On Target: Embedded Systems

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!

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!

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.

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.

Tighter Integration - Coming to a Toolchain Near You?

Based on the growing volume and importance of software, it is relatively easy to understand why tighter integration across the software development cycle is becoming much more important. It is, however, only part of the equation.

Over recent years - the lines between software, electrical, and mechanical engineering have been gradually blurring, with each discipline’s functionality becoming increasingly dependent on the others. And in the same way that the traditional serial and siloed development processes have difficulty supporting today’s rate of software change and content creation, the complexity of today’s projects necessitates a higher frequency of communication and coordination between all project/product team members, across and between the various engineering disciplines.

So given that there are often cultures of conservatism in place within many embedded verticals, are OEMs responding and actually looking to change?

Well, when we asked engineers about their organizations’ plans to evaluate higher levels of cross engineering-domain integration, over ½ said that they had already looked into it or have an investigation planned. This equates to an increase of about 10 percentage points over last year when we asked the same question – which is substantial considering how slowly the embedded industry has historically changed.

The next question that comes up is around tooling - What is available today and what vendors are making the needed adjustments to their portfolios? 

In past blogs and reports, we have written about IBM's OSLC initiative and PTC's acquisition of MKS. This week, at their PLM Analyst event in Boston, Siemens made it clear that they are stepping up to the challenge via updates to their Teamcenter product. They even highlighted Ford's implementation that uses Teamcenter as their data integration hub for IBM ClearCase, Rhapsody, dSPACE, MathWorks Simulink, and Vector CANape, among others.

This lingering question, however, is what factor will prove more influencial on integration strategy over the long term - ALM vendors' advantage managing the exponential growth in SW content or PLM vendors' ability to tie these domains directly into manufacturing?

We will be exploring this topic in greater detail as part of our 2012 Software and System Lifecycle Management Tool research program in our volumen covering ALM/PLM Integration. In the mean time, please contact us, we would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

KISS: Keep it Simple…

As software code continues to account for ever greater portions of company’s value propositions, the amount of stakeholders needing access to monitor progress or provide input on requirements definition and change management is increasing. In order to keep projects on schedule and within budget, developing well-written requirements and effectively communicating them early in the development lifecycle has become increasingly critical.

However, it is not only the quantity of the stakeholders that is changing. For software tool suppliers, the more important factor may be that the diversity of these stakeholders is broadening as well. We’re seeing this diversity across a number of dimensions:

• Location
• Language
• Skill-level/experience
• Role in organization

In our research, a majority of engineers in both the embedded and enterprise realms indicated their company utilized outsourcing in the development process. Likewise, the use of geographically distributed teams is increasing. 28% of embedded engineers and 32% of enterprise engineers responding to a recent survey by the VDC embedded software team report having remote team members on current development projects. Similarly, growing diversification of the roles and experience levels of stakeholders means more of them will have a background outside software development. Coordinating different experience levels, time zones, and languages makes communicating or understanding project requirements ever more complicated.

 

The logical result of these challenges is that respondents to VDC’s 2012 survey selected “Ease of Use” as the most important selection criteria for Requirements Management / Definition and Source / Change / Configuration Management tools. As additional team members need access to dashboards and reports available through the use of tools to monitor and modify requirements and specifications documents, provided these stakeholders with a resource that has a short learning curve becomes a matter of operational efficiency for development organizations.

 

More insight

For further investigation and discussion about these trends and others, please see our recently published report, Requirements Management / Definition and Source / Change / Configuration Management Tools, volume 3 of our 2012 Software & System Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service.

Also available is VDC’s webinar, Staying Competitive Requires Managing Change

Please contact us for more information.

Hot Dog Theory for Embedded Systems

With summer quickly drawing to a close and Labor Day barbeques just around the corner, I thought a staple of American cuisine deserved a momentary spotlight: The Hot Dog. Whether you prefer them with mustard, ketchup, relish or onions, just about everyone seems to have a special place in their hearts for hot dogs.

This fondness for franks, however, does not come without a certain degree trust and a leap of faith. Although we may know if our hot dog is of beef, pork or poultry origin, no one really knows – or wants to know – what cow, pig, or bird parts made their way into the casing. Unfortunately, the more research we conduct examining the inner workings of the embedded system engineering organizations, the more I feel the same way about them.

All too often, engineering organizations are ignoring best practices for safe and secure system development. In many cases, they are hamstrung by incumbent processes or blinded by short term time-to-market goals or just lack the requisite level of internal formal engineering rigor. What is worse is that this general assessment is fairly consistent across the different vertical markets that we cover – from consumer electronics to medical devices to avionics and everything in between:

• FDA: 24% of device recalls from software failures
• Boeing Dreamliner delayed because of software problems
• Toyota Prius braking failures from firmware issues

Many embedded industries, however, do have development process and quality standards in place. Unfortunately, these guidelines and checks are (pragmatically) somewhat high level and clearly stop short of ensuring functionality in all cases. The growth in complexity of today’s systems (e.g. cars with > 100MM LOC) will undoubtedly make quality problems worse before they get better. Engineering organizations need to take it upon themselves to revisit their incumbent development practices and tools to help move the industry forward.

Certainly, one can argue that many of these problems are not new, just the amount of publicity they receive. That said, it is clear that current development practices are not cutting it and that change is required. In the absence of significant change – as the pressure and engineering challenges facing OEMs continue to mount – we should be even more wary of what is inside the electronic systems that are part of our everyday lives.

Ignorance is bliss.

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.

Are You Going To Be Ready For The Third Industrial Revolution?

As hordes of soot covered factory workers poured from the bowels of London Olympic Stadium to rip up and haul away remnants of the pastoral agrarian countryside set, my young son struggled to understand how the opening ceremony celebrated British history. Perhaps the sprouting smoke stacks (piping in real sulfur smell!) were more celebratory in person.

While one might quibble with some of the directorial decisions of the ceremony, there is little debate of the progress enabled by the 18^th Century industrial revolution launched in Britain. A compelling special report in The Economist labels this mechanization of manufacturing as the first and mass production, introduced by Ford in the early 20^th century, as the second industrial revolution. The report goes on to explain how we are now in the early stage of a third industrial revolution, the digitization of manufacturing.

In his keynote address at PlanetPTC Live, PTC president and CEO Jim Heppelmann referred to the third industrial revolution and discussed how manufacturers will have to adapt to remain competitive.

“Over the past few decades, global manufacturers have made massive investments in technology and process change aimed at improving operational efficiency,” said Heppelmann. “Today, however, we are reaching the limits of the competitive edge these investments can deliver. Manufacturers need to be operationally efficient to stay in the game, but they can no longer achieve meaningful advantage from that alone. The time has come for a new source of competitive advantage – product and service advantage – from technology and process change that improves strategy decision-making across the enterprise, from engineering to the supply chain to sales and service networks.”  PTC president and CEO Jim Heppelmann

In several embedded industries, requirements management and specification has always held a paramount position of importance within the development cycle as a means to document processes and artifacts for various industry standards. But with the digitization of manufacturing, engineers will be increasingly pushed to use more advanced lifecycle management tools.

VDC’s research shows high use rates use of Requirements Management (RM) and Source/Change/Configuration Management (SCCM) tools across a number of embedded verticals. This should come as little surprise given our 2012 Software and System Development survey indicates changes in specifications, customer induced changes in requirements, and inadequate specifications were cited as leading causes of schedule delays (as cited by 26.0%, 21.1%, and 14.9% of respondents, respectively).

Tomorrow manufacturers, however, will need to become even more nimble utilizing smarter software, web based services, and a number of technological advances such as 3D printing or additive manufacturing. We believe it will be increasingly critical for RM and SCCM tool vendors to provide flexible solutions, tightly integrating ALM and PLM to help manufacturers respond to disruptive changes of the third industrial revolution.

VDC will investigate these trends, market drivers, and challenges in Volume 3 of our Software & Systems Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service, Requirements Management/Definition & Source/Change/Configuration Management Tools. Please contact us for more information.