The requirements from Hectronic’s customers vary. Some need a component ready for use, a component in the shape of a COM module, a TFT panel or an embedded motherboard perhaps. The component is purchased and the rest of the product is made by the customer themself. Yet others rely on us to develop the carrier board, complete system or product. And then there are numerous variations in-between the two. Let’s have a closer look at the options for Hectronic’s customers.

The Norwegian company Galleon Embedded Computing AS has the in-house experience to develop the processor platform themself. Yet they didn’t. Since the company is small and resources are scarce they decided to focus efforts in the area of their core competence. A ready-made COM module with the processor platform from Hectronic was used. They developed the carrier board themselves based on their cutting-edge knowledge in data storage and high speed interfaces. That’s how Galleon chose to balance make versus buy. 

A custom made BIOS, for instance, can be used to display a particular splash screen during start-up, add support for various displays and graphical interfaces as well as handling power management in the processor platform. One common cause for an adapted BIOS to be used is to include support for components and functionality, such as a specific Super I/O controller or an FPGA, not supported by the original BIOS. Yet other options from BIOS adaptations involve interrupt routing and management. BIOS offers massive opportunities in itself by adaptations and it may be the only deliverable from Hectronic to our customers.    

An example of the above is the adapted BIOS using hardware initiated so-called System Management Interrupts to significantly lower power consumption in an existing design. The example design was based on the Celeron M/Pentium M processor and the 855GME chipset. Not really low power architectures compared to platforms offered today. The platform was partially put to sleep using suspend to RAM, were woken and used for massive calculations a short period of time, and then put to sleep again. BIOS development thereby enabled battery powered operation.

A requirement may be gigabit Ethernet. The question is to what extent the requirement is fulfilled with a gigabit Ethernet controller onboard. The component in itself is working just fine but there is no guarantee that the processor platform is able to offer the data communication speeds necessary to truly reach gigabit Ethernet. The test specification is a way to address and avoid these types of issues. A test case based on how the final product is actually used brings the requirements from the specification one step closer to reality.

One of the reasons for the customer to outsource development of the hardware to Hectronic is often, at least partly, to avoid tedious work in sourcing components for production. We have the organization, contacts and a number of similar products already in production. The advantages are obvious. Development projects at Hectronic are carried out from an early stage targeted against one or two producers, which have production of boards based on the processor platform in question.

Let’s continue browsing the alternatives ranging from buying a single component from Hectronic, such as a COM module, to turn-key solutions, meaning that when the project is completed the only thing you have to do is to put the key in the lock, of your product, so to speak. We have learnt that the semi-custom strategy using a one of our COM modules integrated with a custom-made carrier board is a way of balancing the make versus buy strategies. As volumes grow the full custom strategy may prove the better choice. It involves development of a board with both the processor platform and the components needed for functionality unique to the application.

One may argue that it’s reinventing the wheel since the processor platform is already available in the shape of a COM module. It’s quite the contrary. At Hectronic, since way back, from the founding of the company actually, reuse has been a guiding principle. One of the more illustrative examples of reusing building blocks is shown below. It’s about simply copying the processor platform from the COM module and paste it onto the customized board. Thereafter it’s just to add functionality required to complete the product. At least in theory. But you understand the point I’m sure.

So if you’re a customer of Hectronic’s there is a wide range of products and development services to choose from, and combinations thereof. An alternative is to choose to buy components like modules, boards or systems ready to be used. Other alternatives include our development, production and maintenance of parts of, or the complete embedded system. Or have us support your own efforts through services like reviewing designs, simulating heat dissipation properties or adapting BIOS. If you trust us with developing the complete system we handle challenges involved in certification, approval, sourcing components, production and plan for the next generation of the processor platform needed in your future generation products.  

I hope that you are now more familiar with the options at hand in being one of the many Hectronic customers. For sure it’s up to you to make a choice. You can always rely on our engineers to guide you through your deliberations and we are always there to join in constructive discussions. A combination of your knowledge of the final product, how it’s used and its competitive edge and our experience from more than 20 years of developing embedded computers is what’s makes the difference.