same PCB, making any change a major undertaking. Upgrading often means replacing the entire system, leading to unspoken waste in the industry.
02 Piesia Solution: Decoupled Intelligence, Defining a New Paradigm for Industrial Computing
Piesia innovatively decouples the core functions of industrial computers at the physical layer, dividing them into two independent modules:
1. UT100EA Core Computing Module: Focused on providing powerful and advanced general-purpose computing power.
2. COMEIOA Industrial Expansion Sub-board: Focused on providing comprehensive and robust interface connectivity and expansion capabilities.
The two are combined into a complete system through a highly reliable high-speed connector. The core idea of this architecture is to let specialized modules perform specialized tasks and allow them to evolve independently.
This is like a high-performance racing car: when you need more power, you only need to upgrade the engine (core module) without having to discard the entire chassis and body (expansion platform and peripheral connections).
03 In-depth Analysis: A Dual-Core Engine of an "Evolvable" Platform
Engine One: UT100EA, Powerful Computing Power in the Palm of Your Hand
This is the platform's "most powerful brain." In an extremely compact area of just 95mm x 95mm, it integrates:
• The latest Intel Core Meteor Lake processor, offering both high performance and energy efficiency.
• Dual-channel DDR5 memory, supporting up to 96GB, easily handling massive data processing.
• Native modern interfaces, including HDMI, DP, USB 3.2, and Gigabit Ethernet, meeting basic system building requirements.
Its mission is clear: purely designed for computation. When a new generation of processors is released, you only need to replace this module to give the entire system a generational performance upgrade.
Engine Two: COMEIOA, the epitome of expandability.
This is the platform's "all-in-one foundation." It's a standard ATX expansion motherboard, whose value lies in "connecting everything":
• Massive expansion slots: 1 PCIe 4.0 x16 (for high-end graphics cards or AI acceleration cards), 2 x4, 4 x1 slots, and 2 M.2 interfaces, leaving unlimited space for functional expansion.
• Comprehensive industrial interfaces: 3 DP display outputs, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 RS232 serial ports, 8 GPIOs, 2 SATA interfaces, etc., ensuring perfect compatibility with both new and old devices.
• Industrial-grade reliability design: Supports hardware watchdog, AMT remote management, and wide temperature and voltage operation, ensuring stable operation in harsh environments.
Its positioning is clear: to be the eternal cornerstone for all peripheral connections and functional expansions. Your acquisition cards, network cards, serial cards, etc., configured for specific scenarios, will reside securely here, unaffected by computing power upgrades.
04 Value Unleashed: Five Scenarios Witnessing the Power of Modularity
Scenario One: Smooth Evolution of AI Vision Inspection Systems
A manufacturer of 3C product components initially used its vision inspection system for dimensional measurement. As quality requirements increased, AI was needed for complex surface defect detection.
• Traditional Solution: Replacing the entire industrial PC, repurchasing and debugging all camera acquisition cards and I/O cards, resulting in at least a week of project downtime.
• Piesia Solution: Only upgrading the UT100EA core module to a higher-performance model and inserting a PCIe AI acceleration card. All existing connections and software environments remain unchanged, and the upgrade is completed within 2 hours
Scenario 2: Flexible Construction of a Multi-Screen Control Center for Urban Traffic
The municipal department needs to build a command center that simultaneously drives six large screens to display different traffic data.
• Traditional solution: Finding or customizing a special motherboard with six video outputs is expensive and offers very limited options.
• Piesia solution: Using the COMEIOA expansion board, its three DP interfaces can be easily expanded to six screens using a multi-port splitter. If the core needs to be replaced in the future, the display subsystem remains completely unaffected.
Scenario 3: Convenient Maintenance of Automation Production Line Control Cabinets
Production line control cabinets are deeply embedded within the equipment. With traditional industrial control motherboards, troubleshooting after a failure is difficult, and replacement requires removing a large number of cables.
• Traditional solution: Technicians spend several hours troubleshooting, disassembling, replacing, and reconnecting cables, resulting in significant production line downtime losses.
• Piesia solution: Remote preliminary diagnosis is performed using AMT functionality. If a core module problem is confirmed, on-site personnel only need to unscrew one screw, and like replacing a "game cartridge," remove the old module and insert the new one, restoring operation in ten minutes.
Scenario 4: Cross-generational Upgrade of Medical Imaging Equipment
A manufacturer of ultrasound diagnostic equipment has a flagship model that has been on the market for three years. To maintain market competitiveness, they plan to upgrade the device from traditional 2D imaging to a new generation platform supporting real-time 3D rendering and AI-assisted diagnosis.
• Traditional solution: This would require redesigning and replacing the entire industrial control motherboard. This not only involves hardware costs, but more importantly, since the device is a medical device that has already received certification, any significant changes to the core hardware could trigger a lengthy and costly recertification process. The production line would also need to be retooled for the new model, a process that could take several months.
• Piesia solution: Thanks to the modular architecture of the COMEIOA-UT100EA, the manufacturer only needs to replace the old UT100EA core computing module with a new module equipped with the latest Intel Core Meteor Lake processor. All critical ultrasound-specific acquisition cards, video encoders, and security modules (TP2.0) are installed on the COMEIOA expansion baseboard and can be fully retained. On the software side, only driver and application updates are needed. The entire upgrade process does not change the main structure, power supply, or interface definitions of the device, minimizing the risk of recertification and shortening the upgrade cycle from months to weeks, giving the classic device a "new lease on life."
05 Let's do the math: Why is it more economical?
Let's examine this from the perspective of total cost of ownership (TCO):
The conclusion is clear: a modular platform transforms costs from unpredictable
"large expenditures" in the later stages to controllable "small investments" in the early stages, offering overwhelming long-term economic advantages.
06 Moving Towards the Future: Building a "Living" System with Pylon
The core of Industry 4.0 is flexibility, intelligence, and sustainability. The Pylon COMEIOA-UT100EA modular platform is a solid implementation of this concept at the hardware level. It is not just a product, but a future-oriented infrastructure mindset.
We believe that truly intelligent devices should have the ability to "grow" in their hardware. Today, we are planting a seed of possibility for our customers – a computing core that can adapt to changing needs and remain constantly up-to-date.
Act now and begin your hardware evolution journey.
If you are an equipment manufacturer, system integrator, or large end-user, and you are considering product upgrades, high maintenance costs, or technology roadmap choices, then it's time to re-evaluate your hardware architecture.