Why Toradex
In addition to choosing the right System on Module (SoM) to meet your technical and financial requirements, it's equally important to choose the right SoM partner for your product's success. You should consider multiple factors, such as technical support, product availability, supply chain, and product maintenance when selecting SoM partners. Read on for more about how Toradex addresses these requirements.
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Advantages
Robust Quality
Our products are designed to run 24/7 in critical applications and to withstand harsh environments.
Platform Scalability
Scalability ensures seamless migration of an embedded platform to future technologies without the need for a redesign.
Operating Systems
Toradex offers in-house operating system support for Windows Embedded Compact and Linux. Toradex images and Board Support Packages (BSPs) are highly configurable by design.
Product Lifetime
Toradex offers more than 10 years of guaranteed product availability: the Colibri PXA270, launched in 2005, was shipped to customers for more than 15 years!
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Supreme Performance
Toradex invests significant engineering resources in designing and developing both the hardware and software for each SoM in-house.
Ease-of-Use
Toradex offers a superb out-of-the-box experience with its SoMs. Production-grade operating systems that come ready-to-use let you focus on your applications.
Industry-Leading Support
Toradex offers industry-leading support through multiple technical support channels. You can contact our engineers via email and phone, or reach out on our active Toradex Community forums.
Extensive Support
Our Developer Center contains more than 800 articles and is constantly growing. We also regularly conduct webinars and publish technical blog.
Ease-of-Use
Toradex offers a superb out-of-the-box experience with its SoMs.
Production-grade operating systems that come ready to use let you focus on your applications. Our development approach puts customers first, allowing us to create products that perfectly meet your needs.
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Out-of-the-box Experience
- One-click OS installation with Toradex Easy Installer
- Starter Kits, Development Boards and accessories to get you started fast
- Simple, step-by-step quick start guides
- Intuitive and extensive Developer Portal
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Industry-Focused Resources
- Pre-certification for on-SoM Wi-Fi and Bluetooth solutions, cables and antennas
- The Shock and vibration compliance tests
- Real time-enabled reference projects like the TAQ robot
- AI and AWS Cloud Embedded Vision Starter Kit
- Low power and battery reference design
- Vertically focused, ready-to-use third-party carrier boards
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Torizon Linux Platform
- Ready-to-use, production-ready Linux distribution
- Integration with popular IDEs like Visual Studio, VSCode and Qt
- Easy integration with popular software frameworks and libraries
- Fully integrated OTA client
- Development tools including security, flash memory and configuration tools
- Container with Debian Package support
![](https://docs.toradex.com/108207-ease-of-use-yocto-project.jpg)
BSP Layers and Reference Images for the Yocto Project
- Ideal Starting Point for your own Yocto Project Builds
- Quick evaluation
- Production-quality BSP layers
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Extensive Software Ecosystem
- One-click installation of OS evaluation images like QNX and Android
- One-click installation of demos for technologies like Qt, Crank, DiSTI, Mender, MVTec, Au-Zone, ITTIA and Matrikon
- Support for the large Docker Hub software ecosystem
- Network of proven software engineering partners
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Hardware Ecosystem
- Tested and integrated hardware peripherals
- Vertically focused, ready-to-use third-party carrier boards
- Network of proven hardware engineering partners
Quality and Reliability
Toradex products often work in the most demanding environments, so we design them to meet the highest standards of quality and reliability.
This page highlights some of our efforts to guarantee this.
Detailed documentation, including test descriptions, reports and associated information, is available from links throughout this page. If you need additional information, don’t hesitate to request it directly with us.
Reliability by design
- Only industrial-grade SoCs
- Designed for 24/7 operation at full load
- Designed to run for many years
- Edge connectors with hard gold
- 24-month warranty for all SoMs
- Selected modules with FD-SOI technology
- Counterfeit part prevention policy
Dependable in extreme temperatures
- Tested to work from –40° to +85°C
- Power optimized for small temperature footprint
- Out-of-the-box thermal solutions
- Thermal management guidelines
Shock- and vibration-tested
- Validated by internationally-accredited company Quinel AG
- Vibration certification EN 60068-2-6:2008
- Shock certification EN 60068-2-27:2009 50 g / 20 ms
- Fast and secure fastening methods
- Proven in rally cars, hypercars, helicopters, railways and more
Full functional testing and traceability
- Purpose-built automated test equipment
- Each module must pass extensive functional tests
- Each module is fully traceable with a unique ID and archived test results
- AI data analytics for early detection of manufacturing issues
Standardized product variants
- Small numbers of product variations allow for extensive testing
- Numerous customers use the exact same product
- You benefit from early issue detection by other customers
EMI/EMC
- Reference designs and design guides for carrier boards
- Minimized risk in your final project
- Experienced support team to help you in the EMI/EMC test phase
ISO 9001
- Toradex ISO 9001:2015 Certificate
- Electronic manufacturing services (EMS) contracted by Toradex are ISO 9001-certified
- PCBA IPC-A-610 Class 2
- SoMs manufactured in Germany
- Carrier boards manufactured in Germany, Canada and Thailand
Software quality
- Transparent software roadmaps, feature tracking and bug tracking
- Public BSP support strategy
- Free and open-source Linux BSPs
- Continuous integration
- In-house BSP development
- Use of upstream-based Linux kernel
Platform Scalability
Scalability is paramount for providing a long-lived and cost-effective product to the market. Toradex’s efforts allow you to design a scalable product from prototype to production, so you can easily keep your product up to date with the latest technology.
Pin-Compatible
- SoMs are pin-compatible within each family.
- Reserved pins let you use unique SoC features.
- The Pinout Designer Tool helps you to understand and guarantee pin compatibility.
- Toradex standardizes hardware interface naming on its Linux BSPs, so you can port your software to another SoM seamlessly.
Cost-Effective
- Prototype using a powerful SoM and scale down performance as you optimize your software.
- Migrate to a newer SoM to cut costs, improve performance or increase power efficiency.
- Use a single SoM for several products to benefit from our competitive tiered pricing program.
Future-Proof
- Add new features that require a more powerful SoM without redesigning your carrier board.
- As the market demand new features, react quickly by using a newer or more powerful SoM.
Software
Toradex offers in-house operating system support for Windows Embedded Compact and Linux.
Toradex images and Board Support Packages (BSPs) are highly configurable by design.
Product Lifetime and Maintenance
Toradex only partners with SoC providers that guarantee their products for at least 10 years. We also handle updates to SoM designs when other parts reach their end-of-life phase. All of this remains transparent to you from both a hardware and software perspective.
Transparent Communication
- Transparent Product Change Notification (PCN)/End-of-Life policy
- Hardware roadmaps
- Public issue tracking and status indication (e.g., Verdin iMX8M Mini page
- Public Software roadmaps
- Subscribe to automatic update notifications
Long-Term Software Support
- Based on open source to avoid vendor lock-in
- Using and contributing to mainline Linux
- Frequent release schedule
- Long term-supported (LTS) options
Long-Term Hardware Availability
- 10+ years of SoM availability
- Selection of reliable suppliers
- Second source for components whenever possible
- Proven track record
Reduced Maintenance Costs
- Manage one component, not 300
- Free SoM component replacement at end of life (EOL) without hardware or software impact
- Simple upgrade to newer SoMs assured through pin and software compatibility
Built-In Over-the-Air Update Capabilities
- Safe, secure, automotive-grade OTA features
- Hosted OTA Service
- Containers for simplified software maintenance
- Designed for modern DevOps
Supreme Performance
Toradex invests significant engineering resources in designing and developing both the hardware and software for each SoM in-house. The result is a platform that is optimized for maximum performance and power efficiency. This is evident from our fast-booting systems that can cold-boot into an application in less than 0.5 seconds, for example. Toradex engineering can help you get the most out of the hardware for your application. Toradex embedded computers can take advantage of the latest hardware features, such as CUDA, OpenCL-enabled GPUs, cryptographic accelerators and high-performance 3D rendering capabilities.
Developer Resources
Our Developer Center contains more than 800 articles and is constantly growing. It offers everything from getting-started guides to detailed technical information about software and hardware. We conduct regular webinars on various topics related to our SoMs. In addition, our technical blog offers information on a variety of subjects related to embedded development.
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Developer Center
- Quick start guides
- Over 800 articles, updated daily
- Open-source Altium reference designs
- Carrier board design and layout guides
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Webinars, Videos and Blog
- Live and on-demand webinars for free online training
- Active YouTube channel featuring demos, partner interviews and more
- Blog posts for detailed studies, comparisons and other exciting topics
- Monthly newsletter with the latest on products and training
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Open-Source GitHub
- Demos and reference implementations
- Yocto Project BSP
- Torizon OS (formerly TorizonCore) source code
Free Industry-Leading Technical Support
Toradex offers industry-leading support through multiple technical support channels. You can contact our engineers via email and phone, or reach out on our active Toradex Community forums, where our specialists will answer your questions. We have local support teams around the world, so don't hesitate to get in touch with us and communicate in your own language.
Developer Center
The Toradex Developer Center is a comprehensive knowledge base that brings together all of our developer resources in one place. We add content on a daily basis, so check back regularly for updates. We’re positive you will find the information you are looking for — and more.
Community
The Toradex Community is a space where anybody can ask questions about our products and get answers from our developers. We created it after we noticed that many customers ask the same or similar questions, and having them publicly listed with answers helps other customers find answers faster.
Email Support
Still looking for the information you need, or have an unanswered question? We understand that some questions might not be answered in our Developer Center or can’t be asked publicly in our Community. For those requests, we have our support email address. Please use this channel only for questions which can’t be asked in our Community.
Phone Support
For general questions, feel free to contact us by phone. Toradex’s office hours are from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. local time, except for weekends and public holidays.
Partner Network
Our extensive partner network includes third-party companies that offer services and hardware to complement Toradex’s offerings. All our partners have successfully completed projects based on Toradex products, so you get proven services.
Proven
- All partners have demonstrated excellence in working with Toradex
- Fast time-to-market due to familiarity with Toradex products
- Lower project risk
Single Point of Contact for Support
- Joint responsibility between Toradex and partners
- Support requests are handled directly between Toradex and partners
- Resolve issues faster
Software
- Evaluate software for free in just a few clicks
- Simple integration in your products
- Continued compatibility testing
Hardware Peripherals
- Tight integration with Toradex software
- Ready-to-use
- Displays, cameras, cellular modems and more
Engineering Services
- Get help with hardware and software projects
- Customized carrier boards
- Specialized knowledge for different applications
Off-the-Shelf Carrier Boards
- Ready-to-use boards for different applications
- Optimized for volume production