Raspberry Pi SBCs are a great way to add benefits to your business. But why are these little computers so popular and useful for so many businesses?
When your company needs to expand its technology, your operations and development team will likely deploy a new server in the data center (whether bare metal or virtual) or turn to a third-party cloud host. And they are probably right to make that choice. After all, the traditional server model has worked for decades and will continue to do so.
This does not mean, however, that these standard deployment types are the only option. In fact, there is another possibility you can choose for certain use cases. This option is the single-board computer, such as the Raspberry Pi.
What is a single board computer?
The term single-board computer is a bit misleading because it makes it sound like the computer is made up of a single circuit board. While this is the case, it is also the case for many desktop computers that use a motherboard with integrated networking, monitor, and sound cards.
What the name single board computer really means is that everything is integrated on the board. In other words, things like RAM, CPU, and storage are permanently soldered to the circuit board and cannot be changed. With a standard computer, RAM, CPU, and internal storage can be replaced (for upgrades or maintenance). With an SBC, these items cannot be replaced, which limits them somewhat, but adds a level of practicality and simplicity to the option.
Single-board computers are often called embedded systems and are used for things like controllers, IoT devices, robotics, kiosks, and media servers. These tiny computers are a great way to expand what your business offers, whether for your internal workflow or even for clients and customers.
Not sold yet? Let's dive in and find out exactly why your business should use the Raspberry Pi single board computer.
Cheap deployments
One of the biggest benefits of using single board computers (like the Rasberry Pi) is that they are very cheap. You can buy a Raspberry Pi SBC for $15.00 to $35.00. And given what you can do with these devices, that's cheap. Imagine creating a cluster of Linux-based computers in this price range? You can't beat this. And because they're so inexpensive, your business will be able to deploy these systems at a higher frequency than you would with standard PCs.
With the low cost of SBCs, your company can even enjoy a little more creativity in its implementations. These systems can also serve as inexpensive tests before releasing full applications and services to the public.
Flexibility
In addition to being cheap, SBCs are a great way to add flexibility to your business. Consider this: You see a trend happening in your specific industry and want to jump on board as quickly as possible. With single-board computers, this level of flexibility is possible. These devices are not only simple to deploy but can also be used for countless possibilities.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you can even find single-board computers already built for the exact use case you need. Otherwise, these devices, by design, are very easy to develop with and with. Since almost all SBCs run Linux, you can develop with whatever language you prefer. Java, JavaScript, .NET, Python, PHP, and even C++ are among the countless languages you can work with on a Raspberry Pi.
Experimentation
You probably have things you'd love to try in your company, like robotics, AI, controllers, and sensors for just about every environment imaginable. Experimenting with these types of technologies on standard hardware is not always feasible. Instead, you can use cheap, easy-to-deploy SBCs. If one of these deployments fails, the loss will be minimal (both in time and cost).
Low energy consumption
Imagine deploying hundreds of standard computers in an environment that lacks the power needed to power these systems. Not only may it not be up to code, but it could also cost you a considerable amount of your allocated utility budget.
Deploying SBCs for this instance could alleviate these problems because they consume very little power. For example, a Raspberry Pi 4 only consumes 3.8W to 4.0W while idle. When a single core is in use, the same device only consumes 4.5 W. With 2 cores in use, it will consume 5.0 W, and 3 cores in use can prepare 5.5 Ws. by comparison, an average desktop can use between 65 and 250 W.
Easy Development Platform
One thing to keep in mind is that SBC can be used as a great development platform. This is especially true if your company plans to expand into the IoT domain. By employing single-board computers as an additional development platform for your team, they will already be a step ahead once you start bringing the Internet of Things into the mix.
But beyond IoT, because Raspberry Pi systems run Linux, your developers can use these devices as development platforms for anything they create for front-end or back-end deployments. Connect a Raspberry Pi to GitHub and this little computer can be used in the office, at home, or anywhere it can be connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. And with all the necessary languages and frameworks already available for Linux, your software engineers won't miss a thing.
Conclusion
The Raspberry Pi single board computer is an option your company should consider. Save money, add flexibility to your workflow, and even experiment with new use cases and implementations. Given the cost savings these devices offer, this is a win-win scenario.
Source: BairesDev
