RTC to Stage Real-Time Computer Show & Conference, January 15-17 in Santa Clara, California
By Warren Andrews, Conference Chairman, Real-Time Computer Show & Conference
( Editor's Note: The RTC Group is expanding the highly acclaimed Real-Time Computer Show in Santa Clara to include a conference series and two days of exhibits. The event will take place on January 15-17, 1997 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. Complete schedules and information are available from RTC at (714) 443- 4400 or on the World Wide Web at: <http://www.rtcgroup.com>.)
The ancient oriental curse "may you live in interesting times" might well be the watchword of the embedded computer industry. For close to two decades, I've been fortunate enough to chronicle many of these "times" as an editor for different trade publications. I've seen the industry in periods of prosperity and in the throes of depression. I've witnessed semiconductor geometries go from tens of microns to tenths of microns, memory density go from 500 bytes to 500 kilobytes and chip densities go from a small handful of transistors to several million.
But that's just a beginning. Now, more than ever before, applications are ramping up and demand for embedded-computer capability is sharply on the increase. The challenge is to be able to provide that computer power, package it and tailor it to specific applications. In Telecom and Datacom, on the periphery of the information superhighway, in the military as it automates to meet the requirements of next-generation warfare, in medicine, on the factory floor and even in the warehouses, stores, restaurants and banks; embedded computer technology is mushrooming. The industry must take up the slack somewhere. That's no easy task. Pressures are mounting. That all-important time-to-market window keeps closing faster and faster. And, the available design and engineering talent pool to develop equipment to fill these requirements is shrinking fast.
The crush for increasing amounts of embedded computer capability has resulted in a tremendous increase in packaged or standard solutions. Standard form factors, standard interfaces and common reference platforms are fast becoming the industry's salvation. The energy and excitement, for example, behind the new VMEbus extensions and the new CompactPCI standard are strong indicators of these trends. For the first time, standard mezzanine platforms such as IndustryPack and PMC (PCI Mezzanine Card) are starting to grow in popularity because of the need to quickly customize standard products.
While these technologies promise to provide many of the answers, they, in themselves, are new. And, unfortunately there are precious few forums where the information is available. The Internet does provide some measure of on-line help, but without the interactive element, it doesn't always provide much more than a catalog. The 1997 Real-Time Computer Show and Conference has been designed to fill that gap in information.
We know, as well as anyone, that time is a valuable commodity-particularly in these days of meeting critical project deadlines. That's why we architected the program to provide the technology in concentrated doses. Attendees can take a single day to focus on a particular technology critical to a current project, or invest the full two and one-half days to see what technology is current and where it's going. And, the exposition provides an opportunity for a hands-on look at the latest products. Finally, the special events scheduled throughout the show and conference are designed to provide a global view of the industry and its direction as it rubs shoulders with the 21st century.