14 DAY TRIAL // The Coca-Cola Company has debuted testing of a new proprietary, software-driven fountain dispenser in the United States, dubbed Coca-Cola Freestyle. Bsquare Corporation, the lead systems integrator working on the project, and a Microsoft Gold Partner, has built Windows Embedded into the fountain dispenser. More specifically, Coca-Cola Freestyle is powered by Windows CE.
“Our Friends at Bsquare just posted a link to a press release on the Coke Freestyle machine! very cool device that’s powered by Windows CE. Bsquare, a Windows Embedded Gold Partner, consulted with Coca-Cola for the last 2 years on this device, and now it’s in testing here in the USA. This little ditty is already winning awards,” revealed John Coyne, Microsoft systems engineer.
With Coca-Cola Freestyle, customers will be able to enjoy over 100 sparkling and still beverage selections from a single machine, all accessible through a touch-based user interface. Under the hood of the new fountain dispenser lay highly concentrated ingredients and microdosing technology along with Windows CE, making it possible for the device to offer 100 different recipes of beverages, while keeping carbonated water and sweetener requirements as low as possible.
“Creating a simple-to-use design is very complex. Bsquare has worked side-by-side with The Coca-Cola Company to create this innovative new ‘fountain of the future.’ Its graphically rich, exciting user interfaces—created without the horsepower of a PC—are attractive and easy to use by multiple types of users which makes its design necessarily complex,” says Carey Butler, Bsquare’s vice president of professional engineering services.
At the start of July, Bsquare and Microsoft prolonged their OEM agreement until December 31, 2009, covering a variety of embedded technologies from the Redmond company, including: Windows Embedded CE, Windows Embedded Standard, XP Pro for Embedded Systems and Windows Embedded Server.
“Bsquare will continue to drive customer success as a Windows Embedded distributor,” stated Scott Caldwell, Bsquare’s director of licensing sales. “We recommend the right operating system for each device and then enable our customers to integrate and test the selected solution with our services, support, products and training. By engaging with Bsquare, our customers meet both their device requirements and their business goals.”