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in everything from consumer electronics to industrial equipment,
embedded systems —small, specialized computer systems
stored on a single microprocessor — are playing a major
role in the growth of the Internet and the boom of wireless
communication channels.
Due in part to embedded systems, more and more consumer
products and industrial equipment are becoming Internet-friendly.
For example, DVD players are now dialing in to Internet databases
for movie trivia, and GPS (Global Positioning System) mechanisms
are often integrated into automobiles. It is all proof that
the Internet and wireless technologies are not just for personal
computers anymore.
Thanks to these broadening avenues of communication, companies
now have a growing host of opportunities to streamline business
operations such as sales and marketing, to simplify customer
and partner transactions, and to dramatically increase employee
productivity.
 By
leveraging the growing popularity of embedded system-driven
devices, such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) and Web-enabled
cell phones, organizations can tap potentially massive new
revenue streams and make a positive impact on their bottom
lines.
Most embedded systems are small enough to sit on the end
of your thumb and are usually hidden within much larger and
more complex mobile computing or electronic devices, so they
often go unnoticed. But embedded systems actually represent
the vast majority of semiconductor sales. According to the
World Semiconductor Trade Statistics blue book, there are
an estimated 5 billion embedded microprocessors in use today — a
whopping 94 percent share of the world market. (By comparison,
unit sales of high-profile PC processors, such as the Intel
Pentium and Motorola PowerPC, check in at only 6 percent
market share.)
Getting smarter
Thanks to the Internet and the market explosion of new
technologies, embedded systems are becoming smarter and more
network-friendly every day. So, whereas today’s embedded
systems may perform such mundane tasks as synchronizing the
clock in a microwave oven, tomorrow’s systems might
download recipes via the Internet or alert repair companies
of product malfunction.
Clearly, the growing use of embedded systems on the Internet
also represents a lucrative proving ground for vendors looking
to extend their reach of desktop operating systems and development
tools. Because there is not yet an established market leader
in embedded operating systems, companies such as Microsoft
(with Windows CE), Sun Microsystems (with Java 2 Micro Edition),
and Red Hat Software (with Linux for Embedded Developers)
all face an excellent opportunity to branch their operating
systems into this promising market.
The challenge these companies face, of course, is to deliver
quality products while ensuring that their operating systems
can interoperate with similar devices in the market. No obvious
leader has yet taken the lead in this field, and the next
few years should offer some fascinating developments from
competing vendors, each of which is struggling to achieve
an edge.
 Thinking
small
Most experts predict that the current explosion of activity
in the embedded technology sector is only going to get bigger.
A recent report by market research firm IDC predicts that
by 2002, Internet appliances — primarily consisting
of embedded systems — could rival the unit volume numbers
posted by all PC vendors combined.
Dataquest echoes this sentiment, predicting that by 2003,
400 million Internet appliances will be in use, and that
by 2010, all home PCs will be replaced by embedded system-based
devices. In this scenario, most home offices would probably
use one or more separate Internet appliances, which will
either be industry-specialized or will converge many technologies
(phone, fax, Internet, and TV) into one device.
Keys to growth
Embedded systems have a number of industry trends to
thank for their growing popularity, at least in part. First
of all, their phenomenal growth is closely linked to the
increasing availability of more powerful and less expensive
processors, as well as to the decreasing price points of
low-cost, high-density memory. Industry analysts are also
pointing to several other factors that are driving embedded
system usage, all closely associated with business and consumer
expectations.
 The
first factor is the ongoing emergence of standards-based
operating systems for embedded devices. Current usage trends
show the market to be fragmented with developers employing
a combination of commercial, free, and proprietary operating
systems for development (see related pie chart). With this
in mind, many major operating system vendors are repurposing
their wares for the embedded marketplace.
A case in point is Microsoft: At the recent Embedded Systems
Conference 2000 in San Jose, Calif., the company made several
announcements of its intentions to promote the use of the
Windows CE operating system in Web-enabled cell phones and
PDAs. These plans included offering enhancements to Windows
CE 3.0 to make it easier to network and communicate among
embedded system-based devices.
Not to be outdone is Sun Microsystems, which, in conjunction
with a variety of industry partners, has developed the Java
2 Micro Edition (J2ME) standard, a development language that
combines a small-footprint JVM (Java virtual machine) with
a set of APIs for use in a range of embedded applications.
Of course, Linux vendors are also thinking small. For example,
Red Hat Software’s Red Hat for Embedded Developers provides
a toolkit for developers looking to create open-source applications
for embedded-system devices that contain as little as 32KB
of memory.
As embedded operating system choices continue to percolate
to the top, the real winners will be the developers who are
able to decrease the time to market for business applications.
Ultimately, this will allow businesses to innovate more quickly,
delivering new services to customers at a much more rapid
rate.
 To
complement the additional embedded operating system choices,
integrated software developers have also made strides to
streamline application development. Only a few short years
ago, embedded software development environments paled in
comparison to their native desktop PC counterparts. But the
gap has closed considerably.
For example, Green Hills Software’s MULTI® 2000
IDE runs under Windows and Unix and allows development in
a variety of applications, including C, C++, Embedded C++,
and Fortran. Furthermore, the MULTI® 2000 environment
includes several familiar desktop application development
features, including run-time error checking, source-level
debugging, version control, and remote debugging to a variety
of target environments.
As do operating system choices, innovations in integrated
software development environments — designed specifically
with embedded systems in mind — dramatically reduce
development time. By removing stumbling blocks to embedded
systems development, such optimized IDEs eliminate headaches
for developers, increasing their efficiency and lowering
development costs.
The continual rise of Internet usage by consumers and businesses
has also lit a fire under the growth of embedded technology.
Because these systems can interconnect with one another via
a myriad of wired and wireless networking options, they are
supremely viable in this marketplace. For example, high-level
protocol support for TCP/IP and SMTP is now commonplace among
the embedded systems used in most handheld devices.
SNMP agents can also be easily integrated into embedded
systems. This makes it easier to monitor performance and
update configuration information using industry-standard
network monitoring tools, such as Hewlett-Packard’s
OpenView.
Comprehensive, seamless, and worldwide connected embedded
systems may still be a pipe dream today, but they are quickly
becoming more accessible and controllable thanks to LANs,
WANs, and the Internet. Many businesses are already using
embedded technology to innovate with voice, video, and data
traffic, hoping to set the stage for a competitive advantage
in the future.
With so much attention being paid to making the Internet
pervasive, smart, and easy to use, the sky is the limit for
embedded systems. Beyond their sheer numbers and dwindling
price points, embedded systems are becoming smarter and more
controllable — a potent combination that benefits both
businesses and consumers alike.
Technology Analyst Todd Coopee (todd_coopee@infoworld.com)
covers a variety of Internet topics for the Test Center.
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