Deeply Embedded
ESC 2005 - the FPGA View

Last year we pointed out that the embedded systems conference (ESC) was being quietly taken over by FPGAs. Booth after booth on the tradeshow floor boasted boards with programmable logic devices prominently displayed. The trend continued this year with even more programmable presence amidst a host of announcements bringing FPGAs more to the center of the embedded systems stage and, conversely, embedded applications to the forefront of the FPGA world.

All of the FPGA vendors had a presence this year, and booths were bustling with activity. FPGA Journal was on-hand to take in all the action, distill it down, and distribute it back to you in the form of insightful answers to your burning questions. We've asked the questions for you (we are a full-service publication) and given our best responses based on information we gathered at the event. We’ve also awarded "coolest" and "most interesting" titles to several items based strictly and arbitrarily on our personal opinion.

Question 1 – Who had the coolest booth?
Our coolest booth award goes to Wind River. In fact, their ESC booth wins the award for the coolest booth we've seen in the past two years of trade shows. Parked preemptively in front of the main entrance, Wind River's cubic monolith towers to an altitude that would only fit in the highest section of the exhibit hall. Gigantic sculptured letters "D S O" (for Device Software Optimization) line the right side of the booth (pointed strategically toward the Microsoft booth). Inside each letter are "embedded" video presentations which are viewed by looking through small ports on the side. The theme, reminiscent of "Fight Club" emphasized the anarchist origins of the open source movement. Wind River wants to make the point that they are now the open source, multi-OS, standards-based company. [more]