This brief article highlights key findings from a recent survey of 467 embedded developers by Venture Development Corp. (VDC). Also discussed are findings from recent VDC research on vertical markets, including mobile phones, automotive telematics, and Internet services. Enjoy . . . !

Recently published research by Venture Development Corporation (VDC) indicates that nearly 60 percent of embedded engineers work for companies with fewer than 10 software developers. Furthermore, more than 75 percent of the respondents replied that development teams at their company typically employ four or fewer software developers per project.

Average number of software developers per company
(Percentage of respondents, N=467)

Industries with the largest average project team sizes include military aerospace, telecom/datacom, and consumer electronics, while retail and industrial automation markets report significantly fewer developers per project.

In addition to providing information on embedded developer population growth and key demographics by vertical market, VDC's Vertical Markets and Application Analysis report released this month also presents data on the key product categories within embedded verticals, and forecasts unit shipments of these products through 2008.

Key findings specific to some of these vertical markets include:

• By 2008, sales of mobile phones are expected to reach more than one billion units per year. The tremendous growth within the mobile and wireless market is one of the key drivers of the consumer electronics market.
• Within the industrial automation market, Internet-based software applications are finding increasing acceptance as a result of the ease of implementation, convenience, and maintenance of Web-based technologies for remote data collection, including functions such as status information, diagnostics, etc.
• Consolidation in the automotive industry has considerably narrowed the global competitive field — as a few key global car companies now control a large part of the industry.
• The rapid convergence of telephony, broadcast media services, and the Internet will drive the telecom/datacom industry, and continues to be one of the most significant trends in today's market.

According to Chris Lanfear, director of VDC's Embedded Software Practice, “Device manufacturers and embedded developers continue to face financial and time-to-market pressures. As the diversity and complexity of embedded devices and the demands placed on development teams increase, developers are looking for commercial suppliers that can offer vertically-oriented platforms from which to develop more advanced products.”

Copyright (c) 2006 Venture Development Corp. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission by LinuxDevices.com. This article was originally published by VDC in support of its “Embedded Software and Tools Practice.” VDC has been providing embedded systems market intelligence for 20 years.

 
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