Archive for the ‘Perspective’ Category
Embedded Acquisitions, Mergers, and Partnerships – are they Good or Bad for the Industry, Employees and the Shareholders?
February 3rd, 2010 | 
Author:
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim – George Santiago
Tough economic times create strange bedfellows. Does one need to purchase a technology, with its attendant costs and complications, when a lease or partner relationship would suffice? Do complimentary technologies and markets provide a return greater than the sum of the parts – or is the result characterized as “subtraction by addition?”
EMF believes that embedded consolidation through acquisition will be the norm over the next few years as roll backs in DoD discretionary funding impact the larger purchasers.
Let’s look to four recent acquisitions with an eye on compatibility, growth potential and whether there is a measurable outcome. Is this a trend, a lifeline or a passing strategic initiative – you decide.
These include:
- IBM Rational buys Telelogic
- Intel buys Wind River Systems
- Cavium acquires MontaVista
- Artisan acquires Aonix
Is Cavium’s Acquisition of MontaVista Good or Bad for Commercial Linux?
On November 10, 2009, Cavium, a publicly traded provider of highly integrated semiconductor processors that enable intelligent networking, communications, storage and security applications, signed a definitive agreement to acquire MontaVista. Cavium stated that MontaVista would continue to operate separately and their customers would not be restricted to using only Cavium processors.
Immediately, questions arose:
- Who is Cavium and why did they make this acquisition?
- Was Jim Ready clipping Burger King Coupons?
- Was MontaVista motivated by Intel’s acquisition of Wind River?
- Does this mean that commercial Linux is facing financial do-do?
- What is really going on behind the scenes and is this a good or poor marriage?
What Embedded Vendors Can Learn From IBM
“You never know who’s been swimming naked until the tide goes out” - Warren Buffet
IBM gets it! Why don’t others? With $22 billion in annual software sales they certainly qualify as the 2000 pound gorilla – but they don’t act that way. They didn’t get to that level by being arrogant (like another large gorilla?) – quite to the contrary.
- They strongly support the analyst community
- They have no secrets – they show us their roadmap, tell us what they have in the works, confess their concerns, listen and encourage other views
- Unlike some embedded vendors, they see analysts/editors as a respected strength to their business
- They subscribe to the best market intelligence and they study it and use it
Reading (or Misreading) the Embedded Market Roadsigns
Co-authored by: Dolores Krasner, VP Market Intelligence, EMF
Remember the old song “Signs”? The lyrics went “signs, signs, everywhere signs, messing up the scenery blowing my mind - don’t do this do that, can’t you read the signs”?
With all of the FUD, claims and counterclaims of misrepresentation between embedded vendors, what is a developer, manager or executive to believe, and how is one to make sense of whether one product or another is best suited for one’s use? No wonder potential users are leery of advertised and promoted claims.
Is it possible that those making the most noise and creating the most FUD are those messing up the scenery for the rest of us? Moreover, are these disruptions taking us away from the real signs that are defined by developers and managers that detail their likes, dislikes, and issues of greatest importance? Finally, what are the market trends that are characterized by revenue growth, best practices and ROI calculations?
I chose the above graphic to illustrate my frustrations (and I suspect the frustrations of others) with the misleading hype that has unfortunately become part of our embedded market culture. What I loved about the graphic was the ridiculous message that hid the information of most importance to the reader – the bridge was out!
So what should the embedded market signs tell us – based on year-over-year EMF Developer Surveys, vendor reported shipments and EMF privleged information - about the road ahead and how to avoid the bridges that are out?
Selling into Disruptive Markets: The Use of Market Information to Determine and Establish Product Values
The Cheshire cat said to Alice, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there – and when you get there, there’s no there, there” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
The Cheshire cat could have been talking to some embedded vendors. If you don’t understand or track the broader marketplace and what your customers and potential customers are doing and experiencing, then how can you possibly develop the best strategic plan?
Historically, new and more forceful markets that redefine economic demand replace markets that create economic downturns. Today we are at a transition point in our economic recovery that will redefine markets, and we are currently witnessing an irrevocable upheaval in the marketplace for software design and development tools, components and services. There will be winners and losers. How then does an embedded vendor mitigate against uncertainty and find direction? We believe that market intelligence is the antidote to market uncertainty.
Posted in Best Practices, Development Tools, Market Intelligence, Marketing and Sales, Perspective | 
Tags: Regulatory Issues | 
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What was Intel Thinking when it Bought Wind River?
It looks like Déjà vu all over again – Yogi Berra
OK. Every meeting I go to I’m asked my opinion regarding Intel’s acquisition of Wind River – so here goes. To be honest, people richer than me are behind and part of this acquisition, so who am I to think that I know better? To be sure, some of the people richer than I am have screwed up on a far grander scale than I have, so why not offer my perspective?
My first response to the question is a flashback to the “Shortest Book” jokes that I used to revel in decades ago. “Ethics for Enron Executives” would certainly be among the “shortest book titles”. My contribution to this arcane joke file was “Famous Jewish Weightlifters” a title that my rabbi didn’t understand.
Recently I thought of adding “Successful Intel Acquisitions and Spin-offs” to the list. Those of you old enough to remember Dialogic and Ziatech (as well as a number of software-based hardware analysis and virtual development platform spin-offs) will get my point.
Preparing for the Wake – The 2009 Embedded Systems Conference in Boston
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.