On Target: Embedded Systems

The Next Domain in Systems Modeling

Initially, software and system modeling tools emerged out of the need to solve and/or simplify specific engineering problems. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) was designed to address software problems while proprietary languages were developed for siloed engineering tasks such as MATLAB for algorithm design. Over time, however, engineering organizations began utilizing the technologies for additional tasks, ultimately leading to the introduction of new feature sets, new products, and new language subsets altogether such as SysML for system level design. At the same time, some solution vendors have attempted to evangelize the establishment of higher level modeling practices with the aim... Read more →

VDC to Announce ESC Boston Embeddy Awards for Best in Show at 6:45pm

VDC will announce the Embeddy Award winners live on the show floor on Today, Tuesday September 21, at 6:45pm! Note: This is a change from the originally scheduled event time of 4:45pm. We will be presenting our annual Embeddy Awards for Best in Show live on the show floor at ESC Boston 2010. This year, VDC will be announcing a best of show for both software and hardware. The Embeddy Awards are presented annually to those exhibitors who announce or demonstrate the most significant new software and hardware products at the Embedded Systems Conference Haven't decided if you're attending ESC... Read more →

Virtual Platforms – White Knight or Red Herring?

The rapid evolution of embedded system requirements has continued to drive engineering organizations to consider new tools and technologies in order to speed time-to-market and mitigate the growing complexity of the target systems. Just as engineers gradually embraced graphical development environments over standalone, command-line tools, we have begun to see an increase in the adoption of virtual system prototyping/simulation (VSPS) tools in the embedded market with the use rate in 2010 up 60% over 2007 levels. Earlier in the year, we saw a large amount of activity surrounding virtual platforms with the acquisitions of CoWare (by Synopsys), VaST (also by... Read more →

ESC Boston September 20-23, VDC to Present Embeddy Awards Live

VDC will announce the Embeddy Award winners live on the show floor on Tuesday at 6:45pm! We will be presenting our annual Embeddy awards for Best in Show live on the show floor at ESC Boston 2010 and would like all exhibitors who are announcing or demonstrating significant new software or hardware products to have the chance to submit themselves for consideration. This year, VDC will be announcing a best of show for both software and hardware. To be considered you MUST hold a briefing with VDC in advance of the award ceremony on Tuesday. You can arrange a meeting... Read more →

Dassault Systèmes Acquires Geensoft

What Happened? Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced the acquisition of Geensoft, a leading provider of innovative embedded systems development solutions, for 5.5M€. As a result of the acquisition the DS V6 portfolio will be expanded by adding the capacity to model and generate the entire vehicle control software system, allowing a validation loop by connecting the physical equipment with the digital mock up. DS’s V6 PLM platform delivers a collaborative environment that will bring together multiple systems engineering disciplines, working with hundreds of disconnected domain specific... Read more →

Complimentary Embedded Software and Tools Research Available

Did you know that we regularly produce complimentary research highlights and content? You can receive immediate access to the latest updates and research notes from VDC as well as receive notifications when new free content is available from our research covering embedded software and tools technologies. In case you haven't already - please Sign Up by Clicking Here. Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions on the research that we've posted. Read more →

Further Consolidation in the ESL Market – Synopsys acquires Synfora

What Happened? In its second acquisition announcement of the day, Synopsys disclosed yesterday that it has acquired assets from Synfora, Inc., a supplier of High-Level of Abstraction Synthesis tools (C/C++ to SystemC/RTL). VDC’s View Synfora is just the latest in a flurry acquisitions undertaken by Synopsys (which held over $700 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of their fiscal year in October) to deepen its Electronic System Level (ESL) tool offerings. Most recently, Synopsys acquired both VaST and CoWare with the same week as it looked to enhance its solutions for virtual system prototyping and simulation (VSPS).... Read more →

Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) – San Jose 2010

VDC attended the 2010 Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose on April 27th through April 29 and held face-to-face meetings at the conference with over 45 exhibitors. Conference organizers were reporting early on that registration and attendance at the show are up over 30% year over year, which is very good news for the supplier community. Similar themes and messaging continue to be delivered by market participants around multicore, virtualization, safety, security and reliability. But many discussions we had at the show focused on industry consolidation and new and emerging strategic alliances between the semiconductor and software communities. The Silicon... Read more →

Synopsys Completes Acquisition of CoWare

What Happened? Yesterday, Synopsys announced that it had completed the acquisition of CoWare that it had originally announced on February 8th. VDC's View The acquisition of CoWare, a leading ESL and virtual platform solution provider, will help further strengthen Synopsys' System-Level Design Division that was already bolstered by the addition of VaST's tool suite last month. Whereas Synopsys' recent acquisitions certainly underscore their commitment to ESL and, more specifically, virtual platform technology, VDC expects that the future success of these acquisitions will rest on Synopsys' ability to manage the inherited client and partner relationships and minimize any uncertainty surrounding the... Read more →

Embedded World Bulletin – March 2010

VDC attended the 2010 embedded world Exhibition & Conference in Nuremberg, Germany March 2nd and 3rd. This bulletin presents a summary of the event. This is the first time VDC Research has attended embedded world and according to the show closing report, there were 730 international exhibiting companies and 18,350 trade visitors. Both represent a record number of exhibitors and visitors participating in the exhibition and conference over previous years. The show floor consisted of four interconnected halls with exhibitors logically grouped by the type of products offered. Over the course of two days VDC met with over 20 exhibitors... Read more →