Have your cake and eat it too – with computer modules

If we cast our minds back to the previous crisis in 2002, we will remember that the COM market quickly recovered from a relatively small decline in demand and went on to experience a period of rapid growth. The reasons for this are easily explained and will hopefully prove themselves valid again in the coming weeks and months. Then - as now - the crisis forced many companies to increase their efficiency. After taking a close look at corporate development processes, companies often decide to outsource the development of the computer related parts of their applications to a specialised provider. The COM market has been able to profit from this move towards greater outsourcing in the past and is likely to benefit from it again now. What may at first appear like a transfer of know how, is actually a refocusing on core competencies and a proven means to cut costs. The company's own application specific know how is integrated on the carrier board, the complete PC part is purchased in the shape of an embedded computer module and plugged into the carrier board. Apart from reducing development staff, such a modular approach also results in shorter development times and greater flexibility. By simply plugging in different modules into the same base board, it becomes possible to develop entire product families. Companies can also react much more quickly to the latest processor and chipset technologies by swapping modules. Since modules are standardised, it's not even a big deal to change from one vendor to another. Following the recent introduction of the extremely low power Intel Atom processor family a new trend is starting to emerge among COM users. Instead of upgrading, they are increasingly on the look out for solutions to downgrade. Apart from its reasonable price, the Atom's extremely low power consumption is often the reason for a module change. So, due to a desire to economise – driven not least by the current downturn – ecological considerations are finally gaining ground with this trend. A simple module change can drastically reduce power dissipation without lowering performance. For instance, a five year old module with a typical power dissipation of 30-40W can be replaced with one of the newest modules which uses a mere 5W. Since many embedded applications are in use 24/7 all year round, energy savings of up to 300kWh are feasible. Companies can save around €50 per module per year in running costs while actively doing something to reduce their impact on the environment. Who said you couldn't have your cake and eat it too?