www.nordicid.com
NORDIC ID
MERLIN
in the making
SIMPLY THE BEST HANDHELD SCANNER ON THE MARKET. It may be mere technological prowess, but the new Nordic ID Merlin performs like magic. Our new flagship handset, Nordic ID Merlin took its place in our lineup of handheld computers in late 2010. It’s faster, more powerful, more rugged and has 30% more battery life than its predecessor, the Nordic ID PL3000. Giving customers so much of what they asked for in one device comes close to actual wizardry.
Nordic ID Merlin is the result of extensive research and development based on customer demands. Every year Nordic ID conducts a selective partner survey to understand what customers and partners like about the devices that they are using, and what they would like to see more of. “Customers are generally very pleased with our products, but of course there’s always room for improvement,” says Miia Kivelä, Partner Manager, Product Sales with Nordic ID. “What partners want with this kind of handset designed for intensive use is more power, more processor speed and memory,” Kivelä continues. “They also wanted a brighter display, all in a super-rugged package.” It appears that customers got what they wanted. Processor speed and memory have both been given a significant boost to meet the increasing demands of applications 10 • Nordic IDea
that users run on handheld scanners. Javabased applications, for example, need to run a separate virtual machine on units, taxing processor speed and generally slowing the device down. “The overall user experience is better with Nordic ID Merlin because the unit responds more quickly,” explains Janne Mäkeläinen, a technical support engineer and RFID specialist with Nordic ID. “The way that applications are designed will impact speed, but regardless everything is much faster with Nordic ID Merlin, no matter what. The screen is also brighter, for easier use in full daylight.” Nordic ID Merlin is meant to gradually replace the tried, tested and very popular Nordic ID PL3000 series of mobile computers. Its capabilities are similar, but it’s been totally redesigned according to customer demands. Like the PL3000, Nordic ID Merlin is a rugged barcode and/or RFID handheld scanner compatible with virtually all software solutions and capable of intensive use in the warehouse or stock room. Nordic ID Merlin is also based on a Microsoft Windows CE platform and is available in many configurations, depending on customer requirements for data collection and transmission. All Nordic ID devices are built to be backwards compatible, so Nordic ID Merlin units can operate simultaneously right alongside the PL3000. ”In the Nordic ID Merlin series, we have combined the best features of our top
performing mobile computers, says Jorma Lalla CEO at Nordic ID. “The PL3000 mobile RFID reader achieved the highest ratings in all performance categories for an RFID reader in the European EPC Competence Center (EECC’s) tests, and in fact the Cross Dipole version achieved the best value ever measured in an EECC test procedure for ‘receiver sensitivity’,” Lalla continues. “Now we have topped even that by packing all the best industry features into the Nordic ID Merlin.” The Nordic ID Cross Dipole antenna, unique in the industry, is the basis of one of the great advantages that the company enjoys over competitors. “It’s a big selling point,” admits Hannu Heino, Technical Director at Nordic ID. Having 2 antennas in close proximity usually results in impedance, or wasted energy, as each antenna cancels out the other’s power to a degree. In some geometrical settings, however, the mutual impedance between antennas can be zero. This is the case for crossed dipoles used in circular polarization antennas. The Nordic ID Merlin UHF RFID Cross Dipole antenna allows it to read further and faster than any other RFID handset available today, with less energy expenditure, but with high antenna gain and transmission power, excellent directivity and receiver sensitivity. “Our cross-polarizing antenna allows Nordic ID Merlin to handle distances of up to five meters, extending all the way up to eight