Embedded Systems Design - Europe - August/September 2007 - (Page 18)

market study dors that have offer tools that can do simultaneous kernel and application debugging under Linux, which, in my opinion, is an amazing feat.” Barr says, “The key here would be scheduling, getting the product out the door faster. I’m surprised people are looking for better debuggers, because that doesn’t really help you design. If you’re spending your time in the debugger trying to ﬁnd a problem, you’re in trouble. I’ve actually spent hours watching people in the debugger not learning a thing, when all you have to do is reason out the problem, know how computers work. Then use the debugger to conﬁrm your suspicions.” Here’s one that made me smile. I’ve been preaching to the processor vendors for years that it’s all about the tools. It doesn’t make any difference if you got the best, fastest, lowest-power processor in the world. If you don’t have the right ecosystem built around that processor, you will not succeed (Figure 10). OUTSOURCING A topic that’s been discussed a lot recently, particularly by yours truly, is the issue of outsourcing, whether that work is done here in the States or abroad. About 39 percent of the respondents say that they’ve been involved in one or more projects that were either partially or completely outsourced (Figure 11). Twice as many of those projects that were outsourced went outside the U.S. You get one guess as to which region outside the U.S. most of the work was outsourced to. Time’s up – India with 31 percent which was followed by Western Europe with 12 percent, China 8 percent while Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe both got 4 percent of the projects. OTHER NOTABLE STATS Which phase of the design took the longest (Figure 12)? Testing and debugging is the winner. Analog components vendors beware! When it comes to brand loyalty, you may be out of luck. According 18 If you could improve one thing about your embedded design activities, what would it be? Debugging tools 16% 19% Programming tools 10% 22% 33% 31% 32% Schedule 22% 25% Interfaces Other hardware 8% 9% 8% 9% 5% 6% 7% 6% 5% 6% Microprocessor Operating system* 4% IDE* Other 0% Figure 9 7% 5% 6% 10% 20% 30% 40% 2006 (N = 838) 2007 (N = 1,012) *Note: OS and IDE was not asked in 2006/2005 2005 (N = 1,577) Have you personally been involved in embedded development projects that have been partially or completely outsourced? Yes, outsourced inside of U.S. Yes, outsourced outside of U.S. No 0% Figure 11 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 13% 26% 61% 70% 2007 (N = 927) Average number of years company has been outsourcing: 3.1 years AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2007 | embedded systems design europe | www.embedded.com/europe 012-013-014-016-017-018-019_ESDE18 18 6/09/07 13:26:36 http://www.embedded.com/europe

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Embedded Systems Design - Europe - August/September 2007

Contents News Cover Feature: Annual Study Uncovers the Embedded Market DSP Serves the Convergence Needs of Small Business Embedded Test Offers Unique Value for Serial I/O The Software Detective: First-Fault Data Capture Boards May Shrink But Performance Doesn't New Products Advertising Contacts

Embedded Systems Design - Europe - August/September 2007

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