On Target: Embedded Systems

Model That MIMO

Wireless networks have been pressed to rapidly evolve as ever greater numbers of subscribers utilize mobile devices to transmit an increasing volume of data. In fact, Cisco projects the number of mobile-connected devices, driven by a combination of personal devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, will exceed the world’s population by the end of this year and that mobile data traffic will expand at a CAGR of 66% through 2017.

Technologies such as Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and other multiple antenna techniques have emerged in response to this increased demand for wireless network throughput. MIMO systems employ multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver end of the communication system. This approach considerably improves performance, providing higher data rates while maintaining spectral efficiency. However, a price paid for these advances is greater system complexity facing embedded engineers tasked with designing the networks.

Accurate design of the wireless communications channel is key to optimizing network system performance. This requires consideration of a large number of variables and is a challenge well suited to software-based modeling tools. VDC Research has spoken with leading suppliers of commercially available modeling tools as we update our coverage of Software and System Lifecycle Management solutions for 2013. These conversations have revealed a growing interest in system design tools within the communications market.

Suppliers are responding to this demand. For example this week, MathWorks announced software enhancements to the Phased Array System Toolbox and SimRF to enable wireless communications and radar system designers to speed up modeling and simulation within the MATLAB and Simulink environments. Going forward, telecommunications engineers will increasingly leverage software and systems modeling tools as they design the complex next-generation networks of tomorrow.

More insight                                     

For immediate access to further investigation and discussion about software and systems modeling tools, please see our 2012 Software & Systems Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service. The M2M Embedded Software team at VDC is in the process of updating this research for 2013. The 2013 Software & System Modeling Tools volume will be available in the next couple of weeks. 

VDC to Present Embeddy Awards Live at Design West

Want to see the latest technologies and tricks for embedded engineering? Head to Design West next month in San Jose, CA!

Contact us ASAP to schedule a meeting

VDC will be attending the Design West/ESC conference from Tuesday April 23 through Thursday April 25.

At the show, we will be presenting our 9th annual Embeddy Awards. The winners will be announced Live during Thursday's morning keynote session.

So how can your company win the Embeddy award?

To be considered,

First, fill out this on-line form: http://svy.mk/WU0abA

You must also schedule a meeting with VDC to discuss the announcement that you are making at the show. You can arrange a meeting time with VDC by doing one of the following:

For Software and Tools related meetings

Contact Jared Weiner, Analyst, M2M Embedded Software & Tools at:
jweiner@vdcresearch.com or 508.653.9000 x143.

For Hardware related meetings

Contact David Laing, Senior Analyst, M2M Embedded Hardware Platforms at:
dlaing@vdcresearch.com or 508.653.9000 x146.

Haven't decided if you're attending DESIGN West yet?

Please check out the DESIGN West website for more information on the conference program as well as
information on all of the companies that will be exhibiting. You can also click here to register.

We look forward to seeing you at the show!

It Gets Better

The same end-of-one-year reflection that inspired our embedded software Top 12 of 2012 (part 1 and part 2), encouraged us to take a look back at a metric we continue to track: schedule performance.

In VDC’s 2012 developers survey, 35.3% of the respondents said their current project was behind schedule. Just last year over 40% reported schedule slippage. So perhaps 35% is an improvement; but it’s hardly a statistic worth boasting. With an average of twenty five embedded engineers per project, any delay can be detrimental to development budgets, not to mention the reputational damage.

Despite an understanding that adherence to schedule is crucial to project success and that management should focus on ensuring execution conforms to it, on-time delivery difficulties persist. In order to get the maximum benefit from minimal effort through the full development lifecycle, engineering organizations need to optimize the efficiency and accuracy of their team and resources.

The good news is our research suggests the schedule adherence improvement of this past year may be the start of a trend rather than an anomaly. We see more and more engineering firms applying the right tools, methodologies, and processes.

Some of our findings showing potential for improved schedule performance include:

• Embedded suppliers continue to make functional improvements to the software and systems lifecycle management (SSLM) tools they offer. Beyond these advances, there is broader use of SSLM solutions by developers which offers several potential benefits. For example, effective requirements management solutions help avoid misunderstanding and unrealistic expectations while modeling tools can encourage greater code reuse.
• There is increased adoption of Agile methodologies both in full adherence to the methodology and in a hybrid approach combining iterative aspects with elements from other methods.
• Improving efficiency in the development of today’s devices which often require a tight coupling of electrical, mechanical, and software elements requires an evaluation of processes across project boundaries. This reinforces the potential benefits of cross-domain engineering integration, which we see is increasing.

These trends are encouraging. Our findings have shown that organizations using SSLM tools are more successful in meeting deadlines. Likewise, less developers using Agile methods (28.8%) or investigating cross-domain integration (26.2%) report being behind schedule than the average for the industry at large (35.3%.)

If embedded suppliers continue to improve their offerings and provide the support to make sure they are implemented appropriately, perhaps our 2013 findings will confirm the schedule improvement value of these solutions.

The Embedded Software Beat

A Q&A with Stefan Skarin, Chief Executive Officer, IAR Systems Group AB.

This interview is the fourth in a series that we look to conduct during the course of 2012 with embedded software solution providers to share their views on their company, products, and state of the market.

VDC was fortunate to catch up with Mr. Skarin in advance of the ARM TechCon where IAR Systems will be announcing and demonstrating new products.

VDC: IAR Systems is a long-time supplier of software development solutions to the embedded market.  Can you briefly introduce the company to our readers?

Skarin: IAR Systems was founded in 1983 and actually launched the world's first C compiler for the 8051 microprocessor. Since, we have grown from a local Swedish company to a global player with ten offices all over the world, and 14,000 customers in all industries. We have developed more C and C++ compilers than any other company in the embedded industry, and I would say we have accumulated a unique understanding of embedded developers’ needs. We are proud to support the market's widest range of architectures, and we are continuously enhancing our products and adding new functionality that we believe developers will benefit from. Our suite of development tools for embedded applications is called IAR Embedded Workbench and provides a complete set of C/C++ compiler and debugger tools.

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

Skarin: Embedded systems are becoming more and more complex, and at the same time the time to market for new products is becoming more and more crucial. These factors create needs for simplified, flexible workflows. Companies are streamlining their development to avoid delays, and of course also to maximize the return on investment. So basically, developers need to get up and running quickly, and work faster, as the same time as their assignments are becoming more complicated. We are aiming to supply tools that are easy to use, while at the same time offer high performance and advanced functionality. To have the ability to reuse code can also help increase productivity. It is also important for software suppliers to simplify integration between tools and systems. Whether or not the supplier is able to offer you technical support when and where you need it, to help you keep production going according to schedule, is of course also a major differentiator.

VDC: Power consumption is a critical design objective for battery operated embedded devices. How do IAR software development solutions help developers improve and manage battery life?

Skarin: This is an area where I believe software suppliers have a major role to play, and we are putting a lot of effort into helping developers minimize power consumption. A couple of years ago, we introduced our innovative Power debugging technology. This technology provides software developers with information about the power consumption in their specific application. The information is coupled to the source code and enables the developers to find any power spikes, and to test and tune the application for power optimization. Earlier this year, we launched the debug probe I-jet, which enables even more refined power measurements.

To have highly optimized code is a great way to minimize power consumption. Our compiler creates extremely compact code that runs fast and saves on the power needed to complete the tasks. We have worked extensively with compiler optimization technology for several years, but we are still able to further tweak this, and are continuously trying to beat our own records.

VDC: Today’s embedded systems have grown increasingly complex and software is coming to define a greater portion of the end product value. What’s your view on the use of modeling tools within the product development lifecycle to help engineering organizations manage this complexity?

Skarin: I believe we will see more of modeling tools as systems keep gaining in complexity. As I mentioned before, it will be even more important for software suppliers to offer extensive possibilities for integration between tools, for example modeling tools. The entire development workflows need to be well-connected and interaction between different tools need to be seamless and easy to work with.

IAR Systems supplies the state machine toolset IAR visualSTATE. It is based on a subset of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and is used to design, test and implement embedded applications based on state machines.

VDC: In safety critical applications, regulations and compliance requirements are driving the need for increased use of automated test tools to ensure code reliability and quality. How do IAR Systems software development solutions assist developers in meeting regulatory and compliance requirements?

Skarin: We have many customers working with safety-critical applications, mainly within the medical and automotive industries. Our tools comply with industry standards and we use several commercial, and in-house developed test suites to make sure we conform to the standards. IAR Embedded Workbench features automatic checking of MISRA-C rules to ensure compliance during development, and also performs type checking during the linking process and runs extensive diagnostics, which ensures the reliability of the generated code. Our tools are also well integrated with test platforms supplied by companies such as Parasoft, LDRA, PRQA, and VectorCAST.

VDC: If you were to take a look a look into your crystal ball, how do see the opportunities for the embedded software market shaping up for 2013?

Skarin: The number of embedded devices is growing rapidly, and that gives a good potential. For us, the focus is on supplying the tools that the market needs. I see those tools as being able to handle complex applications, while ensuring safety and reliability of the code. The need for low power consumption is of course highly relevant during 2013, and I expect that all software suppliers will need to do even more in this area.

VDC: Thank you Stefan.

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

Stefan Skarin was appointed CEO of Nocom Drift, now IAR Systems Group AB, in 2000 after establishing an outstanding track record of sales and corporate development in the IT software industry. In 2003, Mr. Skarin turned Nocom around from bankruptcy to its best profit in 20 years. He went on to double the company’s profit year over year in both 2004 and 2005, and Nocom became the best share and best IT share at Stockholm Nasdaq. In 2005, he acquired IAR Systems and, in reshaping the focus of IAR Systems as a leading provider of software for programming embedded systems processors, Mr. Skarin made 24 acquisitions and investments in Europe.

Mr. Skarin consistently focuses on achievement. During his first year as CEO of IAR Systems, he grew the company by 22 percent, and the company experienced its best-ever sales year in 2010 across all four regions. In 2011, IAR Systems grew 26 percent and achieved record profits.  This year, IAR Systems boasts the greatest share growth in the IT sector so far in 2012.

Mr. Skarin started his career at Ericson Mobile in 1985 when the Ericson mobile phone was launched. He moved on to Oracle Nordic starting out as the finance director, and then moving on to accomplish an impressive number of sales achievements. He was Finance Director in 1987, and became CEO of Oracle Spain in 1991, where he led a major company restructuring. At 29 years old, Mr. Skarin became the youngest CEO in Oracle when he became CEO of Oracle Eastern Europe in 1992. During his tenure there, he reached the highest quota in the company –22 MUSD – and established Oracle in four countries in Eastern Europe.

After Oracle, Mr. Skarin served as CEO for Interleaf Nordic and then worked as Sales Director at Adobe, where he established Adobe Finland. His successful sales accomplishments resulted in two personal awards for the two biggest global deals in Adobe’s history.

Mr. Skarin has served on the board of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) in Sweden for three years, global SoL for two years, and he is a founding member of Academy for Change. Mr. Skarin has also had a number of speaking engagements with organizations including Save the Children International and World Wildlife Fund International in United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Are Modeling Tools Finally Generating Some Trust?

Engineering organizations continue to struggle keeping pace with the rate of content creation required to power many of today’s devices. One of the ways organizations have attempted to address this issue over recent years is through the use of modeling tools. While much of these tools’ original adoption centered on their ability to simplify software architecture design and documentation, their potential use cases - and benefits - can be much deeper. Modeling tools have emerged as the tools of choice to tackle a number of other complex design challenges – from algorithm design to software construction to Hardware-In-the-Loop testing. However, to date, one of the greatest mechanisms for potential efficiency gains, code generation, has been under utilized and, quite often, mistrusted.

Findings from our 2012 Software and System Development Survey suggest that this dynamic is finally changing, albeit it somewhat slowly.

While the increasing percentage of code bases attributable to code generation tools is a noteworthy and much needed shift, the conversations we’ve been having with OEMs over recent months are even more encouraging. More and more, engineering organizations are becoming comfortable using auto-generated code beyond an intermediary basis, as final production level code. It has taken time, but advancements to both the technology and developers' experience levels have finally catalyzed a depth of change and implementation that extends far beyond frequency of use alone.

Modeling tools and code generation can and will never satisfy all software and system development requirements. That said, there are still many engineering teams out there who can benefit from the adoption (and broader/deeper use) of modeling tools.

So if the existing technology has matured to a point of broad-based utility and is underutilized today, where is the next gap on which suppliers should focus? Safety-critical certified/certifiable code generation. Process standards are evolving and gaining wider adoption yet today only one modeling tool vendor, Esterel (recently acquired by ANSYS), has truly made a mark in this place and met the lofty standards required for trust and use in safety-critical markets.

Who will be next?

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.

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.

 

Security Requirements Driving Major Changes In Embedded Computing Ecosystem

In a strategically important move driven by significant changes in embedded computing, ETAS recently announced their intent to acquire security solution provider ESCRYPT. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the modeling tool vendor confirmed that the acquisition is intended to strengthen the independent professional services division that they first established in January.
 
VDC’s View
 
Security has quickly emerged as the hot button issue within the embedded industry. As we’ve written about recently, the injection of connectivity requirements within many new device categories has left embedded engineering organizations recognizing a need for improved security, but often unsure of how best to harden their devices.
 
The automotive sector serves as a perfect example of how the evolution of a device category – and the resulting increase in security risks - can challenge the traditional ecosystem and engineering cultures. We see four key factors contributing to a rapidly rising security risk in the auto industry, many of which are common to other industries as well:

1. Cars are increasingly becoming Internet-enabled, in response to surging consumer demand for enhanced in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and other new emerging applications.
2. Additionally, the growing interconnectivity of the various electronic control units (ECU) within vehicles is now providing a pathway for threats to move from system to system.
3. Automobile OEMs are generally siloed, with teams focused on the development of individual ECUs. As a result, insufficient attention is being given to the risk created by the interconnection of ECUs.
4. Security is an entirely new problem for automobile OEMS that their existing engineering organizations have little or no experience addressing.

Similar trends can be found in virtually every industry, as OEMs race to develop next-generation products that leverage sensing, processing, I/O technologies, and connectivity to enable innovative new features and create entirely new revenue streams. And without any relevant expertise in security, we see the need for products and services such as those offered by ETAS/ESCRYPT as acute.

As we look broadly across the embedded technology landscape and the emerging Internet of Things, we see OEMs struggling with the issue of security, and vendors large and small aggressively trying to establish themselves as the leading security solution provider.  These include Intel through its McAfee acquisition, IBM with its reorganization and establishment of a security solutions division, Mocana with its focus on securing the Internet of Things, Wind River with its formation of a security-focused professional services team, and many, many others. 

With this market dynamic in mind, VDC has just announced a new research program dedicated to exploring this topic in greater depth. Our Voice of the Customer: Security & The Internet of Things program will provide OEMs, IT managers, and operators alike with the information that they need to develop and implement robust security strategies that can address the challenges posed by today’s Internet of Things. To learn more, please contact us…

So Whatcha Gonna Do With That Modeling Tool?

As we’ve mentioned in this space before, the level of software content and system complexity is rapidly expanding in multiple verticals such as automotive and avionics. Given the challenges of these industries, it is not surprising they have been long time user of modeling tools. In fact, modeling tools have emerged as the tool of choice to address a number of complex design challenges.

A look at some of our findings from VDC’s 2012 Software and System Development Survey, our extensive survey of the embedded and enterprise engineering community that we provide with our Software & System Modeling Tools report, illustrates the degree to which the actual use of standard and proprietary language-based tools is spread over a wide range of engineering tasks.

Our findings suggest that use cases for modeling tools have continued to expand as advances in functionality enable many engineers to utilize the tools outside of their originally intended design.

So what’s next?

Many of today’s incumbent processes and tools are limited in their efficacy and relevance in addressing the growing level of system complexity within and between various embedded subsystems in a common deployment scenario, such as might be encountered in an airplane, automobile, or manufacturing line. Much in the same way increased system complexity has elevated the value proposition of modeling solutions, we believe it will become more and more important for engineering organizations to find new methods for managing overall system development across different engineering domains.

• VDC has been in discussion with numerous stakeholders around this cross domain concept. We have been hearing progressively more interest about enhanced integration and collaboration between different engineering disciplines from OEM and tool supplier communities.
• VDC believes the facilitation of collaboration across project and product teams and improved visibility into product/product requirements, design, and status are among the benefits that could be realized through cross domain integration.
• Results from VDC’s 2012 Software and System Development Survey indicate not only is 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.

For further investigation and discussion about these trends and others, please see our recently published report, Software & System Modeling Tools, volume 1 of our 2012 Software & System Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service. Please contact us for more information.

 

Embedded Bits and Bytes – In case you missed these announcements from the last several weeks...

AdaCore, provider of tools and expertise for the mission-critical, safety-critical, and security-critical software communities, announced that Embraer Defense and Security has selected the GNAT Pro Ada development environment from AdaCore as a primary tool set to develop the Operation Flight Program for the AMX Modernization program.
http://www.adacore.com/press/embraer-amx-upgrade/

ARM announced the availability of a high performance, power-optimized quad-core hard macro implementation of its flagship ARM® Cortex™-A15 MPCore™ processor.
http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/arm-announces-cortex-a15-quad-core-hard-macro.php

Atego, the world leading software tools and professional services supplier for complex, mission- and safety-critical systems and software engineering has launched the DO-178 Process Library for its ground breaking process definition, management and deployment product, Atego Process Director.
http://www.atego.com/pressreleases/pressitem/atego-launches-atego-process-director-for-do-178

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, announced the Cadence Virtual System Platform has been named a winner in the EE Times and EDN 2012 UBM Electronics ACE Awards in the Software Ultimate Products category.
http://www.cadence.com/cadence/newsroom/press_releases/pages/pr.aspx?xml=040212_ace_awards

Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for networking, communications, and the digital home, announced that financial results for the first quarter of 2012 will be below the company’s previous outlook.
http://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Cavium_Financial_Outlook_Q1-2012.html

Coverity, Inc., the leader in development testing, announced the availability of the latest version of its development testing platform, Coverity 6.0, and its new online developer community, CoverityConnect.
http://www.coverity.com/html/press/coverity-drives-developer-collaboration-around-the-globe-with-coverity-6.html

dSPACE TargetLink 3.3, the new version of dSPACE's production code generator, provides elaborately expanded features for AUTOSAR-compliant development of electronic control units, and supports the latest AUTOSAR standards 4.0 and 3.2.
http://www.dspace.com/en/inc/home/company/dspace_pressroom/press/pr120302.cfm

Enea® (NASDAQ OMX Nordic:ENEA), a leading operating system solution vendor for 3G and 4G infrastructure equipment, is announced Enea Linux together with complementing innovative technologies addressing next generation networking infrastructure demands.
http://www.enea.com/Corporate/Press/Press-releases/Press-release/?item=651230

Esterel Technologies, a worldwide provider of model-based development solutions for critical systems and software, announced the immediate availability of SCADE System, a systems design and modeling tool suite that has been developed specifically for use on critical systems with high dependability requirements, providing a full support of industrial systems engineering processes, such as
ARP 4754, ISO 26262, and EN50126.
http://www.esterel-technologies.com/news-events/press-releases/2012/Esterel-Technologies-Announces-Immediate-Availability-of-SCADE-System

Express Logic, Inc., the worldwide leader in royalty-free real-time operating systems (RTOS), announced that the ThreadX® RTOS now is available for multicore systems in both Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) or Asymmetric Multiprocessing (AMP) modes.
http://rtos.com/news/detail/express_logics_threadx_rtos_solves_multicore_smp_and_amp_programming_c/

Freescale Semiconductor Holdings I, Ltd. (NYSE:FSL) announced that its Board of Directors has launched a formal process to identify a successor to Chairman and CEO Rich Beyer, who has informed the Board of his decision to retire as CEO upon the appointment of a new CEO.
http://media.freescale.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=196520&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1685235&highlight=

GrammaTech, Inc., a manufacturer of source-code analysis tools, unveiled a next-generation software architecture visualization system. The new system incorporates a sophisticated new interface for viewing the relationships between software program elements. The system is integrated with CodeSonar, GrammaTech’s static-analysis tool for detecting defects.
http://www.grammatech.com/news/2012/releases/03-27-12-II.html

Green Hills Software, a leading vendor of embedded software solutions, is celebrating its 30-year anniversary.
http://www.ghs.com/news/20120327_ESC_30_years_industry_leadership.html

IAR Systems® announces that its high-performing C/C++ compiler and debugger tool suite IAR Embedded Workbench® now supports STM32F051.
http://www.iar.com/en/About/Pressroom/Press-releases/2012/4/IAR-Systems-supports-the-new-STM32-F0-low-cost-ARM-Cortex-M0-microcontrollers-from-STMicroelectronics/

Cloud Computing Q&A: IBM SmartCloud
http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2012/04/cloud-computing-qa-ibm-smartcloud/

Intel Corporation and Lava International Ltd., one of India’s fastest-growing mobile handset companies,  announced the general availability of the XOLO X900, the first smartphone with Intel inside. The device will be available to customers for purchase beginning 23rd April at a best-buy street price of approximately INR 22000.
http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2012/04/18/xolo-x900-first-smartphone-with-intel-inside-launches-in-india-market

Real-time software provider IntervalZero, Inc., and Alta Data Technologies, a leading provider of MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC interface cards, software and Ethernet convertor/appliances, have formed a strategic partnership to provide real-time Microsoft Windows capabilities for avionics applications.
http://www.intervalzero.com/newsevents/intervalzero-alta-data-technologies-form-avionics-partnership/

Klocwork Inc, the global leader in automated source code analysis (SCA) solutions for developing more secure and reliable software, announced that Klocwork Insight™ has achieved an official Certificate of Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE™) Compatibility for attaining the highest level of CWE support that is currently offered by The MITRE Corporation's formal CWE Compatibility and Effectiveness Program.
http://www.klocwork.com/news/press-releases/releases/2012/PR-2012_03_26-Klocwork-Achieves-CWE-Compatibility-Certification.php

Lauterbach, a leading manufacturer of hardware assisted microprocessor development tools, has launched a new debug probe which provides state-of-the-art debug features for the new high-performance Broadcom XLP processor family. TRACE32® now supports all Broadcom multi-core processor families XLP, XLR and XLS.
http://www.lauterbach.com/frames.html?home.html

LDRA Certification Services (LCS), a division of LDRA, a leading provider of safety-critical software verification tools and software best practices announced a fully compliant IEC 62304 and ISO 14971 certification solution for medical device manufacturers.
http://www.ldra.com/en/component/content/article/11-news-press-releases/488-ldra-offers-iec-62304-and-iso-14971-certification-readiness-services-for-medical-devices

LynuxWorks™, Inc., a leader in the embedded safety and security software market, announced the availability of its board support package (BSP) and corresponding DO-178B level C artifacts for the Curtiss-Wright SVME/DMV-183 rugged single-board computer.
http://www.lynuxworks.com/corporate/press/2012/ruggedized-do-178b-rtos.php

MathWorks announced the launch of dedicated Model-Based Design consulting services for ISO 26262 projects.
http://www.mathworks.com/company/pressroom/MathWorks-Offers-Tailored-Services-for-ISO-26262-Projects-with-Model-Based-Design.html

Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) announced the release of its next generation Mentor® Embedded Linux platform.
http://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/news/mentor-embedded-continues-to-simplify-linux

Micrium and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced the completion of a new book based on the uC/TCP-IPTM network stack and TI's highly popular Stellaris® EVALBOT robotic evaluation platform.
http://micrium.com/page/press_room/news/id:72

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions,  announced the acquisition of Roving Networks, an innovator in low-power embedded Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® solutions based in Los Gatos, Calif.
http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/press-release/microchip-acquires-roving-netw.html

MontaVista® Software, LLC, a leader in embedded Linux® commercialization services, announced the release of MontaVista Carrier Grade Linux for ARM.
http://mvista.com/press_release_detail.phpfid=news/2012/MontaVista_Announces_CGE_for_ARM.html&d=537

National Instruments announced NI LabVIEW software- and NI hardware-compatible mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, helping engineers integrate the latest mobile technology into their applications
http://digital.ni.com/worldwide/bwcontent.nsf/websearch/96793ae41c7e4c29862579dc004a9521?opendocument&nisrc=RSS-news-en

PRQA | Programming Research, a leader in static analysis, announces a major upgrade to QA•C++. Version 3.0 is a substantial new release of this leading static analysis tool for C++ environments that incorporates a sophisticated deep-flow dataflow analysis technology along with support for the major features in ISO C++ 2011.
http://www.programmingresearch.com/press-releases/2012/prqa-upgrades-qac-with-defect-and-security-vulnerability-detection-and-iso-c-2011-support/

PTC® (Nasdaq: PMTC) announced the latest version of its Windchill® product lifecycle management (PLM) software, which is now also integrated with PTC's recently acquired IntegrityTM software system lifecycle management technology.
http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/standards/textsub.jsp?&im_dbkey=138771&icg_dbkey=21&lang=en

QNX Software Systems Limited, a global leader in software platforms for the in-car infotainment and telematics market, announced that it has joined the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), an organization driving innovation for phone-centric car connectivity solutions.
http://www.qnx.com/news/pr_4955_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 availability of the latest release of its Synplify Pro® and Synplify® Premier FPGA synthesis tools.
http://synopsys.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1019

SYSGO won two new major deals in the railway area for which it received  the official certificate from TÜV SÜD certifying the qualification of PikeOS up to SIL 3 according to IEC 61508 and up to SIL 3-4 according to EN 50128.
 http://www.sysgo.com/news-events/press/press/details/article/sysgos-pikeos-receives-official-tuev-certificate/

Viosoft Corporation, a supplier of integrated embedded software solutions, announced the availability of the next generation of their award winning Arriba for Android development platform. The Arriba for Android environment fully enables the creation / porting of high performance applications for the Google Android software platform for the newest multiple core devices regardless of the architecture.
http://www.viosoft.com/?q=node/77

Wind River, a leader in embedded and mobile software, has expanded its portfolio of Android offerings with the introduction of automotive-market specific software. Wind River Solution Accelerator for Android, Automotive helps in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) device manufacturers shorten the development time of high-quality Android-based IVI systems. As the latest addition to the Wind River Solution Accelerator for Android series, the new automotive software adds to the existing medical, connectivity and user experience software collection.
 http://www.windriver.com/news/press/pr.html?ID=10601

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.