Kontron
InterphasePUBLISHER'S LETTER
The (Truly) Ubiquitous PC Heads Growth in Embedded-Computer Market
WARREN ANDREWS, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Our research shows that the embedded computer industry has been growing at a staggering annual rate of better than 15%. Just a quick look around at everything from gas pumps to paving machines and from office copiers to X-ray machines (not to mention war machines), and it’s easy to see that pretty near everything is run by computers. In many cases some are in third, fourth, and even fifth generation. And, there’s strong evidence pointing to the fact that the personal computer (x86 architecture) in its many incarnations has largely taken over the embedded computer world.
Many of the typical embedded computer form-factors such as cPCI, VME, ATCA and MicroTCA are experiencing far slower growth than that of PC-oriented hardware. These architectures are bumping along—some lucky to be flat, others up as much as 5%. And while much of this 15%+ growth has been through a variety of standard architectures from basic PC/104, PC/104+ and variants to more exotic form-factors such as CommExpress, a look at the revenue of these companies alone doesn’t explain all of the dramatic growth. Some PC/104 companies have been able to maintain something in the area of 12% growth and a few have closed in on the 15% mark, and still others are catapulting to rates approaching 20% and 25%. But the overall average is under 15% growth.
What makes up the difference? It would appear that the lonely motherboard-based PC is taking up the slack. Once the bane of many industrial and commercial systems, the motherboard-based computer has come a long way. It wasn’t too long ago that PCs earned a bad name as low-cost motherboards usually imported and slapped together in a system that, perhaps more often than not, failed for one or more of a variety of reasons. But, PCs that were designed for intermittent operation in benign environments were often piled up together with limited air circulation in un-air-conditioned equipment closets and asked to perform 24/7. There was no notion, at the time, of a ruggedized PC. And, often the difference in price between rugged computers and motherboard-based PCs was so dramatic there was little option.
Nightmare stories abound about the early days of PCs in industrial control and communications. Some took the form of humor, such as instead of having lamps to indicate which unit(s) failed, an operator simply had to look and see where the smoke was coming from. Other stories talked of costly molding machines and other industrial equipment rendered useless because of computer failures.Those days are now behind us.
PCs are finding themselves in a variety of places one might have found PDP-11s or VAX or SGI machines in years past. This was particularly apparent at the recent I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industrial Training, Simulation and Education Conference). This traditionally military-oriented conference focuses on a variety of simulation and training. However, over the past few years there seems to be a significant shift. First, there’s been a shift away from what was once the main military thrust of the show from aircraft cockpit, small arms and battle simulators to all variety of simulation for both military as well as both industrial and commercial applications. That’s not to say the former were not there, they were; but they are beginning to be upstaged by more commercial/industrial simulators. Everyone from engine repair and service technicians to heavy crane operators now learn their craft on elaborate simulators.
Second, there’s been a shift as more and more PCs are replacing racks of minicomputers and other elaborate hardware. In some booths, purpose-built hardware still prevailed, but in an increasing number, PCs were apparent. In some cases they were specially packaged to withstand the rigors of the specific application, in others, several stand-alone PCs were sitting around the periphery of the simulator cabled together.
And PCs seem to be up to the task of running advanced simulation. It’s come a long way from the early days of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator—or for that matter, the early Link trainer. Today’s PCs often have multiple multicore processors, elaborate graphics subsystems ultra-high-performance memory and more. And in some cases also feature custom packaging incorporating multiple fans—one for the processor chip, one for the graphics subsystem, one for the memory subsystem, one for the power supply and two to bring in and expel fresh air. Is the battle over for other architectures? Not by a long shot—expect to see big growth numbers for MicroTCA and others in the future—but in the meantime, PCs are here to stay and are expected to see continued growth in industrial and commercial applications.