Embedded Systems

Amino Communications, the Cambridge TV-over-Internet specialist, is about to bring out a set-top box with a hard disk drive to add user-control to its basic home gateway product. “In the fourth quarter we’ll be shipping a set-top box with an 80Gbyte hard disk,” David Cormie, marketing manager at Amino, told Electronics Weekly. “It will give the user more control.” The ...

“The time is right” for network computing if Linux and the growing Chinese market can be harnessed. That is according to PMC-Sierra, which is promoting its collaboration to revive the concept of network computing with MIPS Technologies, ATI Technologies and China’s Tsinghua University. It is called the Open Source Network Computing Intiative. “I believe the time is right in these ...

Developers of operating systems for embedded systems in the automotive market have had to come to terms with that perennial networking problem – the moving target. When adding the optimum comms network to their vehicle designs, the car manufacturers have moved very quickly up through the gears, from the CAN bus to LIN. But as the use of electronic systems ...

Embedded software projects are running late, over-budget and with high failure rates, according to a survey by Verum Consultants. The firm’s conclusion come after analysing a number of European projects in consumer, automotive, medical, telecoms and industrial automation markets. “We decided to do a survey to find the major issues in the industry,” said Rob Howe, chief executive at Verum. ...

MontaVista Software has opened a sales office in Bracknell as it builds on what it sees as growing interest in embedded Linux software design in the UK. The Linux software specialist said the intention is to focus marketing and support effort for its full range of software, including all editions of MontaVista Linux, along with complementary technology products such as ...

HyperTransport, PCI Express and RapidIO chip-to-chip interface technologies are gaining ground in a number of markets as the PCI bus runs out of steam, according to a report from In-Stat/MDR (www.instat.com) . Chip speed increases and the growing system complexity are behind the change, said the market researcher. As a result all three combined will experience an average compound annual growth ...

A 50 per cent rise in revenue from telecoms products helped embedded board maker SBS Technologies grow sales by 16 per cent to $133.9m for its financial year, with net profits of $5.2m. “This has been a very successful year for SBS. We have completed the fourth quarter and fiscal year with strong revenue growth,” said Clarence Peckham, CEO of SBS. ...

A virus that targets ARM based devices running Windows CE has been identified. Anti-virus firms say it is the first malicious code aimed at WinCE, although it has not been designed to spread and is intended as a “proof of concept”. The virus, known as WinCE.Dust.A (although Sophos calls it WinCE Duts-A), opens a dialogue box asking for the user’s ...

Business is looking up in Europe, according to embedded computing firm SBS Technologies. The maker of Compact PCI and VME boards said design wins are up, due to its concentration on aerospace, defence and telecoms applications. “Communications is going very nicely right now,” a spokesman at the firm told Electronics Weekly. This is led by the rollout of 2.5G and ...

The European Commission has joined with 17 organisations from the electronics and engineering community to promote Europe’s efforts in ICs and software. The public/private partnership is called ARTEMIS: Advanced R&D on Embedded Intelligent Systems. It aims to promote technology in all products from automotive to mobile telecoms and banking smartcards. The focus is on embedded electronics, and the group will ...