Embedded Systems Design Europe - October 2007 - (Page 8)

news Emerson buys Motorola’s embedded comms group One of the oldest and most well established names in embedded computing, Motorola’s Communications Computing group, is being acquired, for $350 million in cash by Emerson who said that the Motorola unit will be a good ﬁt to the Artesyn Technologies Inc. embedded computing operation it bought last year. The deal also represents a signiﬁcant consolidation in the sector, which is said to be worth $6 billion a year and growing. The Motorola unit being bought had sales in the last ﬁnancial year of about $520 million, and the division will become part of Emerson’s Network Power group. The Motorola ECC business provides embedded computing products and services to communication infrastructure and equipment manufacturers in telecommunications, medical imaging, defense and aerospace and industrial automation. Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., the unit, which was formed in 1980, employs about 1,100 workers, mostly engineers. Emerson said the deal brings complementary technologies to its own offerings in the embedded computing and embedded power businesses. Commenting on the deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, David Farr, chairman, CEO and president, Emerson, said: “The combination of Motorola’s ECC business with the $100 million embedded computing business we acquired as part of Artesyn last year establishes Emerson as a leader in the embedded computing industry. Through this transaction, Emerson can provide greater capabilities to our customers as they adopt advanced new technologies and expand applications for their customers.” Both Emerson Network Power and Motorola ECC have been at the forefront of developing the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA) and Micro Telecommunications Computing Architecture (MicroTCA) standards. Motorola’s involvement in embedded communications began when it acquired Arizona-based Four-Phase Systems Inc. in 1982. The group’s employees are split between Arizona and Germany operations and it was instrumental in such standards organizetions as VMEbus Manufacturers Group, PCI Industrial Computing Manufacturers Group, and Communications Platform Trade Association. Shlomo Pri-Tal, director of the group technology ofﬁce for the Motorola group, is president of CP-TA and an executive board member of PICMG. Pri-Tal said that his group differed from Sun Microsystems or HewlettPackard in that it had never sold products direct to carriers, but only to OEMs. As part of Emerson, Pri-Tal said he expects his group to continue sales of boards into Motorola systems groups serving wireless and wireline markets. “In fact, we never in our history had a guaranteed sale into other Motorola groups, we always had to compete for our business inside Motorola with companies like Radisys,” Pri-Tal said. He added that he has been assured by Emerson that it wants executives to continue to play key roles in PICMG, CP-TA, Service Availability Forum and other standards bodies. Pri-Tal said top Motorola executives realized the board-level business could not grow it it remained within a larger OEM like Motorola. “There is a recognition that being a part of Motorola may not allow us to realize our full growth,” Pri-Tal said. “In fact, it could have an impact on older businesses like VME and PCI. When we are part of Emerson, our customers do not have to feel as though they are competing against Motorola in any sense.” The move follows Intel Corp.’s sale of its PCI and Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture board business to Radisys Inc. Two of ATCA’s largest proponents within PICMG, Intel and Motorola, now have turned over their respective businesses to single-board computer specialists. LynuxWorks and TTTech to cooperate on avionics LynuxWorks and TTTech Computertechnik AG have announced a cooperation aiming at improving productivity in avionics system integration. LynuxWorks will provide the driver software for its Linux-based LynxOS real-time system, a TTTech spokesperson explained. The LynxOS version 178 is certiﬁed for use in aerospace environments by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The move will enable LynxOS to 8 run in time-triggered environments. In addition, the operating system will support hardware-in-the-loop simulations for time-triggered systems. “This will facilitate and speed up system integration with heterogeneous components,” according to the TTTech spokesperson. “The cooperation of LynuxWorks and TTTech is a quantum leap in development and integration of data busses in aerospace applications”, said Joe Wlad, Director Project Management for LynuxWorks. “With Time-Triggered Protocol (TTP) and LynxOS, avionics developers get a prototyping platform for deterministic high-speed applications targeting at commercial and military aerospace systemsbased on LynxOS 178.” LynuxWorks and TTTech will conduct joint projects for aerospace customers. Time-triggered systems are implemented in the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus 380. OCTOBER 2007 | embedded systems design europe | www.embedded.com/europe 008_ESDE.indd 8 12/10/07 10:32:56 http://www.embedded.com/europe

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Embedded Systems Design Europe - October 2007

Embedded Systems Design Europe - October 2007 Contents Linux Set to Dominate Torvalds Updates Linux Kernel ARM Establishes Smart Card Foundry Program Emerson Buys Motorola's Embedded Comms Group LynuxWroks and TTTech to Cooperate on Avionics MontaVista CEO Looks for Acquisitions in Europe Ready: Multiprocessing Technology Provides Opportunity Automotive to Drive MCU Market New Supporters Join COM Express Group Analyst Weighs TI Versus Xilinx Versus PicoChip Cover Feature: Embedded Systems Security Has Moved to the Forefront Trace Exposes the Toughest Real-Time Bugs Employ a Secure Flavor of Linux Use an MCU's Low-Power Modes in Foreground/Background Systems Transporting Video Over Wireless Networks New Products Advertising Contacts

Embedded Systems Design Europe - October 2007

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