On Target: Embedded Systems

CES 2016, Part 1: Drills, Holes, and Holemakers

Since long before the turn of the millennium, every January has brought to Las Vegas the humongous trade show and conference known as CES. Those three letters no longer officially stand for Consumer Electronics Show, but that’s how many people in the industry still refer to it. The very term “consumer electronics” is usually considered a category of devices, as in a department in retail stores where consumers buy their boxes of TVs, audio and video players, cameras, etc. But as the industry has evolved, more and more of the products have included (or in some cases wholly become) intangibles... Read more →

IoT Application Platforms – What Company Will Take the Next Bite?

Few areas of technology or business can match the current levels of interest and anticipation surrounding the internet of things (IoT). Embedded engineering organizations and enterprises alike are struggling to keep pace with the expected rate of IoT change. They are rapidly modifying their business plans to pursue new service revenue opportunities enabled by the IoT. But challenges from tighter time-to-market windows and project requirements that extend far beyond existing internal skill sets is yet again recasting the traditional software build-versus-buy calculation. More organizations now recognize the need for new third-party development and management platforms to help them jumpstart IoT... Read more →

QNX Ex-Owner Harman International Acquires Red Bend Software

Harman International is best known as an audio electronics maker, owning numerous brand names targeting consumers and professionals, including AKG, Crown, dbx, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, and Revel. As old-school “car stereos” have evolved in recent years into multifunction “infotainment systems,” Harman has also become a major player in automotive electronics. On January 22, Harman announced its acquisition for $170 million of Red Bend Software, which is the leading provider of software and services for Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) updating for mobile devices and automobiles. (See press release here.) Harman simultaneously announced its acquisition of software... Read more →

Is this a run on static analysis?

The static analysis solutions market is one of the most dynamic segments VDC’s embedded software team currently tracks. While still a relatively young and evolving technology, static analysis has rapidly become a standard -- perhaps even necessary -- element of the software development lifecycle. Software is emerging as the primary agent for differentiation and resource investment for more companies as they try to speed the delivery of innovative new solutions. The development of increasingly complex software needed for these devices and systems is accelerating growth of code quality and security issues that static analysis is designed to address. In parallel,... Read more →

Trusteer Your Security to IBM: Acquisition Fortifies Security Portfolio

On August 15th, IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced it reached a deal to acquire Trusteer, a Boston-based software-security firm focusing on financial and enterprise cyberthreats. As part of the deal, IBM will absorb Trusteer’s R&D lab in Tel Aviv into its security organization. One major focal point for Trusteer is their mobile security product line, which focuses on preventing intrusion and data theft through enterprise-connected mobile devices. Smartphones and tablets are becoming integral tools for large and small businesses alike. Mobile devices – like an iPhone equipped with the SalesForce app – are a huge benefit to employees and their employer by... Read more →

Agile2013: VDC Research is heading to Nashville - Music City!

The M2M Embedded Software team is excited to be heading to Nashville to attend Agile2013 (#agile2013). The growing adoption of Agile methodologies is one of the most important developments in the software lifecycle management solution market since VDC started covering it in 2000. Despite origins in the enterprise/IT software development world, iterative software development methods have also taken hold in the embedded market. In fact, nearly 50% of embedded engineers we surveyed in 2012 used Agile and Iterative methods. As embedded systems continue to evolve, organizations still relying on traditional development methodologies are struggling to keep pace with their software... Read more →

The Embedded Software Beat

Part two of a Q&A with Matt Klassen, Director of Product and Solutions Marketing at PTC. (See part one) This interview is part of an ongoing series we conduct with embedded software solution providers to share views on their company, products, and state of the market. VDC: When PTC acquired MKS, James Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC said, “Software engineering has become a fundamental backbone element in today’s product development process.” Indeed, embedded systems continue to grow in complexity and software is defining an ever greater portion of end product value. Given that environment, can you tell us a... Read more →

IBM Bolsters DevOps Support with UrbanCode Acquisition

On Monday, IBM announced the acquisition of UrbanCode, a provider of software delivery automation solutions. UrbanCode’s continuous release and deployment tools will be integrated into the IBM Rational portfolio to bolster their DevOps capabilities. “…software is eating the world.” – Marc Andreessen Software has emerged as the primary agent for differentiation for a growing number of companies. It is defining a greater portion of end-value for organization’s solutions, but also consuming an ever-larger share of their development costs. Many of these companies have re-evaluated their processes and adopted Agile methodologies to help speed software development. Our findings suggest this has... Read more →

Can Ubuntu Make a Splash in Mobile?

The start of the new year kicked off with an announcement that another open source mobile operating system will be coming to market… but this one is truly unique. The provider of one of the most popular Linux-based desktop operating systems, Canonical, recently announced a distinctive smartphone interface for its Ubuntu operating system. Aside from Android, open source platforms have had a checkered history with limited success in the smartphone environment (e.g. Openmoko, LiMo, MeeGo, webOS). Ubuntu faces much uncertainty with many challenges ahead, but its unique positioning and appeal could help it shine in an increasingly competitive and crowded... Read more →

VDC’s Top 12 of 2012 – Part 2

In case you missed it, I unveiled the first half of our list on Monday. A brief review (see Monday’s post for more details), and then on to the top 6! 12. GrammaTech introduces architecture visualization system for CodeSonar (March 27th) 11. LDRA forms LDRA Certification Services (March 26th) 10. Enea joins the embedded Linux party (March 27th) 8 and 9. Siemens and PTC expand their lifecycle management coverage through acquisitions (Siemens/LMS International: November 8th, PTC/Servigistics: August 8th) 7. General Dynamics acquires OK Labs (September 11th) 6. Thales acquires SYSGO (November 15th) SYSGO joins the list of leading embedded/real-time operating... Read more →