CMP Technology's Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley Hosts 11,000 Creators of Technology and 330 Exhibitors at Industry's Largest Event

Prius Teardowns, The OC Choppers, ACE Awards and Vice President Al Gore's Keynote Round Out a Dynamic Program Including Technical Education on a Wide Range of Topics, including Multicore, Programmable Logic and All the Basics

PRNewswire
SAN FRANCISCO
Apr 10, 2007

CMP Technology's Embedded Systems Conference (http://www.embedded.com/esc/sv) took the Silicon Valley by storm last week, starting with a keynote by Vice President Al Gore, in which he challenged the embedded community to take a leading role in the prevention of global warming, which he said would also help to draw young people into the profession. The green theme continued throughout the week with the Toyota Prius Teardowns, while the technical program's highlights focused on the basics of embedded design, multicore and programmable logic. More than 11,000 of the world's leading engineers showed up, to be courted by 330 of the industry's leading vendors. The ACE Awards provided a gala evening for nominees, and recognized 12 companies and five individuals for their contributions to the embedded community, while the Disruption Zone highlighted this year's break-through startups.

"Due to the many diverse contributions by, and interaction with attendees, speakers and exhibitors, ESC just keeps getting better," commented Paul Miller, group president, Technology Innovators Group, of CMP Technology, who also introduced Innovation Generation, a program aimed at encouraging youth to focus on science education, at this year's ACE Awards Gala. "I thank them all for joining us this year, and look forward to seeing them next year."

On hand were more than 330 exhibitors, like Intel, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, IBM, Microchip and Freescale Semiconductor, showcasing new products and announcements. A press conference and breakfast afforded the opportunity for more eight vendors to highlight their new products for a group of more than 50 analysts and media.

The Disruption Zone again provided a forum for the industry's analyst and investment communities to get to know the break-through startups in embedded systems.

Rich Nass, program chair of ESC and editor in chief of Embedded Systems Design observed several key focus areas at this year's conference.

Multi-core is getting closer (if it's not already here) -- "With Intel's announcement of the new quad-core microprocessor, it's obvious that multi-core is here in a big way. Designers took the opportunity over the past week to get trained in what the technology is; how it works; what it means to them; and most importantly, how it gets designed into an embedded system."

Back to basics -- "Basics are still at the heart of the design. While programming continues to get more and more complex, it became quite clear that programmers still need a solid foundation to build upon. While the more advanced classes get most of the spotlight, the seats in the 'basics' classrooms seemed to always be filled."

FPGAs -- "Designers still look to programmable logic to handle their glue logic needs, but the tentacles of the FPGAs seem to be getting longer and longer, as more and more of the functionality is incorporated into those devices. That includes the processor functions, which are now mainstream in FPGAs, as evidenced by some of the recent announcements."

  Throughout the week, ESC also featured a number of co-located events:

  Prius Teardowns

ESC SV attendees found out what is really inside this top hybrid vehicle as top engineers "tear it down" on the show floor. The six modules of the Prius examined included the User Interface/Dash Module, Airbag Control Module, Satellite Navigation System/DVD, Inverter/Converter, Engine Control Module and Skid Control Module.

Segway and Lego Mindstorm Robot Teardown

Other product teardowns included the "tearing down" the new Segway Personal Transporter and the Lego Mind Storm.

ACE Awards

On Tuesday, April 4, CMP Technology announced the winners of its third Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards (http://www.eetimes.com/ace) at the EE Times ACE Awards Gala. The awards recognize the electronics industry's creators of technology who demonstrate cutting-edge breakthroughs, innovation and leadership. More than 600 technology luminaries, industry influencers and business leaders were in attendance. Award recipients included NVIDIA Corporation as Large Company of the Year, Clear Shape Technologies as the Design Team of the Year and Eric Lidow, chairman and founder of International Rectifier was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award.

Disruption Zone

The first-ever ESC SV Disruption Zone highlighted revolutionary innovations from software and hardware companies seeking to forever change the embedded systems industry. The forum consisted of a specially created exhibition area on the ESC SV trade show floor, along with an exclusive, invitation-only breakfast for industry influencers -- venture capitalists, analysts and media. Participating companies included: eASIC Corporation, Encirq, Quickfilter Technologies, Innovative Silicon, TimeSys, Sidense and StackableUSB.

Keynote by Vice President Al Gore

Vice President Gore attracted local media, who interviewed attendees as they awaited the keynote, and a standing-room-only crowd at San Jose's Civic Auditorium. He spoke about the climate crisis, the role that the embedded systems community can play, and his thoughts on the way forward. Specifically, Gore noted that the embedded industry will be critical to building intelligence into everyday devices that allow better energy efficiency, and the ability for individuals to contribute to a smart grid that may eventually eliminate coal-burning plants altogether. He also noted that the embedded community's involvement in global warming solutions will help to solve another dire problem facing the U.S. -- waning interest from young people in science education.

Industry Address by Intel, Featuring Orange County Choppers

Doug Davis, vice president and general manager, Intel's Embedded and Communications Group, discussed how today's embedded environment is demanding innovation and how processors will rise to meet these challenges. The Industry Address featured a special appearance by Orange County Choppers, the custom motorcycle company behind The Learning Channel hit television show, "American Chopper." The OC Choppers unveiled their most powerful bike yet to commemorate Intel's 30th anniversary of its entry into the embedded market and to celebrate the Xeon 5300 series release.

Note to Journalists: Press and analysts are invited to view event press releases and other information at http://www.embedded.com/esc/sv/pressinfo/escnews/.

About the CMP Technology Electronics Group

The CMP Technology Electronics Group is the premier technology and business media brand serving the information needs of the creators of technology worldwide. Offering a full suite of products and services to reach electronics technology professionals throughout the world, the CMP Technology Electronics Group delivers the most targeted audience and actionable information to marketers in the electronics technology community. Each month, the CMP Technology Electronics Group delivers more than 1 million copies of its print publications, including EE Times, to subscribers in more than 23 countries and online visitors from 100 countries view more than 8 million pages on its Web sites in seven languages including EE Times Online and TechOnLine. More than 40,000 decision makers attend its Embedded Systems Conferences each year in Boston, Silicon Valley, China and Taiwan.

About CMP Technology (http://www.cmp.com/)

CMP Technology is a marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

   Contact:
   Michelle Sabolich
   Atomic Public Relations for CMP Technology
   michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com
   (415) 402-0230

SOURCE: CMP Technology

CONTACT: Michelle Sabolich of Atomic Public Relations, +1-415-402-0230,
or michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com, for CMP Technology

Web site: http://www.cmp.com/
http://www.embedded.com/esc/sv