The Hindu Business Line : Action inside

The Embedded Systems Conference at Silicon Valley 2008 in San Jose, California, gave a fascinating peek into systems-on-chip that power devices. The event brought together leading embedded design systems companies — Intel, Microsoft, AMD, Texas Instruments, Freescale, Arm, NXP — and also some of the alliance partners of these companies, and displayed products that will get incorporated into devices of the future.

Capturing the spirit of the conference, the General Manager of Intel Corporation, Embedded Computing Division, Joe Jensen, said at the show that Intel is celebrating its 30 years in embedded innovation with silicon platforms that power automobiles, airplanes, automatic teller machines, information kiosks, telecommunications, network storage and medical equipment.

Getting better at it

German company Kontron unveiled a credit card-sized computer module powered by Intel Atom Processor. It illustrated the power and space saving design useful for next generation ultra mobile applications.

The Vice-President of Marketing, Kontron, Norbert Hauser, says devices powered by this design are set to roll out by the end of the year.

As against other low power processors, the new chipset requires only one-seventh the size and uses only-one tenth the energy. Hauser says solar-powered devices used in the medical sector, point-of-sales terminals and kiosks, as well as automation applications will be able to harness the power of these systems.

The Director of Mobile Computing Solutions at Nexcom, Kevin Hsu, displayed a compact 8.4-inch fanless Tablet PC which is powered by Intel’s processor. This provides a mobile computing platform with touch-screen options. The data stored in it, backed by fingerprint technologies, is fully protected, he says.

Microsoft Corporation, which had one of the biggest booths at the conference, displayed its capabilities in embedded systems design.

The General Manager, Embedded Systems, Kevin Dallas, says smart connected devices are creating new business models and growth opportunities for equipment manufacturers.

Microsoft announced a slew of initiatives, including offer of its developer tools and kits at lower prices and also certification programmes in embedded systems areas.

Alongside system-of-chip developers, manufacturers of solid state storage disks displayed their products both for consumer and industrial applications.

While the cost of these solid state disks is currently high, it is predicted that over a period, this is likely to come down and computers could be powered by these disks too,

Eurotech Inc hosted a low-power embedded solution based on Intel technology. This offers flexibility by supporting several operating systems, including Windows CE, XP, Vista, Linux.

Cymbet demonstrated thin-film battery technology and power management solutions.

Indian companies Moschip, Mistral and GDA Technologies, now part of L&T Infotech, also showcased their strengths.

vrishi@thehindu.co.in