On Target: Embedded Systems

IBM Bolsters DevOps Support with UrbanCode Acquisition

On Monday, IBM announced the acquisition of UrbanCode, a provider of software delivery automation solutions. UrbanCode’s continuous release and deployment tools will be integrated into the IBM Rational portfolio to bolster their DevOps capabilities.              

“…software is eating the world.” – Marc Andreessen

Software has emerged as the primary agent for differentiation for a growing number of companies. It is defining a greater portion of end-value for organization’s solutions, but also consuming an ever-larger share of their development costs. Many of these companies have re-evaluated their processes and adopted Agile methodologies to help speed software development. Our findings suggest this has helped. In VDC’s 2012 software and system developer survey, engineers using Agile were more likely to be ahead of schedule on their current project, despite code bases three times as large as those not using iterative methods.

“Companies that master effective software development and delivery in rapidly changing environments such as cloud, mobile and social will have a significant competitive advantage,” - Kristof Kloeckner, general manager, IBM Rational Software.

Unfortunately, Agile methodologies only address the software development. Just increasing the pace of software design can place considerable strain on an organization and result in bottlenecks elsewhere in the development lifecycle. To move in the right direction, development and operations need to operate at the same velocity. This is where the incorporating the UrbanCode Application Release Automation should provide synergy. By automating much of the testing and deployment processes, organizations can speed up the operations side of their business to match the pace of the Agile software development.

Integration of the UrbanCode offerings into IBM Rational’s portfolio represents a valuable extension of their DevOps implementation support. We expect much of the initial market traction to come from enterprise applications. However, with the volume of embedded software code continuing to grow while project timelines shrink, this approach will increasingly resonate in several embedded industries.

More insight

For further investigation and discussion about Agile development, DevOps and other important shifts in systems lifecycle management, please see our 2012 Software & Systems Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service. 

VDC’s Top 12 of 2012 – Part 2

In case you missed it, I unveiled the first half of our list on Monday. A brief review (see Monday’s post for more details), and then on to the top 6!

12. GrammaTech introduces architecture visualization system for CodeSonar (March 27^th)

11. LDRA forms LDRA Certification Services (March 26^th)

10. Enea joins the embedded Linux party (March 27^th)

8 and 9. Siemens and PTC expand their lifecycle management coverage through acquisitions (Siemens/LMS International: November 8^th, PTC/Servigistics: August 8^th)

7. General Dynamics acquires OK Labs (September 11^th)

6. Thales acquires SYSGO (November 15^th)

SYSGO joins the list of leading embedded/real-time operating systems vendors (Wind River, MontaVista Software, and QNX Software Systems) that has been acquired since the middle of 2009. As SYSGO’s VP of Marketing Jacques Brygier told our blog earlier this month, “SYSGO remains the same with just more financial backup to move forward. The company keeps its identity, management team, full staff, and offices. It is Thales’ willingness to let SYSGO decide its own growth strategy, including the choice of market segments Thales is not involved with.” We are not sure that Wind River and Green Hills Software are worried just yet, but if Thales holds true to this strategy for its new subsidiary, the competition could start heating up.

5. IBM announces Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (September 5^th)

As software continues to play a greater role in providing product differentiation and innovation, the convergence of ALM and PLM has become a particularly hot topic and an important business opportunity. RELM is the key element of IBM’s cross-domain integration strategy, and is designed to help engineering teams visualize, analyze, and organize engineering data and their relationships.

4. Coverity launches the Coverity Security Research Laboratory (January 24^th)

If I had to pick one main theme that best defined 2012, it would be security. The Internet of Things phenomenon has pushed the concept of security to the forefront of consumers’ minds, and as a result the engineering community has become increasingly focused on building security into their devices. To that end, Coverity launched its Security Research Laboratory (SRL), which is dedicated to vulnerability research and the discovery of new and existing defects in software code. SRL includes a wide range of security experts from industry and academia.

3. Oracle releases two new Java Embedded products (September 25^th)

As I wrote in September, survey data over the last several years has uncovered a surge in the use of Java in embedded designs. Oracle’s release of Java ME Embedded 3.2 and Java Embedded Suite 7.0 is indicative of the company’s recognition of this trend and its intent to aggressively target embedded developers. Also considering the momentum behind the Java-based Android platform, it certainly seems that 2013 may be the year of Java in embedded.

2. Microsoft unveils Windows Embedded roadmap (November 14^th)

The release of Windows 8, new Windows phones, and the Surface tablet brought with it a great deal of speculation around the future of Microsoft’s various Windows Embedded platforms. In mid-November, Microsoft finally revealed their plans, which, not surprisingly, included yet another naming convention change. A few highlights:

• Windows Embedded Standard 7 will become Windows Embedded 8 Standard (GA: March)
• Windows Embedded Enterprise will become Windows Embedded 8 Professional (GA: March)
• Windows Embedded POSReady will become Windows Embedded 8 Industry (CTP: January)
• Windows Embedded Compact 7 will become Windows Embedded Compact 2013 (GA: Q2 '13)
• More details on Windows Embedded 8 Handheld and Windows Embedded 8 Automotive are expected to be released early next year.

1. Intel rolls out the Intelligent Systems Framework (September 11^th)

Intel continued its heavy push into embedded at the Intel Developer Forum this past September, when it announced the Intelligent Systems Framework (ISF). Another announcement driven by the Internet of Things phenomenon, ISF is a broad specification for intelligent devices in a wide range of industries, from medical and industrial to digital signage and home automation. The framework is “designed to address connecting, managing, and securing devices and data in a consistent and scalable manner,” and includes hardware, operating systems, tools, and other software components.

There are two key reasons ISF earned the top spot in our rankings. First is the impressive list of companies that have pledged their support, which includes Advantech, Arrow Electronics, Avnet, Dell, Digi International, Eurotech, Kontron, and of course Intel subsidiaries McAfee and Wind River. The second – and perhaps more important – reason is simply the attention it has received. People are talking about it. People want to know more about it. In the short time since its release, we have fielded numerous calls from various industry participants looking to discuss ISF and how it may impact the industry moving forward. For those reasons, we believe Intel’s Intelligent Systems Framework was the most significant/noteworthy embedded software announcement of 2012.

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So that’s our list. And though we checked it twice, I am sure you all might have seen things a little bit differently in 2012. So if you’d like to dispute our rankings, point out something that didn’t make the list at all, or even shower us with praise, we would love to hear from you in the comments section.

Here’s looking forward to even more game-changing innovations for embedded in 2013 and beyond!

VDC’s Top 12 of 2012 – Part 1

The end of the year is always a great time for reflection, for thinking about everything that happened throughout the year and what it all means. It is also a great time for making lists; Christmas lists, New Year’s resolutions, and Best Ofs. I won’t get into my New Year’s resolutions here, but I will take a few moments to highlight (and rank, just for fun) the most significant embedded software announcements of the past year.

So, without further ado, here is our take on the best of 2012!

 

12. GrammaTech introduces architecture visualization system for CodeSonar (March 27^th)

This system is designed to optimize the visual inspection and analysis of software through a sophisticated new interface for viewing the relationships between software program elements. Built to handle very large code bases, we believe this product represents a unique solution that has the ability to materially impact the way developers test and analyze their source code. CodeSonar visualization runs through a browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome.

11. LDRA forms LDRA Certification Services (March 26^th)

Attaining safety-critical certifications has long been a time-consuming and laborious task for embedded developers. In response to this challenge, LDRA formed a separate division of the company (staffed by credentialed industry experts) dedicated to facilitating the certification process for various FAA/EASA regulations. LDRA addresses the following standards: Aircraft & Systems Development (ARP-4754A), Safety Assessment (ARP-4761), Integrated Modular Avionics (DO-297), Flight Electronic Hardware (DO-254), Flight Software (DO-178B/C), and Ground Systems (DO-278/A).

10. Enea joins the embedded Linux party (March 27^th)

This was a bit of an about-face for Enea, which had previously supported embedded Linux development through its services arm and reseller agreements with Linux vendors such as TimeSys. Enea Linux – which is intended to target next-generation networking infrastructure equipment – is a Yocto-based distribution available with customized services and support. This came on the heels of the release of another new commercial distribution, Mentor Embedded Linux (Mentor Graphics). The question for both Enea and Mentor, of course, is whether or not “late to the party” is good enough.

8 and 9. Siemens and PTC expand their lifecycle management coverage through acquisitions (Siemens/LMS International: November 8^th, PTC/Servigistics: August 8^th)

The complexity of today’s projects is increasing the dependence of each engineering discipline on the functionality of the other disciplines. The lines between software, electrical, and mechanical engineering have started to blur, necessitating a higher frequency of communication and coordination between these once separate groups. These acquisitions are further evidence that the concept of developing a cross-domain approach to providing solutions to this market has been one of the main overarching themes of 2012.

Siemens’ acquisition of LMS International will allow the company to extend their systems driven product development support through integrated test management, while Servigistics’ presence in PTC’s portfolio will enable PTC to better help its customers service their products under development.

7. General Dynamics acquires OK Labs (September 11^th)

According to GD, OK Labs will deploy its OKL4 Microvisor in secure mobile devices (for civilian, government, and military use) and automotive in-vehicle infotainment systems as part of the GD Broadband business unit – presumably within both internal and commercial opportunities. But will commercial opportunities actually be there? For years, suppliers of mobile hypervisors have struggled to effectively communicate the value proposition of their solutions. As a result, revenues never really scaled and leading vendors struggled to realize significant growth. In the case of OK Labs, this ultimately resulted in acquisition. Given the historical difficulties in monetizing mobile virtualization, we believe it may be only a matter of time before GD completely internalizes the use of OKL4 technology.

Part 2 on Wednesday!

Come back on Wednesday for the second half of this list, including our pick for the top announcement of the year!

The Embedded Software Beat

A Q&A with Jacques Brygier, VP of Marketing, SYSGO

This interview is the fifth in a series that we have conducted with embedded software solution providers to share their views on their company, products, and state of the market.

VDC: SYSGO has been in the embedded software business for over 20 years; can you briefly introduce the company to our readers?

Brygier: SYSGO has been providing software solutions for the embedded market since its foundation in 1991. The company, headquartered in Mainz, Germany, has developed skills and expertise over the years into two areas, actually very complementary: industrial embedded Linux and safety and security certified RTOS. SYSGO has been quite innovative in addressing the needs of the applications requiring the highest levels of safety and security: the company was the first to introduce to the market a certified embedded virtualization solution that is both a full RTOS and a type 1 hypervisor. SYSGO is primarily addressing the A&D, industrial, transportation, medical and automotive markets, but the combination of Linux/Android, safety and security functionality of its offering attracts new customers in industry sectors like smart energy, high range mobile and even consumers.

VDC: SYSGO recently announced it was acquired by Thales. What does this mean for SYSGO and its customers?

Brygier: This is great news for SYSGO! SYSGO remains the same with just more financial backup to move forward. The company keeps its identity, management team, full staff, and offices. It is Thales’ willingness to let SYSGO decide its own growth strategy, including the choice of market segments Thales is not involved with. We of course have to remain the technology innovator we are in the key sectors of A&D, transportation, and security, in order to provide to Thales (and others) the best-of-breed products they need to be successful. But we are free to continue to address the other markets such as automotive, medical, industrial, or even consumers when it makes sense. Thales’ investment is based on the long term. The requirements they have in terms of product features for their own benefits were part of our roadmap anyway: we just have more means to speed up their implementation.

VDC: What are the challenges engineers face today in designing and developing embedded devices and how are embedded software suppliers responding?

Brygier: More than ever, the embedded systems developers have to manage a tremendous increase of functionality requirements but keep a high level of quality at reasonable cost! New software environments like Linux, Java or Android give access to a wide range of graphics, peripherals, and networking capabilities. However, even as the hardware platforms become more and more powerful (thanks to a growing usage of SoCs, multi-core, specialized built-in devices, etc.), the usual requirement for performance is now combined with a growing need for more safety and, maybe more importantly for most of the markets, security. To say it differently, engineers need new ways of implementing software. That’s probably the reason why we see a growing interest in our safe and secure virtualization RTOS: having the ability on the same hardware (I mean processor) to mix real-time and non-real-time, critical and non-critical applications, legacy and brand new code is very attractive!

VDC: SYSGO’s flagship product, PikeOS, is a combination of an RTOS and virtualization platform; Can you explain the concept of PikeOS, and tell our readers what sets this platform apart from the competition?

Brygier: In the early 2000s, SYSGO decided to develop its own operating system approach based on the embedded virtualization concept. After having evaluated different approaches, SYSGO realized that the existing concepts couldn’t support the highest levels of safety and security requirements SYSGO’s customers were asking for. The result of this internal development is the PikeOS microkernel, which today is part of SYSGO’s product portfolio. The target markets are A&D, industrial automation, automotive, transportation, medical, smart energy, part of consumer electronics and all sectors requiring a high level of security. PikeOS enables multiple operating system interfaces to work on separate sets of resources within a single machine. Because of the resource separation enforced by the PikeOS microkernel, multiple applications with different safety and security requirements are able to co-exist in a single machine. Thus, PikeOS can be regarded as a MILS separation kernel as well as a hypervisor. Currently, PikeOS can host about ten different operating system APIs. Among them are ARINC-653, POSIX, certified POSIX, AUTOSAR, different Java virtual machines, Ada and several popular RTOSes such as Linux (SYSGO’s ELinOS is a natural choice), Android, RTEMS or iTRON. PikeOS is certifiable to safety standards like DO-178B/C, IEC 61508, EN 50128, or ISO 26262, and is currently involved in various security standard CC EAL certification projects.

What makes PikeOS different, besides the fact it has no legacy baggage (making it easy to use), is that it is a) truly processor agnostic, supporting a very wide range of processors and not relying on any specific hardware feature but able to use it if needed (I’m thinking about the use of hardware virtualization to manage multicore, for example), b) built on a single set of core components (no derived version or specific flavor depending on the nature of the application such as non certified or certified, safety oriented or security oriented, cost sensitive, resources constrained or large and complex systems), c) offering the widest range of Personalities of the market (12), and d) the first “hypervisor” certified DO-178B, IEC61508 and EN50128!

VDC: You recently released the latest version of your industrial grade Linux platform, ELinOS; How would you describe the state of the embedded Linux market today?

Brygier: We see an increasing demand for Linux functionality in almost all markets. There is a low but steady rate of growth. Our focus is industrial Linux, a distribution that minimizes the side effect of open source software (potential issues of liability, lack of control, roadmap visibility, documentation, etc…) and offers a ready to use, qualified and well-packaged solution. I don’t know if this gives you an idea of the Linux market but I can tell you that almost half of our PikeOS users are using the Linux Personality. Our understanding is that we cannot make Linux safe and secure but thanks to PikeOS we can make its usage in a system safe and secure.

VDC: SYSGO also provides support for safety & security certifications, two areas that have begun to converge in recent years; what is the relationship between safety and security, and what are some of the challenges engineers face as they pursue these certifications?

Brygier: In terms of objectives, safety is quite different from security: one aims at removing any bugs while the other one tries to prevent any hostile attack. But they share in common the fact that they are required in a growing number of systems, increasingly in a jointly manner. There are some features/attributes PikeOS offers that apply to both areas: strict partitioning, controlled communications, availability of system resources, etc. If you combine the rigorous development process of DO-178B Level A and the formal verification of the microkernel, you tend to have a pretty good piece of software. But, even if they share some aspects of the evidence to be provided to comply with their respective standards, the certification process is quite different in spirit and in ways to assess the compliancy. For safety certification, engineers have a set of guidelines that are now quite familiar and easier to handle when you have some experience. A security certification requires first identifying your assets, the threats you envision and the adverse actions the threats can use to harm your assets. In a sense, the objectives must be very specific. The way for the accredited lab to challenge your equipment depends of course on your security objectives but is mostly not known by you. This explains why the timeline of a high level of security validation is usually more difficult to estimate.

VDC: Thank you, Jacques.

Interested in participating in VDC’s “The Embedded Software Beat” series of interviews? Please reach out and let us know.

Jacques Brygier has spent more than 20 years in the business of high technology and computer science where he has acquired a deep knowledge of the software industry, its evolution and its main application fields. He has been more specifically involved in the development of mission-critical and safety critical software solutions. His primary focus has been embedded and real-time applications. Jacques obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science in University of Lille, France and then joined Alsys to work on Ada compilers and produce the first Ada products available on the market. After working in different technical positions, he obtained his degree in International Marketing and Business in Minneapolis, USA. As the Marketing Director for Aonix, Jacques spent 5 years in San Diego, USA, developing and promoting software development tools before returning to France where he took the position of VP Sales for 3 years. He then became VP Marketing with worldwide responsibility for product strategy, product management and marketing communication. Jacques joined SYSGO in February 2007 to initiate and lead Product Management and Strategy. As VP Marketing he is in charge of all global marketing activities. His main task is to develop the SYSGO portfolio that includes the safe and secure virtualization RTOS platform PikeOS and the Industrial Grade Embedded Linux ELinOS.

Siemens buys-in to more cross-domain integration

Early Thursday morning Siemens announced plans to expand their product lifecycle management solution suite through the acquisition of LMS International NV. Read the complete announcement here. With the purchase of LMS, a leading provider of test and mechatronics simulation software to advanced manufacturing industries, Siemens aims to “close the loop” by extending their systems driven product development support through integrated test management.

Siemens held an industry analyst/trade media webcast to further explain the deal. Judging from the comments and questions that followed the presentation, there is widespread support for vision to intelligently integrate all aspect of the product development process; as there should be.

If you follow this blog or our research, no doubt you are aware this is a topic VDC Research has been tracking intently. (Please see some related posts here and here.) We have been hearing widespread interest from both tool suppliers and OEMs for enhanced integration and collaboration between different engineering disciplines. The complexity of today’s projects is increasing the dependence of each engineering discipline on the functionality of the other disciplines. The lines between software, electrical, and mechanical engineering have started to blur, necessitating a higher frequency of communication and coordination between these once separate groups.

For vendors who have developed platforms supporting most, if not all, of the development lifecycle in the field they have supported in the past, developing a cross-domain approach is the logical next step. Leading vendors such as IBM and others have increased their cross-domain development support through partnerships and organic expansion of their solution suite. Other top vendors have begun to broaden their solutions around cross domain integration through M&A activity, as witnessed by Siemens’ planned acquisition of LMS, PTC’s purchase of MKS, and the ANSYS acquisition of Esterel. VDC continues to expect even further M&A activities as these and other vendors look to fill in gaps in their offerings to better address cross-domain integration.

More insight

For further investigation and discussion about the cross-domain integration trend and other important shifts in systems lifecycle management, please see our 2012 Software & Systems Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service. This year’s final installment of the intelligence service, an industry brief directly addressing PLM/ALM integration, will be available later this month.

Is There a Market for Standalone Hypervisors?

The commercial market for mobile virtualization solutions was highly limited even before General Dynamics’ acquisition of Open Kernel Labs last month. Now, with several recent reports indicating that IBM is close to reaching an agreement to buy Red Bend Software, the commercial market may disappear entirely. But is this really that surprising?

For years, suppliers of mobile hypervisors have struggled to effectively communicate the value proposition of their solutions. Initially touted as a technology that can enable reduced bill-of-material costs, mobile virtualization has more recently been evangelized as the way to allow mobile devices to securely support multiple personas. In either case, device manufacturers failed to significantly support either premise – at least in terms of making investments in commercial solutions. As a result, revenues did not scale and leading vendors struggled to realize significant growth.

On the embedded side, the majority of the market is not based on standalone hypervisors. In this segment, virtualization has been primarily instituted as part of a broader runtime platform. Embedded virtualization solutions from vendors such as Green Hills Software, LynuxWorks, SYSGO, and Wind River heavily leverage – and in some cases are completely integrated with – each company’s flagship RTOS platform. Consequently, the success of these vendors has been driven in large part by their solutions’ ability to enable a guest operating system (Android/Linux or Windows, for example) to run alongside an RTOS in a multi-OS environment. Clearly, this value proposition has gained much more traction than the previously described mobile virtualization use cases.

So what do we see as the market moves forward?

According to GD’s press release, OK Labs will deploy its OKL4 Microvisor in secure mobile devices (for civilian, government, and military use) and automotive in-vehicle infotainment systems as part of the GD Broadband business unit – presumably within both internal and commercial opportunities. However, given the historical difficulties in monetizing mobile virtualization, we believe it may be only a matter of time before GD completely internalizes the use of OKL4 technology.

Of course, IBM’s intentions for Red Bend’s virtualization technology have not been publicly discussed, and the storyline is slightly different. Red Bend’s VLX product line (which the company acquired through its 2010 purchase of VirtualLogix) is a small fraction of Red Bend’s total business and is not likely to be the driving factor behind IBM’s interest. A more plausible scenario is that IBM is most focused on Red Bend’s mobile software/device management solutions, which are particularly attractive due to the rapid expansion of the BYOD paradigm. In fact, we suspect that it is possible – perhaps even likely – that IBM has no interest in VLX at all.

All this in mind, we expect that the commercial market for mobile and embedded virtualization solutions will begin to shift more heavily to traditional embedded markets. A large portion of this business will be driven by deployments within device classes utilizing a multi-OS environment in which Android or Windows powers the user interface with an RTOS controlling any critical/deterministic processes. Aside from smaller, specialized vendors such as Real-Time Systems and TenAsys, a majority of these solutions will be integrated runtime platforms as opposed to standalone hypervisor offerings.

VDC will investigate these and other trends in our upcoming report, Virtualization for Mobile & Embedded Systems, from our research service Strategic Insights 2012: Embedded Software & Tools Market. Please contact us for more information.

Intelligence…Who Cares? Show Us More Smarts!

Intelligence is cheap.  Moore’s Law has been eerily accurate since first discussed back in 1965. Processing power has increased exponentially while component size and cost has shrunk. Today we are “data rich” and getting richer, awash with more intelligent products and data streams of all sorts from sensors, cameras and other gadgets. 

But so what?

Embedding intelligence into a device or collecting data without providing the context or connection for information to reach the right people or systems is about as helpful as can of soup to a hungry man without a can opener. There is little intrinsic value to the intelligence/information if it cannot be used in some meaningful way. What is far more valuable is making devices or systems “smarter.” That is, to connect the intelligence in context to someone or system who can benefit from it.

It doesn’t matter how intelligent your systems are if they aren't smart enough to get the information to the right people. 

Software engineers, product designers, system operators….they’re all getting better about increasing intelligence in their own purview; some are smarter too, at least internally. The real benefits will come through further integration of what are still all too often separate silos of information.

Improving integration through the full software development lifecycle is one of the overarching topics through all the volumes of our Software and Systems Lifecycle Management Market Intelligence Service. An upcoming industry brief from VDC Research, Product Lifecycle Management/Application Lifecycle Management Integration, will examine some leading suppliers that are further integrating through the broader development lifecycle.

But it goes still further than that. Already, thought leading companies are starting to enable integration, not just through development, but beyond into operations and services. Companies like IBM Rational with the release of RELM and PTC with their acquisition of Servigistics are some of these thought leaders that are connecting silos and helping customers make informed decision making.

Now that’s smart.

 

Embedded Bits n Bytes – In case you missed these recent announcements……

AdaCore, provider of tools and expertise for the mission-critical, safety-critical, and security-critical software communities, announced the successful usage of its SPARK Pro and GNAT Pro High-Security products by Rockwell Collins in the development of the SecureOne™ Guard, a high assurance cross domain guard for military tactical systems.
http://www.adacore.com/press/secureone/

ARM (NASDAQ: ARMH) and Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) signed a multi-year agreement that expands Synopsys’ access to a broad range of ARM intellectual property (IP).
http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/arm-and-synopsys-expand-collaboration-to-optimize-power-and-performance-and-accelerate-design-and.php

Atego, a supplier of software tools and professional services for complex, mission- and safety-critical systems and software engineering launched Aonix ObjectAda® 8.5 for Windows with new support for Microsoft Windows® 7 systems. The new release is based on the latest build tools and libraries from the Microsoft Windows SDK 7.1 and Visual Studio 2010 SP1 and provides a new streamlined, modernized installer based on the Microsoft Windows Installer.
http://www.atego.com/pressreleases/pressitem/atego-launches-aonix-objectada-85

Atollic announced the availability of their IDE for embedded microcontroller designs – Atollic TrueSTUDIO v3.2 - that adds support for dual-core debugging and over 200 new target devices.
http://atollic.com/download/ATC009A2TrueSTUDIO3DOT2.pdf

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, announced that the first products in the Cadence DDR4 SDRAM PHY and memory controller design intellectual property (IP) family have been proven in silicon on TSMC’s 28HPM and 28HP process technologies.
http://www.cadence.com/cadence/newsroom/press_releases/Pages/pr.aspx?xml=090412_DDR4

Coverity, Inc., the leader in development testing, announced that the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), builder of the Curiosity Rover, used Coverity to help ensure the reliability of the mission-critical flight software guiding the successful landing of Curiosity on Mars.
http://www.coverity.com/html/press/nasa-jpl-relies-on-coverity-to-ensure-the-seamless-touchdown-and-operation-of-the-curiosity-mars-rover.html

DDC-I, a leading supplier of software and professional services for mission - and safety-critical applications, announced that it has signed an exclusive sales agreement with Itec Ltd. Itec will offer DDC-I’s best-in-class safety-critical Deos™ real-time operating system, eclipse-based OpenArbor™ development tools and certification services to commercial and military avionics customers in Israel.
http://www.ddci.com/displayNews.php?fn=news__pr_israel_disty_082912_release.php

Esterel Technologies, a worldwide provider of model-based development solutions for critical systems and software, announced the integration of SCADE Display® with Barco's MOSArt™. MOSArt is Barco's Modular Open System Architecture for real-time avionics applications.
http://www.esterel-technologies.com/news-events/press-releases/2012/Barco-MOSArt-Open-Software-Platform-Now-Provides-Native-Integration-to-Esterel-Technologies-SCADE-Display

Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. (NYSE: FSL) announced it is licensing Image Cognition Processing (ICP) intellectual property (IP) from CogniVue Corporation that will be incorporated into new processors for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Freescale will be the exclusive provider of this technology to the automotive market.
http://media.freescale.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=196520&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1734693&highlight=&tid=rsspr

GrammaTech, Inc., a manufacturer of source-code analysis tools, announced CodeSonar® 3.8, new version that offers faster code analysis with fewer false positives.
http://www.grammatech.com/news/2012/releases/09-04-12.html

Green Hills Software, a leading vendor of embedded software solutions, announced its collaboration with AppliedMicro, a global leader in energy conscious computing and communications solutions for data center, telecom, and enterprise and consumer applications.
http://www.ghs.com/news/201200905_AppliedMicro_PocketPro2.html

IAR Systems announced a new legal entity: IAR Systems SARL (Société à responsabilité limitée), located in Courtaboeuf Cedex Southwest of Paris, France.
http://www.iar.com/en/About/Pressroom/Press-releases/2012/9/IAR-Systems-enforces-presence-in-France-with-new-legal-entity/

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) announced the next-generation Digital Signage Evaluation Kit-12 (DSEK-12) designed to streamline the digital signage evaluation process, reduce costs and enable faster deployment across a range of market segments including retail, healthcare and transportation.
http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2012/09/05/intel-aims-to-streamline-development-and-deployment-of-intelligent-signs-with-new-digital-signage-kit

Lauterbach, a leading manufacturer of hardware assisted microprocessor development tools, announced that their TRACE32® debuggers now support the ARMv8 architecture.
http://www.lauterbach.com/frames.html?home.html

LDRA, a leading provider of automated software verification, source code analysis, and test tools has joined The Open Group Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium and announces its commitment to bring its verification and standards conformance expertise to the FACE community.
http://www.ldra.com/index.php/en/component/content/article/11-news-press-releases/549-ldra-technology-inc-joins-the-future-airborne-capability-environment-face-consortium

LynuxWorks, a leader in the embedded safety and security software market announced LynxSecure support of the Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions' VPX3-1256 3U VPX Intel® Core i7 Single Board Computer.
http://www.lynuxworks.com/corporate/press/2012/vpx3-1256.php

MathWorks announced introduced new releases of MATLAB and Simulink that significantly improve use and navigation.
http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsroom/MathWorks-Introduces-Major-New-Releases-of-MATLAB-and-Simulink.html

Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) announced  it has added and improved support for 42 embedded development boards for the Nucleus RTOS, Mentor Embedded Linux, and Sourcery Codebench embedded development products.
http://www.mentor.com/company/news/upload/embedded-extends-support-development-boards.pdf

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions announced the expansion of its certified Full-Speed USB 2.0 Device PIC microcontroller portfolio with three new Enhanced Midrange 8-bit families comprising 15 scalable MCUs ranging from 14 to 100 pins with up to 128 KB of Flash.
http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/press-release/microchip-expands-usb-portfoli.html

National Instruments (NASDAQ: NATI) announced LabWindows/CVI 2012, the latest version of its proven ANSI C IDE for test and measurement software programmers.
http://digital.ni.com/worldwide/bwcontent.nsf/websearch/e2a864b533ebb93786257a6f0045c9c9?opendocument&nisrc=RSS-news-en

Parasoft Corporation, announced that their Parasoft C/C++test, the industry's most comprehensive Embedded Testing platform for C and C++ development, now supports additional IAR Embedded Workbench environments.
http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/products/release.jsp?articleId=3989&type=Current

Perforce Software announced the availability of the new Perforce Plug-in for Visual Studio, P4VS that embeds the capabilities of the Perforce Software Version Management system into Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.
http://www.perforce.com/press/perforce-software-launches-new-integration-visual-studio-2012

Presagis, a leading provider of commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) modeling, simulation, and embedded graphics software, announced that it has signed a Corporate License Agreement with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI), a leading manufacturer of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), tactical reconnaissance radars, and Electro-Optic (EO) surveillance systems.
http://www.presagis.com/about_us/press_room/releases/presagis_and_general_atomics_aeronautical_systems_sign_corporate_license_agreement/

PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC) announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Servigistics, Inc., developer of an innovative suite of service lifecycle management (SLM) software solutions, for approximately $220 million in cash.
http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/standards/textsub.jsp?&im_dbkey=142403&icg_dbkey=21

QNX Software Systems Limited, a global leader in software platforms for the in-car infotainment and telematics market, announced that it is a Bronze sponsor of the EcoCar 2: Plugging in to the Future competition. Established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), the competition challenges 15 universities across North America to reduce the environmental impact of a Chevrolet Malibu without compromising performance, safety, and consumer acceptability.
http://www.qnx.com/news/pr_5279_1.html

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP used in the design, verification and manufacture of electronic components and systems, announced that it has obtained regulatory approval in Taiwan to acquire SpringSoft, Inc. In addition, greater than 51 percent of the outstanding shares of SpringSoft have been tendered. By meeting these two milestones, Synopsys expects to complete the tender offer and take a controlling interest in SpringSoft as of October 1, 2012.
 http://news.synopsys.com/index.php?s=43&item=1066

SYSGO, a leading provider of operating system technology, middleware, and software services for the real-time and embedded market, announced the release of ELinOS 5.2, the latest version of their commercially available embedded Linux development environment. This new release of Industrial Grade Linux offers integration of major kernel release, 3.2 with new features in the areas of scheduling, memory management, file systems, networking and security.
http://www.sysgo.com/news-events/press/press/details/article/sysgo-release-enhanced-version-52-of-elinosTM-industrial-grade-linux/

Timesys Corporation, a provider of embedded Linux solutions and professional services, introduced the availability of its LinuxLink framework for development on the Xilinx® Zynq™-7000 All Programmable SoC in the ZC702 Evaluation Kit based on the Linux 3.3 kernel.
http://www.timesys.com/company/news-events/pr/xilinx-zynq7000

Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) introduced Wind River Intelligent Device Platform, a complete software development environment built exclusively for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. The platform addresses the security, connectivity, and manageability required for M2M device development.
http://www.windriver.com/news/press/pr.html?ID=11001

VDC Research looks forward to companies contacting us for a briefing on new announcements around products, new partnerships and alliances, or other changes within your organizations. At a minimum please make sure that we are included in your press/analyst relations distribution list for new announcements as they become public.

Embedded Bits and Bytes – In case you missed these recent announcements……

AdaCore, provider of tools and expertise for the mission-critical, safety-critical, and security-critical software communities, announced that SmartSide, a Paris-based company providing Smart Metering and Smart Grid management solutions, has adopted the Ada programming language and AdaCore’s GNAT Pro development environment for the implementation of their Smart Devices platform.
http://www.adacore.com/press/smartside-adopts-ada-gnat-pro/

ARM (NASDAQ: ARMH) announced that their relationship with Cavium has been extended to include an architecture license for the ARMv8.
http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/arm-and-cavium-extend-relationship-with-armv8-architecture-license.php

Atego, a supplier of software tools and professional services for complex, mission- and safety-critical systems and software engineering has entered into an agreement with International Business Machines Corporation to acquire the IBM Rational Apex® Ada Developer product family, including the IBM Rational Apex integrated development environment.
http://www.atego.com/pressreleases/pressitem/atego-acquires-ibm-rational-apex-ada-developer-product-family/

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, announced results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.
http://www.cadence.com/cadence/newsroom/press_releases/Pages/pr.aspx?xml=072512_financial

Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for networking, communications, and the digital home, announced its Project Thunder Initiative which will deliver a family of highly integrated, multi-core SoC processors, that will incorporate highly optimized, full custom cores built from the ground up based on 64-bit ARMv8 instruction set architecture.
http://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Cavium_Unveils_Project_Thunder.html

Coverity, Inc., the leader in development testing, announced the that it has joined the GENIVI Alliance to help shape the future of software quality of In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems within the automotive industry.
http://www.coverity.com/html/press/coverity-joins-genivi-alliance.html

DDC-I, a leading supplier of software and professional services for mission - and safety-critical applications, announced that it has added support for ARINC Specification 653 Part 1 to its DO-178B certifiable Deos real-time operating system (RTOS).
http://www.ddci.com/displayNews.php?fn=news__653_Deos_062612_release.php

Enea (NASDAQ: OMX Nordic: ENEA), a leading operating system solution vendor for 3G and 4G infrastructure equipment, is announced their interim report for the period April to June 2012.
http://www.enea.com/Corporate/Press/Press-releases/Press-release/?item=684814

Esterel Technologies, a worldwide provider of model-based development solutions for critical systems and software, announced the SCADE LifeCycle Qualified Test Environment (QTE) and its interface with the LDRA tool suite.
http://www.esterel-technologies.com/news-events/press-releases/2012/Esterel-Technologies-Introduces-SCADE-LifeCycle-Qualified-Test-Environment-and-Interface-with-the-LDRA-Tool-Suite

ETAS announced plans to acquire ESCRYPT GmbH, a system house specializing in embedded
system security technologies and solutions.
http://www.etas.com/data/press_room/Press_Release_ETAS_ESCRYPT_en.pdf

Express Logic, Inc., a leader in royalty-free real-time operating systems (RTOS), introduced ThreadX-Lite for IAR Workbench. The product was jointly developed with IAR and will be sold exclusively through IAR Systems.
http://rtos.com/news/detail/express_logic_introduces_threadx-lite_for_iar_embedded_workbench_users/

Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. (NYSE: FSL) announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 29, 2012.
http://media.freescale.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=196520&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1716592&highlight=

GrammaTech, Inc., a manufacturer of source-code analysis tools, received a Certificate of Compatibility from the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) program. CWE, developed by the MITRE Corporation under the sponsorship of the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security, provides a standard language for describing software security weaknesses.
http://www.grammatech.com/news/2012/releases/04-16-12.html

Green Hills Software, a leading vendor of embedded software solutions, announced its Platform for Automotive Digital Instruments which includes new features of the INTEGRITY® real-time operating system (RTOS).
http://www.ghs.com/news/201200620_ftf12_auto_dig_instru.html

IAR Systems announces the release of a new version of its high-performing development tools for ARM. IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM, version 6.40, adds several new features, feature enhancements, and major optimizations.
http://www.iar.com/en/Investors/IR-news/Press-releases/2012/6/IAR-Systems-further-enhances-world-leading-development-tools-for-ARM/

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) announced second quarter revenue of $13.5 billion, operating income of $3.8 billion, net income of $2.8 billion and EPS of $0.54.
http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2012/07/17/intel-reports-second-quarter-revenue-of-135-billion?cid=rss-258152-c1-276405

IntervalZero, Inc., announced the release of RTX 2012, the latest version of its hard real-time software that transforms Microsoft Windows into a real-time operating system (RTOS).
http://www.intervalzero.com/newsevents/intervalzero-releases-rtx-2012/

Klocwork Inc, the global leader in automated source code analysis (SCA) solutions for developing more secure and reliable software, announced the completion of a banner first half of 2012 highlighted by record bookings performance and achievement of the 1000 customer milestone.
http://www.klocwork.com/news/press-releases/releases/2012/PR-2012_07_10-Klocwork-Passes-1000-Customer-Milestone.php

Lauterbach, a leading manufacturer of hardware assisted microprocessor development tools, announced support the new AURIX TC27x family from Infineon with its TRACE32® Debugger.
http://www.lauterbach.com/frames.html?home.html

LDRA, a leading provider of automated software verification, source code analysis, and test tools announced that they have extended the interface between LDRA tool suite and IAR Systems Embedded Workbench with support for platforms such as ARM, AVR, M32C, RL78, MSP430 and their evaluation boards.
http://www.ldra.com/index.php/en/component/content/article/11-news-press-releases/511-ldra-and-iar-systems-target-iec-61508-and-iec-62304-certification-of-small-footprint-architectures

LynuxWorks, a leader in the embedded safety and security software market announced the release of a new version of their LynxSecure Hypervisor that will include increased endpoint and server protection.
http://www.lynuxworks.com/corporate/press/2012/lynxsecure-5.1.php

MathWorks announced that Simulink, Embedded Coder, and the AUTOSAR Target Production Package (ATPP) now support AUTOSAR 4.0.
http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsroom/MathWorks-Offers-AUTOSAR-4.0-Production-Support-with-Simulink.html

Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) announced Nucleus product integration and SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) support for the MIPS32 34K core that utilizes MIPS Technologies’ MT (hardware Multi-Threading) technology.
http://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/news/mentor-announces-support-for-the-mips32-34k-core

Micrium, a leading supplier of high-quality software components for embedded systems, announced a completely redesigned version of the innovative visualization tool uC/Probe. The new version of the tool features a highly intuitive drag-and-drop interface aimed at helping developers effortlessly create graphical representations of running embedded systems.
http://micrium.com/page/press_room/news/id:74

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions,  announced the expansion of its stand-alone Real-Time Clock/Calendar (RTCC) portfolio with the new 10-pin, SPI MCP795XX family.
http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/press-release/microchips-new-rtcc-family-pro.html

MontaVista® Software, LLC, a leader in embedded Linux commercialization announced the release of MontaVista Automotive Technology Platform (ATP) 2.0 and that it has been declared compliant to the new GENIVI Specification version 2.0 by the GENIVI Alliance.
http://www.mvista.com/press_release_detail.php?fid=news/2012/MontaVista_Announces_Automotive_Technology_Platform.html

National Instruments (NASDAQ: NATI) announced the LabVIEW FPGA IP Builder add-on, which uses leading Xilinx Vivado High-Level Synthesis technology to simplify high-performance field-programmable gate array (FPGA) algorithm design.
http://digital.ni.com/worldwide/bwcontent.nsf/5076c193a6bfa57486256a7000512ca4/2c9d926e86720f5b86257a4c00498aa5?OpenDocument

Parasoft Corporation, a leader in helping organizations define and deliver defect-free software efficiently, and Green Hills Software, the worldwide leader in high assurance operating systems, announced that Parasoft C/C++test, the industry's most comprehensive testing solution for C and C++ development, now supports additional Green Hills Software MULTI® environments.
http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/products/release.jsp?articleId=3855&type=Current

Perforce Software and Assembla announced today the availability of an on demand version of Perforce Software Version Management that is integrated with team tools from Assembla.
http://www.perforce.com/press/perforce-assembla-partner-deliver-cloud-hosted-solution-accelerates-agile-development

Presagis, a leading provider of commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) modeling, simulation, and embedded graphics software, announced the latest release of its next-generation software for Human Machine Interface (HMI) development: VAPS XT v4.0 and VAPS XT-178 v4.0.
 http://www.presagis.com/about_us/press_room/releases/presagis_pioneers_hmi_development_with_next-generation_software/

PRQA | Programming Research, a leader in static analysis, announced an upgrade to QA•C. Version 8.1 is a new release of this leading static analysis tool for C environments that incorporates improvements to its sophisticated deep-flow dataflow analysis technology and increased enforcement of the MISRA coding standards.
http://www.programmingresearch.com/press-releases/2012/prqa-upgrades-qac-with-enhanced-dataflow-capability-and-increased-misra-enforcement/

PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC) announced solid Q3 results, increase FY12 EPS guidance.
http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/standards/textsub.jsp?&im_dbkey=141969&icg_dbkey=21

QNX Software Systems Limited, a global leader in software platforms for the in-car infotainment and telematics market, announced that it will collaborate with the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT CAS), to establish a Center of Excellence for Embedded Software Systems in China.
http://www.qnx.com/news/pr_5166_1.html

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP used in the design, verification and manufacture of electronic components and systems, announced that it completed the acquisition of Ciranova, a privately held electronic design automation (EDA) company focused on delivering productivity improvements in custom IC design.
http://synopsys.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1050

SYSGO, a leading provider of operating system technology, middleware, and software services for the real-time and embedded market, announced a new partnership with Rapita Systems that includes support for PikeOS, SYSGO’s SSV (Safe and Secure Virtualization Tool) in the Rapita Verification Suite (RVS) tools.
http://www.sysgo.com/news-events/press/press/details/article/rapita-systems-and-sysgo-announce-partnership-deal/

Timesys Corporation, a provider of embedded Linux solutions and professional services, announced the availability of its LinuxLink FREE and PRO Edition offerings via the ARM / Avnet Embedded Software Store.
http://www.timesys.com/company/news-events/pr/timesys-joins-embedded-software-store

Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) introduced the latest version of Wind River Simics which features a quick start capability allowing embedded developers to easily and immediately benefit from using full system simulation when developing, debugging, and testing software.
http://www.windriver.com/news/press/pr.html?ID=10801

VDC Research looks forward to companies contacting us for a briefing on new announcements around products, new partnerships and alliances, or other changes within your organizations. At a minimum please make sure that we are included in your press/analyst relations distribution list for new announcements as they become public.

ALM/PLM integration, who's going to lead?

Complexity driving need for greater tool integration

The complexity of today’s embedded devices and systems has escalated across all industries, coupled with a growing requirement for connectivity and mobility. To meet these challenges, developers’ use of software and system lifecycle management (SSLM) tools has expanded across a broader range of challenges than the specific engineering tasks for which they were originally developed. To support this usage, many suppliers are shifting away from point solution offerings towards integrated platform/suite solutions addressing a broader portion of the software development lifecycle.

A need for cross-domain integration

As the growing level of system complexity elevates the value proposition and stimulates expanded functionality of SSLM tools, we believe that it is becoming increasingly critical for engineering organizations to identify new methods for managing overall system development, across different engineering domains.

We continue to be in discussion with numerous stakeholders around cross-domain integration. There is progressively more interest about enhanced integration and collaboration between different engineering disciplines from OEM and tool supplier communities.

Based on these discussions and our research, VDC believes the potential benefits of a greater level of cross-domain integration and collaboration include:

• Facilitation of collaboration across project and product teams.
• Centralize component change management.
• Improve visibility into and interpretation of project requirements, design, and status.
• Encourage wider recognition and reuse of all forms of an organization’s embedded intellectual property (IP).

 

Market looking for software suppliers to take the lead

Findings from VDC’s 2012 Software and System Development Survey indicate that not only are a large percentage of engineering organizations investigating integrations across multiple domains, but perhaps more importantly, the research suggests they will look to software vendors to lead this effort.

• 39% of engineering respondents to our survey selected Software/ALM vendor led integrations as most successful in enabling a potential integration, a greater number than those selecting Mechanical/PLM and Silicon design/EDA combined.
• Furthermore, over 72% of respondents investigating cross domain integrations are exploring a combination that includes software.

Leading vendors positioning solutions to address ALM-PLM integration

VDC believes the development of a cross-domain integration solution approach, such as ALM-PLM, is the logical next step for tool vendors who have developed platforms to support most or all of the software development lifecycle. Leading software vendors, such as IBM, PTC with their acquisition of MKS, and ANSYS with a planned acquisition of Esterel, have begun organic and acquisition-based expansions to position their solutions around cross domain integration. VDC believes further M&A activities are likely in the near term as these and other vendors look to fill in gaps in their tool-sets to better address cross-domain engineering integration.

More insight

For further investigation and discussion about these trends and others, please see our recently published report, Automated Test and Verification Tools, volume 2 of our 2012 Software & System Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service. Please contact us for more information.