VDC Research: Embedded Microprocessor, Board & Systems Market Blog

Extracting Elusive Value from the Embedded Cloud – A Consumer Perspective – Part 1

As part of a series supporting the recently published M2M/ Embedded Cloud reports, I explored a few M2M benefits for the industrial machine markets and wind power industry. As I extend this blog series, I wanted to look at a few ways that Machine to Machine M2M connectivity can provide many benefits to consumers in their everyday life and, as a result can provide more revenue opportunities to the businesses that embrace this new age of embedded cloud M2M connectivity.

A Rich Environment for M2M Connectivity: 

Appliances: These days most appliances have, at the very least embedded processors. As I mentioned in a previous blog from the ESC/Design West show, suppliers such as Inside Secure, Lantronix, Silex, and Texas Instruments and others give appliance manufacturers many options to have their products connect to networks and mobile devices.  These M2M features could act as a driver for new product sales but, also a method of increasing service revenue from field upgrades.

Mobile Devices: Most consumers or, at a minimum, at least one person in a household have very capable mobile products that can be used as Human Machine Interfaces (HMI).  Therefore, many appliances could have the capabilities of a dedicated full featured panel and keyboard interface without having the expense of adding that hardware.

As part of this blog series, I thought I would look at a few typical household/consumer activities as a place where M2M could deliver value to many stakeholders. In part 1, we look to laundry and a trip to the supermarket.  In part 2 we look to food storage and preparation.

Laundry a “Clean” Opportunity for M2M:

Smart Grid: In a residence that has a smart meter, the power used can be measured with respect to time with lower rates for off peak usage. Laundry is a task that usually has some flexibility in when it can be done. Using their mobile HMI, a person could program the washer/dryer to run during an optimal time period for lower power costs. In a full M2M configuration, communication between the laundry appliances and the grid operator through the cloud or directly to the smart meter could add the needed timing and precision.

Commercial/Facility: For those where in-residence laundry machines are not an option, M2M could provide benefits as HMIs could allow consumers to reserve Laundromat machines in advance or at least know machine were availability before in advance.  The mobile devices and M2M could provide other benefits like cashless transactions, locking the machines to prevent theft/tampering, and alerting the user that a load is complete.

A Trip to the Store with M2M:

Setting the Route: Let’s consider a consumer that has a shopping list that takes into account some food and other things they are planning to buy. The nearby supermarket specials have been downloaded onto their mobile device and an application coupled with an embedded GPS can provide the consumer with a cost effective and efficient plan to buy what they need at the best prices.  The consumer’s HMI also might have information about traffic and or what might be the best times to go to the store to avoid crowding and long lines. The consumer’s HMI could possibly help them find item locations in the store with the assistance of a store provided application.  All together, this  allows the consumer to spend less time shopping, get the needed items for the best price, and save gas/travel expenses.

Other Possible M2M Benefits:

• The supermarkets can level the peak demand for personnel and connect the customer to their goods to a degree never before possible.
• Printed supermarket fliers are expensive to produce and distribute and, they likely have to be planned far in advance in anticipation of items being available. M2M can make the system much more responsive if prime produce, meats or seafood are suddenly available or, unexpectedly not available.
• Consumers can avoid situations where the store they select is out of stock on an item that they need.
• Produce is an “experience good” in that sometimes you have to buy it and try it to see if it is really good. An application that would allow consumers to rate a particular batch of product would be really valuable to store owners as well as fellow customers. A store application could look at situations where customers buy a small amount of a product one day and return the next day and buy a lot more. This repeat buy index would be representative of a really good lot of produce.
• As the consumer is on the route to the store, their HMI might give them offers. Say for example their car has M2M and it needs an oil change and the supplier en-route has an open service bay waiting. That would be a win from many perspectives.

Summary: I see an environment where embedded cloud/M2M connectivity will be increasingly added to things like appliances, and automobiles. Using mobile devices, and automotive infotainment systems as HMI, many benefits can be seen by the consumers, manufacturers, grid operators, retail store and supermarket owners as well as other service providers. In many cases, these applications and the values created are real or easily achievable in the 2012/2013 timeframe. This is the recipe for success. Speaking of recipes, if you liked this blog, the next one will look at food products and how M2M and the Embedded Cloud can provide value with respect to the food products people buy and often throw out later.

New VDC Research Program Will Provide Valuable Insights into Rich Media & Big Data in Embedded Systems

We wanted to let you know about an important new annual research program we are launching called The Voice of the Customer Series: Rich Media & Big Data in Embedded Systems. The series, which is based on extensive primary research of embedded vendors and intelligent system OEMs, will provide you with the information you need to formulate and implement a best-in-class strategy for addressing the issues around and opportunities arising from rich media content and big data.

We’ve designed the program to help engineering managers at large OEMs and the embedded technology vendors who provide them with critical products and services.   Engineering managers will get expert guidance and insight into best practices and trends in the development of embedded systems that create and manage rich media and big data, and the business opportunities these new systems are creating for them and their customers.  Technology vendors – including processor, board and software vendors – will get deep insight into the rapidly evolving needs, requirements, and selection criteria of their OEM customers who are developing systems that leverage rich media and big data.  Some of the issues we’ll be looking at during the next 12 months include:

• What underlying factors are driving rich media and big data in embedded systems, and how do OEM’s approaches vary?

• How are cloud services and analytics changing OEM business models and infrastructure investments?

• Which technology vendors are best positioned to support OEM’s rich media and big data projects and programs?

• How OEMs are enabling new functionality through embedded hardware?

Want to learn more? Click here to download the Research Outline.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Sharpens Focus

Curtiss-Wright Controls, parent company of Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (CWCEC), announced on January 9 the formation of a new business unit, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS). The new unit will incorporate both CWCEC and the firm’s former Electronic Systems unit. Ref. http://www.cwcdefense.com/media-center/press-release/50.htm

The ultimate parent company, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, was formed in 1929 through the union of fifteen companies affiliated with aviation pioneers Glenn Curtiss and Wilbur and Orville Wright. Today the firm, with annual sales exceeding US$ 2 billion, operates in three primary market segments: Flow Control, Motion Control and Metal Treatment. Defense-related products and services comprised approximately 40% of overall income, covered under the Motion Control segment.

Curtiss-Wright Controls, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is the Motion Control segment of the overall company. Both the former Embedded Computing and Electronic Systems units were part of this group.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (CWCEC) was formed in 2002 through the acquisition of certain assets of Lau Defense Systems. Over the next several years, CWCEC grew to be a powerhouse in the military/aerospace segment of embedded computing, particularly on the merchant boards side. Growth was both organic and via acquisition. Succeeding acquisitions included Collins Technologies, Peritek, Systran, Novatronics, Dy 4, Prima Graphics, Synergy Microsystems, Indal Technologies, Pentland and Vmetro asa.

Military, Aerospace and Defense has, historically, been not only a primary market for CWCEC but also one of the fastest growing and most stable segments for merchant computer boards, in particular. In 2010, this market segment accounted for US$ 694 Million in shipments; this is projected to increase to US$ 912 Million in 2013. CWCEC was the number one supplier of boards to this market segment, with a market share of substantially greater than 17%. GE Intelligent Platforms was number two, with a market share slightly above 14%.

However, the projected 131% 2010-2013 increase in Mil Aero board shipments is actually less than the projected shipment growth for boards in general – 153%. Even this may prove to be optimistic, if certain massive cuts proposed for the military budget are implemented. Therefore, suppliers to this segment should be pursuing aggressive marketing and customer service policies in order to grow not only market share but actual shipments as well.

The establishment of the new Defense Solutions business unit within Curtiss-Wright Controls will not only address these issues, but will also produce a larger, yet more nimble, operation. It will also provide a sharper focus to Curtiss-Wright’s embedded efforts, targeting bread-and-butter elements of the business and reducing distractions from less critical aspects of the business.

Four Big Takeaways from the Design West / ESC Show

In this last ESC show related blog, I will summarize several of the discoveries and themes we saw for embedded hardware products. We had lots of great conversations and observed many product demonstrations and presentations. These four takeaways were some of the most interesting.

Disposable Products: Embedded device manufacturers are looking to provide units that minimize power use when operating and virtually eliminate any use when idle. What is driving this is the idea of products like smoke and/or CO detectors lasting for 10 years or more and then being disposable. This allows the units to use different power sources while eliminating battery clips, and simplifying enclosure designs.  If you take it a next step, you could see that some municipalities could ensure that every residence and business would have smoke/CO detector units installed and operational. This would save lives and money.

Microcontrollers (MCU) and Digital Signal Processors (DSP): Embedded computing has gotten a lot more complicated and one place that is representative of this trend is automotive airbag systems. In prior generation designs it was relatively simple in that a MEMs device or some type of impact sensor was connected to an MCU that would in turn trigger the airbag if a well defined set of go/no-go conditions were met. There were several problems that now make this architecture less feasible. Airbags are expensive to replace and, in some cases present dangers of their own. Therefore, you want to be a little more selective about when you want to deploy them. Cars now have multiple airbags and you only want to deploy some of them depending on conditions that might not be a simple MCU driven process. In summary, the airbag trigger process involves more sensors to detect passenger configurations and weights as well as impact sites, directions, magnitudes and whether the vehicle is rolling over. This is why VDC believes that the demand for DSPs in the automotive vertical market will be growing significantly.

Embedded Device Pin counts and Features: During the ESC show we spoke with many embedded controller and processor suppliers and were impressed with the amount of features and capabilities that are increasingly being integrated into these products. By doing so, in many cases it reduces the need for pins that would be needed to connect the device to other devices in a customer’s product. To the embedded device manufacturer this has many possible benefits as it frees up the pins for other functions or eliminates them completely.  Another tangible benefit would be reduced cost of test as the reduced pin count might enable more parallel testing. The design engineers at the customer have to be delighted as they have fewer worries about integrating peripherals and supporting devices and now, less demand for space inside the products they are designing. This is truly a win-win proposition.

Embedded Cloud / Microstrain: In their booth, the CEO Steve Arms was demonstrating their Sensor Cloud service. The demonstration was showing real time and archived data collected wirelessly from an array of sensors at a Vermont winery. This is a classic embedded cloud business model of a company setting up cloud services for customers. Agriculture is always a complicated business and the introduction of this type of service should help lower costs to farmers. Now, imagine a second derivative of the cloud data being aggregated and sold to the financial industry to support decisions about crop futures.

In a blog later this week, I will give some thoughts on the embedded cloud business model and the layers of value that can be extracted.

Design West / ESC Show Highlights - Part 2

In this blog I will continue to explore some of the VDC Embedded Hardware team experience at the Design West ESC show. We saw a lot of great product demonstrations along with some excellent detailed briefings and meetings so it’s difficult to boil it all down to a reasonable size blog but here we go:

AMD: We saw a number of embedded computer products from multiple manufactures that featured AMD processors. Many of these would be great for scalable edge node applications. Heard a bit more about the latest Opteron 3200 series of processors which will likely find many cloud based applications. While at AMD we visited partner Xi3 they have some really nifty looking cube type computers that can be deployed in array like structures. The concept they were showing was a datacenter on wheels.

Atmel: Was showing some new products that seemed really great for embedded M2M type connectivity but, according to the press material I received, the details are embargoed for another week or two.

Digi-International: Digi was a company we covered in the Migrating to the Embedded Cloud report that published this week so we really wanted to stop by and see if there was anything new going on.  What we saw didn’t disappoint as there was a lot of evidence about the partnerships we talk about in the report. Digi and Wind River were announcing a collaboration to deliver M2M wireless connectivity solutions using Intel processors. This is on the heels of a similar partnership that Digi has with Freescale. We saw that Digi was using another company’s embedded computer hardware products as part of the cloud connectivity demonstration but, as that partnership is not announced; I can’t write more about that now.

Integrated Device Technology (IDT): In this booth there was a very impressive demonstration of  serial RapidIO technology being deployed in a number of different companies’ products. This is very important in cellular 3G and 4G deployments. Despite being handled by different protocols, hardware and connection methods the data travelled end-to-end efficiently and, most importantly without being corrupted.

Imagination Technologies:  We saw some really great examples of their IP used in mobile devices and applications. As people become more ingrained with mobile devices, high resolution videos, and larger screen sizes, it takes some pretty complex systems on chip to make it work. The difficult thing is getting the needed performance while not sucking the mobile equipments battery dry.

Inside Secure: As the market for M2M is growing there needs to be ways to ensure of the identity of the machines and people being connected. Inside Secure gave us a briefing on several of their security technologies that can be embedded into products to address these issues.

Lantronix: As an OEM is making design decisions on new products or looking to update older ones adding wired and/or wireless connectivity can be a problem. Lantronix briefed us on several of their products where the connective capability can be added to new designs or even old ones on an as needed basis. Almost as a proof of concept, Lantronix produced xPrintServer using technology they usually sell to OEMs to allow Apple devices to directly connect to existing legacy printers using a downloadable app.

Microchip: The VDC Embedded SW and HW teams had several meetings with Microchip and we were particularly happy to have an opportunity for a great discussion their President and CEO Steve Sanghi. As this blog looks to be running a little long, I will give the special focus to topics we covered with Mr. Sanghi in a blog next week. The hardware team learned a lot about some of the new Microchip MCUs that are adding analog circuitry such as ADCs, DACs, Op-Amps, and Comparators.  This puts more functionality into a single package while, at the same time often reduces device pin count.

Micron: I saw a detailed briefing on the latest about the Micron memory cube product. The through hole vias on the semiconductor dies that make this design possible are interesting in themselves.

National Instruments: This was another company that is covered in the Embedded Cloud report and, we saw that the Compact Rio product has some new, even more compact, product lines extensions. In the booth there was also a mock-up of a Siemens smart grid transmission line breaker module. The N/I Compact Rio was part of the design in that it could capture and transmit events that happened on the transmission lines. One of the neat things is Siemens/NI project is that the breaker can be reset remotely.

Netronome: If you ever want to see a place where powerful embedded processors are used in large quantities in high volume applications, a network flow processor is a good place to look. These impressive units we saw inspect packets and move internet traffic at extremely high rates.

Power.org: An interesting talk with one of the Directors at the IBM booth to learn more about this organization that unifies standards among its members around the Power Architecture technology with a goal of making sure that processors and communications products work efficiently as the scale of connectivity grow ever increasingly higher.

Silex: We saw some product briefings on their connectivity modules. With respect to M2M connectivity this is pretty interesting if for example you are a product designer supporting a legacy product that you want to add M2M services to or, in other cases, you are worried that a particular standard fall out of favor, and you want the product you are designing to be future proof.

SuperMicro: They have a very large line of products and the MicroCloud product was particularly interesting to us because of the embedded cloud report where we had profiled SuperMicro.  The MicroCloud product impressed us with its ability to scale up as a cloud service and/or the amount of machines being supported in an edge node application grows.

Texas Instruments: TI had a lot to show us with all types of embedded hardware products adding GPS and motion sensing as well as Wi-Fi and other connectivity. Anyone that has taken a portable device with GPS applications into a building, large city, or tunnel will realize that these types of products have a waiting market.  We also got briefings on some new process intensive DSP products that are becoming increasingly important to many markets. This is one of the topics I will expand on in the next installment of this blog series.

Next week, I’ll give a few last high level takeaways about things we saw and discussed at the show.

ADLINK TECHNOLOGY ACHIEVES NUMBER TWO PC/104 MARKET SHARE THROUGH ACQUISITION

Approximately six weeks ago, ADLINK Technology, Inc. (New Taipei City, Taiwan) announced the 100% acquisition of LiPPERT Embedded Computers GmbH (Mannheim, Germany), providing a major increase in market share for modular computing products. (http://www.lippertembedded.de/en/information/news/312-adlink-acquires-lippert.html )

 ADLINK’s first major push into the modular computing segment was the firm’s 2008 acquisition of AMPRO Computers, Inc. (San Jose, CA), now doing business as AMPRO by ADLINK. AMPRO, historically, was the inventor and a leading supplier of PC/104 family modules, as well as a pioneer in the field of Computers-on-Modules (COMs). Indeed, AMPRO’s Encore COMs had won several awards, including the EDN Innovation of the Year in 2001, and Electronique’s Electron d’Or in 2002.

Since the 2008 acquisition, the combined firm’s market shares have been quite healthy. VDC estimates that, in 2011, ADLINK held a 6.25% market share in PC/104 Family modules (the number 5 position), a  3.01% share in COMs (the number 8 position), and a 13.69% share in “other stackable” CPU modules (EBX, EPIC), yielding the number three position.

LiPPERT is also a major player in the modular field, particularly in the area of PC/104 Family modules. The firm had an estimated 2011 market share of 3.41%, occupying the number 13 slot. The combined shares of ADLINK and LiPPERT (9.67%) would have given ADLINK the number two slot, second only to the Eurotech Group.

Although LiPPERT has also been active in both the COMs and “other stackables” arenas, the firm’s market shares are substantially smaller; the addition of LiPPERT’s shares to those of ADLINK would not have been sufficient to move the firm higher in rank.

However, both firms bring considerable across-the-board expertise to the table. VDC expects this combination to be quite formidable, particularly in the PC/104 Family field.    

The Embedded Cloud – A Logistics Based M2M Solution to Many Worldwide Problems

As we read the news on an almost daily basis we see stories where counterfeit and/or inferior products are being sold to unsuspecting consumers and companies.  In other similar cases, the products are correct and/or close to what they should be with respect to quality and identity but their places of origin have been misrepresented. Then, we have the cases where products have been mishandled or contaminated but tracing them back to the sources is almost impossible or at least time consuming. Lastly, there are always concerns about the control, tracking, and inspection of cargo at ports of entry. So, in summary there are global concerns including health, safety, ecology, crime/fraud, and economics that could all be addressed by the embedded cloud.

In some industries like Pharmaceutical, there are new systems/solutions coming into play that use elements of machine to machine (M2M) Embedded Cloud connectivity. At present, what is lacking is a global, fully comprehensive system that tracks all types of products and materials from their sources all the way to where they are used in manufacturing/processing and/or sold to the end customer.

How would this comprehensive system work and how would M2M embedded cloud technology enable this? Let me show you a hypothetical solution that uses M2M connectivity in many cases aided by units we call Scalable Edge Nodes (SEN). The process would involve several steps as outlined below:

1.)    As a key to the whole process you would have to have a Global Certification Agency (GCA). This organization would have many standards for data tags, RFID, and Barcode as well as reporting units. This organization would be responsible for the tracking and reporting but the infrastructure could possibly be delegated and/or outsourced.

2.)    Next, you would have to have a source of certified RFID/Barcode tag products. These tags could be constructed in many ways to allow tamper detection and also include many sensing/detecting elements.

So, at the first stage, you have (GCA) certified manufacturers of these RFID / Barcode tag products and there would be M2M connectivity between the machines that manufacture the tags and the GCA to ensure each tag has a unique combination of RFID/Barcode serial number.

3.)    At this point in the process, the tag manufacturers then sell the tags to GCA certified suppliers of a given product. This transaction and the physical transfer of these tags would be tracked by the GCA. If the shipment of tags went astray, they would be revoked by the GCA.

4.)    The certified supplier of a given product wants to make a shipment and they register it with the GCA as being some quantity of a specific grade of product and link it with GCA certified tags/seals as appropriate.

5.)    Throughout the shipment process, each transportation/handling company would be certified by the GCA and have M2M connectivity to record scans of products as they pass. Coordinated systems between the RFID sensor tags on the products as well at the transport/storage systems would ensure proper handling and traceability through the system.

6.)    If, at some stage(s), the product is used by a manufacturer to make another product or divided by a distributor/retailer. In each case those entities would be registered by the GCA and have M2M connectivity and, if needed, new tags for their outgoing products.  The GCA would prevent or, at least flag cases where certified outgoing shipment of products exceeds the certified incoming products. The manufacturer, distributor, and/or retailer could also verify that the goods had not likely been damaged or had not deteriorated during transport.

7.)    Finally, the product makes its way to the end user / consumer.  They could scan or enter a bar code on the product and see many things. Where did their medicine or seafood product come from? Was it fresh/handled correctly? Is a product really 100% organic? Did it come from a sustainable “Green” ecologic source? Is the DVD or handbag they purchased legitimate or is it pirated / counterfeited? Is the wood in the chair really mahogany? Many, if not all of these questions could be answered with reasonable assurance.

Is this process possible? As mentioned previously, some industries such as Pharmaceutical have some ongoing efforts.  Even so, the market for these types of products/systems is extremely fragmented.  In other industries this type of M2M system is virtually non-existent. This is where scalable edge nodes could help de-fragment the industry by converting existing data formats/standards to the unified GCA standard that would be used in all markets. Then the markets can flourish based on a unified set of standards and systems.  In my opinion, a global unified M2M embedded cloud system is the only way this works.

In conclusion, the GCA system would allow competition with regards to the RFID/Barcode tags as well as the embedded computing and M2M sensing and transmitting / networking products. Product suppliers and logistics/transportation companies could also compete based on the extent and quality of their M2M systems. Would the globally unified GCA system be perfect? No, it still relies on the human element of someone certifying that a product or material they ship/sell has certain properties or attributes. The GCA system would, over time, allow the people that cheat to be identified and de-certified as well as in certain cases prosecuted. At the same time, the benefits to those who are in compliance would be extensive.

GE’s 4th Quarter: The Industrial Crystal Ball for Embedded Hardware in 2012?

General Electric released its 4^th Quarter 2011 earnings today. As many know, GE has grown from its humble beginnings in light bulbs to provide a spectrum of products from aircraft engines to financial services. While GE Intelligent Platforms makes embedded hardware, GE as a whole goes far beyond the world of embedded.  As a former GE engineer myself, I have seen firsthand the world-class technology GE brings to market. Since it is a global company with diverse industries, it is typically seen as a bell-weather indicator for the general economy that drives the vertical markets of the embedded industry.

So, what can we glean about the future of the embedded hardware markets from GE’s 4^th Quarter Earnings announcement?

First, off, CEO Jeff Immelt mentions “continued volatility for 2012” and restructuring GE’s business in Europe to match market conditions. Obviously, volatility is never a reassuring term. And the situation in Europe appears uncertain. VDC expects that this will mean fewer embedded hardware shipments to Europe, shifting the market share percentages towards the US and Asia-Pacific regions.

Total GE revenues for the quarter were $38 billion - down from many analysts’ expectations, and down 8% from the 4^th quarter of 2010. However, this was mostly due to the impact of GE’s sale of its majority stake in NBC Universal. GE is most likely making the right decision to focus on its core competency: industrial products.

But, GE’s global direction aside, what do their division results say for the future? Energy Infrastructure was up 16% Y-o-Y, which is promising. This energy infrastructure would have opportunities for a host of embedded processors, from smart grid applications to wind farms to gas power turbines. For GE, that meant $43.7 billion dollars in revenue. Lots of opportunities going forward assuming this kind of growth continues. Aviation and Healthcare were a more modest 7% growth Y-o-Y, but still over $18 billion in revenue for each segment. Surely there is some embedded hardware associated with that project revenue as well: microcontrollers into engine related equipment; CPUs, GPUs, and more into MRI, CT, X-ray, portable medical equipment, etc. Perhaps most impressive from a revenue growth perspective is Transportation: 45% Y-o-Y.  In 2009 and 2010, this segment posted revenue declines. 

What are the embedded hardware opportunities in transportation?  First, a closer look at what GE defines as Transportation.  This segment includes diesel locomotives, transit propulsion equipment, motorized wheels for off-highway vehicles, and a variety of other motor and system devices.  As the BRIC economies continue to expand, they are no doubt demanding a range of transportation technologies such as the ones GE offers, which all will likely require embedded hardware at some point in their deployment, so the opportunities for embedded hardware here are substantial.    

Security concerns represent a market growth opportunity for Embedded Cloud

As I am now working on the latest VDC report on the Embedded Cloud, I have great interest in how suppliers and their customers can take advantage of market opportunities. One obstacle to adoption by many IT and business executives has been security. This concern springs from the idea of sensitive data being transmitted over the cloud. The current VDC report looks at edge node devices that can be used to facilitate connections while, at the same time adding security layers. In my opinion, the weak spots of traditional computer network and file security architectures actually represent a market opportunity because of major differences in structure and security. Yesterday’s MSNBC World News Article highlighted 4 recent mishaps where UK government documents and/or data were lost at least temporarily and in one case actually published.

The lost materials were contained in printouts, laptops, and/or portable media. Even though secure information needs to be readily at hand for those that need it the computers they use to access it are not always in fixed locations with secure networks. It is safe to say that in most cases, even at sea or air, network connections are increasingly available 365days x 24hrs. This is where the embedded cloud architectures can address security issues. With embedded cloud architectures mission critical documents and data do not typically live on portable media. If they do, they are strongly encrypted and the keys are transmitted securely. A user has to present credentials (often biometric) in order to unlock and use/view data/files/documents. A lost laptop or person that becomes un-trusted can be locked out instantly. Biometrics and security questions can eliminate passwords that can be guessed or, possibly written down by the user.

From what I understand, many consumer devices use a similar cloud enabled strategy where purchased materials are stored centrally and secured copies are on the portable device. A loss of the device through theft or malfunction does not mean a loss of the material. Additionally, networked and embedded devices serve as waypoints of access to enterprise networks. Surely these new embedded cloud enabled architectures and devices should draw some interest in the security conscious markets.

Quanta Case versus AMD Underscores Importance of Component/Assembly Testing - Part 1

This week I read of the lawsuit filed by Quanta Computer Inc. against AMD and its ATI division. The lawsuit alleges that components that they sold Quanta turned out to have heat tolerance related issues that caused the laptops they were used in to fail. It seems a little strange to me that Quanta is the only company with the problem unless they are buying a unique product or batch of products from AMD/ATI. Even so, with a multi-layered testing process the type of problem claimed by Quanta should not happen. The facts of the case will no doubt be revealed if additional claimants come forward and/or the case goes to trial.

Quanta is a Taiwanese contract manufacturer of notebook computers. Since they are a contract manufacturer this means that most of the finished goods they produce are someone else’s brand. They compete on the basis of cost and reliability/quality to get business from the owner of that brand. The damages they are seeking would be from their production losses from needing to repair or scrap finished products and/or subsequent damage to the perception of their own corporate brand.

This case has great relevance to the embedded hardware markets we cover and underscores the importance of a multi-tiered testing process. Therefore, I thought I would share some insights from my 30 year experience in the automatic test industry. I can safely say that despite the perception that testing increases cost, the costs of failure go up significantly at each step of the process between wafer creation and when the finished consumer/industrial product is completed. As one might understand, the absolute worst case is when the manufacturing/design failure occurs in the finished product when it is in the hands of the end customer. How can this be avoided? In this blog, I will look at the manufacturing process for semiconductor devices and, in next week’s follow up, I will look at what happens on the product manufacturing side.

1.) Raw Silicon Wafer: Optical checks are used to look for impurities and surface imperfections before the wafer goes through the extensive chemical/photo process that creates the semiconductor product. This test is very fast and it can save you the cost of chemicals and lost production time.

2.) Wafer Test: The semiconductor devices are still on the round wafer. The wafer is tested by using a probe mechanism that makes temporary contact with all of its contact pads. The tester than makes fairly extensive tests to make sure that the device is worth packaging. Tests can be made at various temperatures as part of this test cycle. In some cases, higher temperatures are used to speed up testing.

3.) Package Device Tests:

• Quick continuity and resistance tests are made to make sure the wire bonding/connecting process between the individual semiconductor dies and the package were good and that the device does not have any major faults.
• More detailed tests are then made to ensure the device works perfectly. Several cycles may be involved with the devices being subjected to high or low heat and less than optimal input voltages. The ultimate goal is to subject to the device to similar conditions to what it will see when it is installed in the finished product.

If the device passes through all of these testing steps, it is then further packaged for safe transport and easy assembly into the circuit board by the company like Quanta.In next week's follow up, we will look at what happens on the product manufacturing side.