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Maturation in evidence at embedded confab

SAN JOSE, Calif. (September 15) -- Growth in partnerships and alliances among hardware and software vendors, coupled with the introduction of a handful of development tools, points to a maturing of the embedded-systems market.

The moves, disclosed at the Embedded Systems Conference here this week, unfold as a diverse, fragmented customer base clamors for better support environments needed to shrink time-to-market and accommodate escalating embedded-systems complexity. Also surfacing are signs that this segment of the industry might be ripe for mergers and consolidation.

Now that 32- and even 64-bit processors are being priced in ranges that make them attractive for use in embedded systems, many system designers find that they can no longer write their own operating systems and develop their own boards. At the same time, a trend to systems that use multiple processors--often configured in a networked mode--is forcing designers to turn to development- and debugging-tool vendors for systems better tune d to current hardware/software integration requirements.

"Development tools for embedded systems have been way behind the applications," Jerry Fiddler, chairman of Wind River Systems Inc. (Alameda, Calif.), admitted, observing that the applications explosion has intensified market pressure by bringing hordes of new embedded-system designers into the market "whose core expertise is not in computers or software."

Wind River's recently introduced Tornado development platform, which integrates its own development tools with third-party suppliers, is one of several "seamless integration" schemes emerging on the embedded-design front aimed at breaking the design-in bottleneck.

"Our customers aren't buying systems and tools from us; they are buying time-to-market," Fiddler noted.

Indeed, a major element of the Sun Microsystems and Digital Equipment Corp. thrusts into the embedded arena were earmarked by third-party software and development-tool alliances intended to help shrink the systems design-in loop in what's become a complex, multivendor design environment.

Spanned industries

Other, similar agreements emerged at the conference this week. These joint agreements spanned a number of industries. Several linkups were between chip makers and software concerns, particularly those that offer real-time operating systems (RTOS). LSI Logic Corp., for instance, teamed with RTOS supplier Integrated Systems Inc.

Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. augmented its hardware moves ( see story ) by linking with several software suppliers: IBM, Perihelion, Accelerated Technology, Ernoteam, Eonic Systems and Tao Systems.

Though the embedded design landscape is beginning to resemble a networked, distributed-computing and communications environment, traditional computer-aided design suppliers such as Mentor, Cadence and Viewlogic have been conspicuously absent.

Indications are that this is about to change.

In a clear sign that CAE vendors are gaining interest in the embedded mark et, RTOS vendor Microtec Research Inc. linked with Eagle Design Automation, a supplier of virtual system-integration tools. Under the agreement, Eagle Design--a Viewlogic partner--will integrate its virtual circuit-board simulation tool set into Microtec's XRay MasterWorks development environment. The integrated tool set will let developers of embedded systems have a complete solution for hardware-software coverification, said to be a first in the industry.

"I think we'll see a lot more agreements like this and a lot more interest in the embedded market by CAE companies," Tony Barbagallo, director of marketing for Microtec, predicted.

Alliances such as these and other hardware/software tieups are being driven by several factors. One is that embedded markets are extremely fragmented, ranging from large areas such as printers and telecommunications to a vast array of small, highly vertical segments. Another is that though the total industry appears to be hitting critical mass, this fragmentation means that none of the vendors, be they silicon suppliers, real-time operating-system vendors or support tool makers, has a commanding presence.

"If you look at all the vendors in this market, none of them will have revenue from embedded systems that exceeds $1 billion," said Michael Trujillo, technical marketing manager for Advanced Micro Devices' Embedded Processor Division (Austin, Texas). "When you look at the software companies, none of them are even close to $100 million."

The small size of the vendors is in marked contrast to the total size of the market. Integrated Circuit Engineering (Scottsdale, Ariz.) estimates that the embedded IC market will total $13.8 billion this year.

"We work with a major telecommunications company that has 12 projects that use 12 different in-house operating systems," Barbagallo said.

Narrow a bit

On the operating-software side, most observers agree that the diversity will narrow a bit. Conventional wisdom is that as system designers move to 32- and 64-bit architect ures, they will find it easier to turn to RTOS vendors than to continue supporting proprietary software. However, none predicts the emergence of a single, commanding player.

"Personally, I don't see a dominant company emerging," Barbagallo said.

The small size, growth and market opportunity in addressing the design-in needs of the embedded-systems market are already attracting some larger corporations, who are interested in tapping into this market, according to some observers. Acquisitions and a wave of consolidation are likely, they contend.

"I think you're going to see some of the EDA vendors buying up some of these guys over the next 12 months," said Gary Smith, principal analyst for electronic design automation at Dataquest Inc. (San Jose).

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