Sadly, like an All Pro quarterback whose arm has long ago lost its zip, the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) returned to Boston the week of September 21, 2009. Once the “must attend event” of the fall season, this important venue continues to struggle with most of the major embedded vendors absent. Other company executives were present to speak with the press – but they didn’t host a booth. I was on a panel with Robert Day; VP marketing for LynuxWorks, who was in prominent attendance – but LynuxWorks didn’t have a booth.

Gone are most of the major chip companies. Only Microsoft, IBM Rational and Green Hills Software continue to host impressive booths. In year’s past Green Hills hosted a demonstration event in which was attended by a dozen or more viewers every hour. This year we saw only a handful of interested developers at each presentation

So what is it that accounts for this lack of participation? The decline began long before the economic crisis that we are experiencing – although the number of layoffs and the unwillingness of embedded OEMs and systems integrators to today invest in new technologies is certainly a contributing factor. In year’s past ESC Boston was a magnet for downscaled engineers to trot out their resumes. Given the severe downturn, many disenfranchised engineers didn’t see the point of pursuing a pointless effort.

It’s the leads stupid:  I believe that the Boston based ESC annual conference is a VERY important venue that is essential to the growth of the embedded industry. Even successful publications such as the ones the RTC Group provides openly hope for the success of the CMP Media sponsored event.

What sadly bring into question the future of the event are the discussions I have had with many vendors that I know well who continued to host a booth. In times of financial stress, discretionary spending becomes paramount. Vendors are focusing their strategies toward garnering qualified leads. We work with many of these companies to help them (through EMF market intelligence research) to identify their strengths and their competitive challenges in being able to not only gain qualified leads but to develop supporting documentation for sales support.

Many of these vendors expressed to me their frustration in the cost of exhibiting at ESC Boston compared with the number of qualified leads they get. Many have told me that with the minimal traffic and the indifference they found with those that stopped by their booth, that they had only a few interested leads – if any!

Given limited resources, they will need to invest their monies in areas in which they can get a significant return on their investment.

Sadly, the Boston event will continue to decline – although it would be difficult to find fault with CMP for this happening. On the bright side, ESC Silicon Valley 2010 in San Jose is only 6 months away.