Embedded computers speed design cycle

Joseph M. Guglielmi directs the worldwide operations of the Motorola Computer Group, a market leader in providing embedded single-board-computer products and systems. Prior to joining Motorola in 1995, Guglielmi was chairman and CEO of Taligent Inc. (Cupertino, CA), an object-oriented software company he started in 1992. A 30-year career with IBM preceded his founding of Taligent. At IBM, Guglielmi held a variety of key executive positions, was responsible for developing IBM's first successful minicomputer line, and established a separate division for marketing IBM's first PC products. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and has attended the executive MBA program at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Embedded computers are everywhere--from telecom and medical equipment to air-traffic-control systems and plant-floor controllers--and the market is growing at 20% per year, says Guglielmi.

Design News: What is an embedded single-board computer?

Guglielmi: We make computers that fit on a single board that can be various form factors and sizes. These boards are put into system configurations that are designed to be embedded into one of our customers' products. An example would be a single-board computer in a medical system, such as a blood analyzer or MRI scanner.

Q: What's driving the growth of this market?

A: Much of what we see in industry today requires computerization of products downstream. And there aren't enough people who understand computer technologies to really satisfy that need within most customers' engineering shops.

Q: What are the advantages of outsourcing a single-board computer?

A: What we sell is really time-to-market. In the end, customers can decide that they need computer technology in their products, and they can design it themselves by buying chips and building boards and building systems. Or they can come to a company like Motorola Computer Group and buy a product that's custom or semi-custom to their requirements. We also sell the ability to manage the technology as it changes.

Q: Could you elaborate on that point?

A: It might take a year or 18 months for us to work with a customer and come up with exactly the right technology and form factor for their application. Then the product would be shipped for 5, 8, or 10 years--in the case of air-traffic-control systems or plant-floor controllers. As computer technology changes, we make the change transparent to the customer's application. As new processors come out, we upgrade the single-board-computer design so that customers can take advantage of the faster microprocessor. As some technology gets obsoleted, we do revisions to design out the old technology. We manage the back end of the technology curve and insulate the customers from those changes so they can concentrate on what they do best--building scanners, printers, or plant-floor automation systems.

Q: What industries are showing the largest demand for single-board computers?

A: By far the telecommunications industry. With all the change going on today, we see a tremendous demand for single-board computers in applications from line conditioning to offloading switching services onto digital fault-tolerant systems. In the latter case, we have to design the system to be every bit as reliable as the central switch. Two other industries showing high demand are industrial plant-floor automation, such as managing a semiconductor manufacturing plant, and the imaging market, which includes medical imaging as well as printing and scanning applications. Networking applications in these two areas is a common goal.

Q: What trends do you see developing in this market?

A: People sometimes think of embedded computers as being last generation's technology, but we don't. We see our customers wanting more and more processing power to analyze and handle their computing requirements. Second, there is a shift to more open-standard technologies--over half our line is being handled with Motorola PowerPC technologies or 68000 technologies, but we see customers also wanting Intel technology in the embedded space. Third, there's a trend toward CompactPCI, which is the ability in the embedded environment to use standard plug-in I/O attachments in these configurations.

Q: How is Motorola Computer Group positioned to continue as a leader in this market?

A: First, we have a world-class engineering team that has learned how to work with other engineering teams. Second, we offer a broad base of technologies and solutions. Third, our manufacturing facilities can provide high-quality, custom designs according to our customers' schedules. Lastly, we have a worldwide sales force that has detailed customer knowledge. And, in this industry, knowing your customers' business is fundamental.