The two terms are connected in more ways than we think.
I’ve had a lot on my mind the past few weeks while reporting on seemingly disparate topics like the Internet of Things, embedded software and hardware accelerators, but in the world today, these things are really tightly connected, actually. They all boil down to convergence and security in my mind.
Looking at the Internet of Things (IoT), which promises to connect all of us and all of our things is a shining example of convergence and draws upon many disciplines and stretches across multiple vertical market segments. Tying it all together? Sensors. The question still remains about how to keep them secure enough to prevent them being tampered with.
Connected to the concept of the IoT is of course embedded software, which obviously will play a huge role in processing the sensor data. Convergence comes into play here as developers get more systematic about verifying that software through software regression testing in a way that looks more like the way that people have done it on large-scale computer networks and computer systems, I was told by Cadence Fellow, founder of Tensilica and co-creator of RISC, Chris Rowen. This guy knows his software, and hardware too.
Security impacts embedded software as well, a topic I plan to explore soon in depth.
That’s two of the topics I brought up above, the third being hardware accelerators, which fit in with both embedded software and the IoT too. Hardware accelerators are used to offload certain functions for power and performance reasons, which embedded software has a lot to do with, but the connection to the IoT, I admit, is a bit more fuzzy until you consider the central network that IoT devices will be hooked into.
I don’t know about you, but my head is swimming with the possibilities of technology today and it is fascinating to watch how it all evolves.
Please share your experiences and thoughts on these subjects!
~Ann Steffora Mutschler
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