5 Things we are Looking for in 2006

The Battle for the Soul of DSO
DSO hit the streets a couple of years ago. Wind River said that they only gave the concept a name, “Device Software Optimization,” and that the underlying principles were already in the marketplace. Several vendors have taken Wind River up on its offer to define a new market most-notably Green Hills and ENEA. Each of these vendors adopted a definition of DSO that best fit with their offering and industry positioning. There has been some backlash by Wind River -most importantly in CMO John Bruggeman’s blog where he has struck out at both GHS and ENEA. Our bet is that it shakes out in 2006 or vendors will get tired of the whole thing and leave DSO to Wind River.

Security
Everyone is concerned about security, but our surveys indicate that very few developers are actually using security protocols in their devices. This will change in 2006. Suppliers of embedded and real-time operating systems will provide greater and easier access to security components in their platform offerings and security vendors will be much more prominent in the marketplace.

RT Java (again)
This is like going back to the future. We think we have written this one before. But seriously it will happen this time. Well, it should happen this time, especially in the military market where much of the work is being done. Growth in this market will be driven by the US Military’s commitment to open architectures, and the evolving improvements in Java real-time support through both the Real Time Specification for Java (Java Community Process RTSJ) and subsets for providing real-time, safety-critical, and mission-critical support from suppliers in programs such as the Navy Open Architecture Computing Environment (NOACE), the Army’s Future Combat Systems, and the joint DARPA, Air Force, and Navy Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS).

Consolidation
VDC expects 2-3 major acquisitions in 2006. The operating system and broad line suppliers of embedded tools and components will be the targets.

The VDC Blog
In 2006 VDC’s Web log will be the first real-time news and analysis source for the industry. It will be the best way to spend the first couple of minutes of your day.