>>Do WIND and RSYS compete for the same market?
Not in my mind. RSYS mainly sells embedded systems hardware components, specifically Intel x86-based systems. WIND, MWAR and INTS are all 99.9% software, and multi-platform.
It seems to me that the attraction of RSYS components, particularly to beginning embedded systems developers, is the familiarity of the X86 architecture. I suspect this translates into quick and easy development of embedded systems, almost like taking the case off your PC and embedding the internals in another device. I suppose it should not be too surprising that there must be a lot of X86 business that would attempt to fill a huge demand for embedded systems applications. However, only by knowing more about the lasting nature of this demand, would it be safe for the investor to count on it continuing at such a fast pace.
Industrial strength development of embedded systems needs the flexibility of choosing among many different kinds of microprocessors/microcontrollers, and penetrating software tools for development, with most deeply embedded applications needing a guaranteed deterministic response time. Most serious embedded systems design engineers will always require this level of flexibility and capability, since cost of goods sold always dominates commodity products. (Unlike PC end-users, embedded systems designers use value engineering to meet performance specifications at minimum total cost, including development and production.) For this reason, no matter how much demand RSYS is able to generate, the industrial strength side of embedded systems will continue to grow in concert with the commoditization of ubiquitous, hidden computers.
I noticed that RSYS will be attempting to dust off the real-time RTOS they got as a part of what was spun off from Intel., and enter the software side of embedded systems. This is probably caused by their customers demanding more industrial strength software tools even when packaging a PC. However, I would not expect RSYS to challenge RTOS vendor leaders any more than Intel did or IBM, Motorolla, HP, Hitachi or DEC can with their RTOS. If anything, I would expect upgrading RSYS customers over time to switch to an established RTOS vendor whether or not they continue using Intel architecture. Don't forget that Intel decided to put a variant of VxWorks, with consequent run-time license fees, in the I2O chip (i960 RP), not their own RTOS at the time, which is now owned by RSYS.
While I cannot comment on the outlook for RSYS, it seems the company is not now, and probably never will be, a serious competitor of pure RTOS vendors.This is why I do not include RSYS in my discussions about WIND's competition.
Allen, |
