Keeping up with technology – it’s a relationship thing
2 mins read
OK, it's time to confess. Did you take the plunge by buying a new HD DVD player or perhaps, many years ago, a Beta video recorder? Or, wisely as it would have turned out, perhaps you held back on moving to the latest consumer technology, just to see what would eventuate.
What did happen, of course, has gone down in technology folklore as classic early-adopter calamities–Beta, although technically superior, was shafted by the VHS juggernaut, and HD DVD suffered a humiliating defeat to BlueRay.
In both your private and professional life adopting new technology is inevitable and necessary, but the trick is to back the right technology horse, and do it sooner rather than later. Research, staying abreast of the latest technology, and even intuition all help to narrow these decisions. Yet eventually the choice is between taking the plunge or being left behind. We all embrace change, even if reluctantly.
One thing is certain though, in design engineering you really do need to keep up with the technology to remain competitive. And you don't adopt a new development system or technology just because it's cool – it needs to make design easier, better, and allow the result to have a unique, competitive edge.
But unlike consumer technology trends, the direction you head with electronics design technology is inexorably linked to your design tool supplier. That relationship shapes your ability to create successful designs and tackle new technology, based on what new tech and features are implemented, and how often the tool is updated.
Ultimately it's the responsibility of a design tool vendor to provide you with access to the latest relevant technology, and deliver it as soon as possible. To make this approach work, the vendor should be in tune with design technology trends and make the right, informed choices of your behalf. It can avoid the technology buzz that's fatuous, irrelevant, or is just a distraction, and tap into new design technology that's essential for your future projects.
Perhaps even more importantly, a tool supplier also has the responsibility to make new technology it has introduced affordable and easily accessible. It's all very well to insert a new capability into a design system update, say by simply porting in a specialized stand-alone application, but the value is lost if that capability does not integrate properly with the rest of the system – or is impenetrable to real world engineers.
To this end, important new technologies such as FPGA design must be implemented in a way that lets all engineers (including hardware and application software engineers) easily use that technology in their designs – without needing specialist skills like HDL expertise. This concept should extend right through the development process, from concept to prototyping and deployment.
The success of the relationship between you and your tool vendor lies in the vendor delivering regular, valuable software updates and introducing systems that allow you to easily and quickly harness new technology, while building on your existing skills. Ultimately it must remove the price, learning curve and integration barriers to adopting important technology and responding to change. Or in effect, a design tool vendor must help you back the right technology, and remove the obstacles to harnessing that technology for your future success.
