Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) is to set up a healthcare solutions business unit in the beginning of next year in a bid to deepen its roots in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, the world’s second-largest contract laptop manufacturer said yesterday.
“With the establishment of this new business unit, the company will allocate more resources on the IoT field,” technology management office design manager Peter Chu (朱豐龍) told reporters at the firm’s booth at the Taipei International Electronics Show.
Tapping into the IoT business has been part of the company’s business transformation efforts.
Compal president Raymond Chen (陳瑞聰) in January said the company would lower the sales contribution of its notebook computers to below 50 percent of total revenue by 2017.
Compal is planning to expand its reach to the healthcare IoT area via strategic alliance, mergers and acquisitions, Chen said.
The firm aims to increase the revenue contribution from IoT business to 25 percent by 2019.
Since the beginning of this year, Compal has formed strategic alliances with more than 30 Taiwanese companies that are making healthcare devices, such as smartwatches and smart blood pressure monitors, Chu said.
Compal has established a cloud-computing platform for healthcare companies to store and analyze data collected from their Internet-connected devices, he said.
The company will help those firms to seek the most suitable component suppliers in Taiwan and help them produce their devices, he added.
“The healthcare field requires professional knowledge, which makes it too hard for Compal to enter the area on its own. That is why Compal needs to seek cooperation with other firms that are experts in the field,” Chu said.
Compal’s newest IoT solutions, developed jointly with Alchemy Technology Inc (大寶科技), aims to assist users to fall asleep within 20 minutes.
They include a brainwave detector, brainwave feedback bed and pillow.
The devices monitor individual’s brainwaves and send data to individual’s app in their smartphone or tablet, which then analyzes the data and activates customized audio vibration on the brainwave feedback bed and pillow to help individuals to get to sleep as quickly as possible, Chu said.
This healthcare solutions priced NT$20,000 (US$607) is expected to hit the local market by the end of this month or at the beginning of next month, he said.
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