B&C: Hi Christian, first of all, thank you for this interview. Can you explain to our readers what your position and role is at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH?
CS: Hi Gian Maria, my pleasure, of course. Thanks for giving me the chance to introduce the brand a bit more to the readers and explain the who is who and what do we do. I'm one of the three PR guys here at Shuttle's European HQ based in Elmshorn in Northern Germany. In short, I'm taking care of anything related to internal and external communications, deal with press enquiries, buy media, manage the European Shuttle site at www.shuttle.eu and social media. Finally, usually twice a year we're getting involved with trade shows and show off the latest gear at CeBIT and ISE in Amsterdam.
B&C: Shuttle has become famous in the consumer market during the beginning of 2000 as a Main Board and Barebone manufacturer. Today Shuttle is well-known thanks to its own excellent Small PC and Mini PC systems. Could you please explain the reasons behind the choice of Shuttle to leave the retail Main Board market?
CS: It's true, we once were amongst the manufacturers of standard ATX mainboards in the 90s until the first-ever Mini PC barebone was introduced in 2001 in the form of the SV24. Competition in that segment of the market was fierce, actually it still is, and we were on the lookout for features and characteristics the competition didn't have. What sounds simple is just what we did - shrinking the PC's size to the relevant level. Since then, any other mainboard standards were withdrawn from the line-up and the barebone business was taking off and the so-called “XPC” barebones became our core business. The mostly Shuttle-form-factor mainboards used in there come bundled with a case, power supply and a suitable Shuttle-made heatpipe cooling system.
B&C: The Mini PC and Slim PC markets are now very important for Shuttle, and we see that the All-In-One products are more and more numerous in your catalog. Intel recently said that the portable AIO will be a very important PC segment in the near future. Do you approve this claim?
CS: I agree that mobile computing generally is already highly important in this fast-paced world we live in. People want to access and deal with information and media at the place and time they like. And with newly made up terms such as smartlet and phablet it's even hard to draw a line between smartphones and tablets. This shows markets are merging and manufacturers trying to offer a solution for nearly any need. Even if the need is niche. All this necessarily doesn't have to mean the end for a stationary PC or the AIOs as we know them. The AIOs we have in our range however pursue a different goal. These are basically not intended for consumers in the first place. Most of such models, like the X50 and X70 series, go into project business with customers. We're seeing a high demand from customers using them for vertical market purposes. That means, you probably won't find it in your friends' home, but probably as a check-out machine in a local shop around the corner. The X50 is also being used as a communication device in retirement homes for example. This field of the market is becoming increasingly relevant for us besides the usual Mini PC and Slim PC markets.
B&C: Intel, during 2012, has disclosed its tiny NUC systems. These products, personally made by Intel, could be a problem for Shuttle business? What do you think about these systems?
CS: We always keep a close eye on the market and see competitors come and go. So it is with Intel and its NUC platform. The fact that there is still brands (also think of Gigabyte for example with their Brix machines or Zotac's Zboxes) entering this segment of the market only shows that there's still life and potential in it. And this is just good news for customers and consumers, they can choose. It's good that the overall topic of Mini PCs is getting a voice again with even heavy-weight brands, such as Intel, investing. This, of course, is also of benefit to us in a way.With regard to your question, I don't think the NUCs pose a problem for our business, as they are still a different platform. Those machines come bundled with processors while ours mostly don't, but are ready to take even more powerful socket processors. The NUCs use a plastic case cover opposed to our Mini PCs that are using brushed aluminium or steel. Intel sells the NUC mainboards separately, we don't. Another difference becomes obvious when you look at the cooling. They are smaller than ours, but yet run low-power Core processors. Such small cases require even smaller coolers to ensure everything runs cool enough. And with smaller chassis, smaller fans are needed, hence the noise level goes up. Heat dissipation while keeping the noise level down are the crucial challenges every such manufacturer is faced with. Most of our Mini PCs rely on a well-tried heatpipe concept and use larger fans, too. As our machines are bigger, you will also get more room here for upgrades with drives for example. At the end of the day, it boils down to the question of what you want to use the PC for and what requirements you have. This is just up for customers to decide.
B&C: Taking a careful look at your catalog, we can see that the AMD CPUs and APUs are totally missing. Why don't you use AMD products? Are the products worse that Intel's ones? Are these pricey? Anything else?
CS: It's true, we currently solely use Intel processors in our line-up and the last Shuttle XPC to sport an AMD CPU phased out a few years back already. At first glance it would only be logic and make the product family more varied and balanced. The crucial reason for us banking on Intel processors alone simply lies in the way higher demand for Intel-based platforms, so we decided to orientate the Mini PCs towards this route. This particularly applies with the company taking a new direction and winning new customers in vertical market waters. More on that later on! Sure we look back at many years when our XPCs implemented the latest and greatest of AMD processors. And still, AMD graphics can be found in the current series of our XS35 Slim PCs.
B&C: Google is trying to make an easy to use and cheap Notebook PC based on ARM SoCs, the Chromebook. Do you think that Shuttle will make a Slim PC or a Mini PC based on ChromeOS, in the near future? Also, in your opinion, are these SoCs suitable for a basic use (office, browser, etc)?
CS: I would say it's rather unlikely that we're getting involved and roll out a contender based on particularly ChromeOS. But SoCs based on ARM processors are certainly interesting for us. SoC platforms are yet widely used within the control and automation industry segment for example and with that in mind, it would only be a logical step for us to take next. I wouldn't jump the gun, if I said chances are there is something Android-based coming from us this summer...
I think Chromebooks are still niche and have had quite a wobbly start sales-wise anyway so far. I reckon, we'll just have to wait and see how acceptance develops. From the technical side of things they are capable of basic computing tasks and the overall idea isn't bad.
B&C: I had the chance to try out the Slim PC DS47, and I found it great! It's totally fanless, extremely expandable, well-priced and very compact. Now I'm utilizing the DS47, with a SSD, as my work PC. I love to work in absolute silence. I consider this kind of PCs excellent for SoHo tasks. So, the question is: have these Mini PC and Slim PC a good reception of public?
CS: First off, I'm glad to hear you like the DS47 that much. When you make products you need feedback from both customers and the press alike. More, you will need to listen and examine the pros and cons of a product to be successful on a long-term basis. That said, both noise level and cooling are the natural enemies of cases of PCs at the size as ours. We're all certainly happy to hear we're getting it right about that from what the DS47 is concerned. I'm basically convinced there's a good level of awareness amongst IT media about our products in Italy. Readers won't need to look long for coverage with Bits'n'Chips being a regular media partner of ours. And reviews have shown that we must have done something right with our gear. At the end of day and from a marketing point of view, I think you can always improve on brand awareness and you should never settle. And this is good, otherwise people like me would need to find other challenges quickly...
B&C: Connecting to the previous question, what are your main customers? Public administrations? Business companies? Or is it the retail market (aka, the end-users) your main profit source?
CS: We sell through a varied network of distributors and resellers in Europe which makes our distributors our direct customers. These are currently CZ Dynamic (formerly Tecnocomputer) and Intersystem in Italy who buy directly from us in Germany and sell the products on to their resellers which can be retailers and etailers. There's also quantities being moved with customers that collaborate with us on a project basis that have a high interest in particularly the X50/X70 AIOs and the Slim PCs that are used for special purposes.
B&C: During the CeBIT I noted that Shuttle now is present in the NAS market with a lot of products, and they are very complete (A lot of reviews speak well of your products; i.e. TechPowerUp, Tweak.dk, Hardware.Info, etc.). However, the Operating System of your NAS systems seems to be very spartan, more meagre than QNAP or Synology ones, for example. Is it a temporary deficiency (you are quite new in this market), or it's an intentional choice, to keep the prices lower as much as possible?
CS: The OMNINAS range is a completely new product line at Shuttle and had its European debut with the KD20 back in September 2012. Since then, just as you say, they have received an in overall positive reception from both customers and the press which we are very glad about. As we speak, we have got three two-bay NASes on the market being the KD20, KD21 and KD22 and also one one-bay device that was launched in May 2014, dubbed KS10. We consider the NASes as a good complement to our existing line of Mini PCs. Unlike the bigger XPC cubes, the Slim PCs often allow for installing one disk drive only. The solution would be a NAS. Just add one SSD to your DS47, hook it up to your OMNINAS and you have a small and quite PC plus lots of disk space you can access from anywhere in the world. Competition in the NAS market is basically very tough and you will have to find a niche to get a foot into the door and a share of the pie. To reach this, a new team in Taiwan was formed and we are working diligently to make the OMNINAS machines as mature as our Mini PCs are. For the time being, we rather focus on the entry-level segment of NASes with home users being our key target group.
B&C: Going on, the hardware of your NAS systems is based only on ARM SoCs (Made by Marvell). QNAP, ASUSTOR, Synology and others companies use, for their own NAS systems, SoCs or CPUs made by Intel, too. Will you use Intel SoCs or CPUs in the future to equip your NAS systems? Also, during the CeBIT, a QNAP guy told me that Intel sells its own old CPUs (pre-Bay Trail) at a very low price (dumping?). Has Intel already made you an offer you can't refuse (and you have refused it) or not, at the present moment?
CS: No, a NAS system based on an Intel processor is not planned at the moment. We currently stick to the solutions offered by Marvell.
B&C: Last question, but not the least one. Shuttle is likely the most important manufacturer of Slim and Mini PC in the world, and now it's selling good NAS systems. Have you in mind to put effort into new markets (e.g. smartphone, tablet, etc)? Will you create an ecosystem (NAS + Slim/Mini PC + Cloud Software)?
CS: Yes, we are eager to explore new markets for our Mini PCs, but we have no intentions to enter the smartphone/tablet consumer market. Instead, we're seeking to find new partners in vertical markets. PCs are so prevalent amongst us and even in places you probably wouldn't expect them at first thought. Take vending machines, POI/POS or kiosk displays for example, all these are driven by PCs, surely not the most powerful ones on the market, but reliability is key here. This is about the direction towards we're intensifying our efforts.
B&C: Thanks Christian, it has been a pleasure talking with you!
CS: Just my pleasure, of course. You're welcome, Gian Maria!