On Target: Embedded Systems

IoT Necessitates Changes in Both People and Technology

The requirements of the devices composing the Internet of Things are changing rapidly. The embedded market no longer consists of dedicated-purpose devices that may or may not be connected. Engineering organizations and deploying enterprises must now design scalable system topologies that can integrate new devices and adapt to the IoT’s evolution. While these next-generation systems are required to facilitate downstream device/node management as well as efficient upstream data transfer and analytics, they must also do so dynamically, allowing for more intelligence and flexibility in node role and workloads within sub-network architectures. This recognition of a need for change in legacy... Read more →

Android to Transform Medical Device Market

In an increasingly mobile environment infused with continual technological innovation, OEMs are considering new platforms to develop embedded systems. While there are various platforms to choose from, Android has emerged as the foundation of many new embedded systems. It boasts natural advantages compared to other operating systems – iOS, Blackberry, and Windows to name a few – such as its robust open source user-interface, integrated connectivity, and royalty-free licensing, which can minimize cost and provide OEMs flexibility as they try to fit technology to specific industry needs. Emerging tools in the medical space mark the potential innovation Android can bring... Read more →

M2M World Congress – London – Highlights from Day 1 of 2

VDC’s CEO Mitch Solomon is participating in M2M World Congress (one of the industry’s larger M2M-centric conferences) this week in London, and sent in the following post from the field. First off, the event is oversold and is standing room only, a testament to building interest in M2M (…and perhaps the strong promotional efforts of its producer). The day consisted of roughly a dozen presentations and panels, covering a broad landscape of topics. Speakers were largely from major wireless carriers, primarily European. Below are a few key insights (…derived from a much longer list), just hours after the last session... Read more →

Embedded Project Starts Expected to Increase Year-Over-Year

Every year VDC conducts an extensive worldwide survey of embedded engineers and their development projects to better understand engineering requirements, preferences, and trends. This information is available from VDC in unique cross tabbed reports to offer readers a detailed, in-depth, view of engineers in the development project trenches. Quite frequently we receive requests from suppliers of the embedded community for statistics around company project starts as this metric is often seen as an important indicator of health and growth for the embedded industry. Based on VDC’s 2011 survey embedded engineers expect about a 15% increase in the aggregate in the... Read more →

Embedded Engineering Job Market Improving

Here is an interesting chart compiled from VDC’s embedded engineering survey from the last three years. The 2008 / 2009 recession and unpredictable economy caused many OEMs to lower spending by reducing development staffs and delaying or canceling project starts. This situation clearly created a grim perception of the health of the job market for many embedded engineers in 2009. Fast forward two years. An improving economy and new project starts at OEMs has embedded engineers feeling more positive on the health of the job market. This type 0f 2011 survey data and more will be available from our Track... Read more →

Growing Need for Hardware/Software (PLM/ALM) Co-Design Management Tools

In many cases, the current landscape of development solutions available to the engineering community evolved to address specific engineering challenges that were typically associated with just as specific engineering roles (this dynamic is especially true in embedded engineering organizations). Increasingly, however, the complexity of today’s systems is driving the communication and collaboration between once discrete domains. As many of you know, tool vendors supporting software and system lifecycle management have been evangelizing this idea for more than a decade. This integration, however, has mostly been between different tools geared specifically at different software development tasks. Going forward, we anticipate that... Read more →

Embedded World Bulletin – March 2011

VDC attended the 2011 embedded world Exhibition & Conference in Nuremberg, Germany March 1st through 3rd. This bulletin presents a summary of the event. This is the second time VDC Research has attended embedded world and, according to the show closing report, there were over 800 international exhibiting companies and 19,022 trade visitors. Both represent another year of record numbers of exhibitors and visitors participating in the conference. Not surprisingly given the conference’s location in Germany, many trade show exhibitors used the venue to highlight a number of automotive announcements and reference designs. From AUTOSAR to infotainment stacks, it was... Read more →

What is the primary role of a software engineer?

Every year VDC conducts an extensive worldwide survey of embedded engineers and their development projects to better understand engineering requirements, preferences, and trends. This information is available from VDC in unique cross tabbed reports to offer readers a detailed, in-depth, view of engineers in the development project trenches. So what is the primary role of a software engineer? The fact is that engineers today who consider themselves to be software engineers are responsible for working a number various tasks within the development project that would not be associated with software engineering. This speaks to the multi-discipline approach to project development... Read more →

Vertical Market Embedded Systems Market Statistics

VDC is preparing to launch research for a series of reports providing insight into the dynamics of different embedded vertical markets. Reports will be published highlighting the following industries: · Automotive/Rail/Transportation · Consumer Electronics · Industrial Automation/Energy/Power · Medical · Military/Aerospace · Mobile phones · Retail Automation/Digital Signage · Telecom/Datacom So what insights and statistics will be provided in these individual vertical market reports? · Global number of embedded system project starts · Global number and types of embedded system engineer · Total Market for Embedded Software Engineering (TAM) o Total OEM Spend on Commercial Embedded Software and Tools o... Read more →

Tapping into the Next Phase of Linux's Growth

A recent study from the Kauffman Foundation stated that from 1977 to 2005 firms within the first year of their founding generated nearly three million new jobs per year within the United States. In the engineering world, new jobs mean new project starts and new development seats. While entrenched tools and development processes can make it difficult – and costly – to capture mindshare and R&D spend from mature organizations, these fledging engineering firms are proving to be an incubator and launching pad for new technologies and trends. It is no secret that over the last ten years Linux has... Read more →