Embedded World 2019: a beautiful sunny afternoon in Nuremberg.

A beautiful sunny afternoon in Nuremberg. I’d forgotten that the shops close on Sundays in Germany. A healthy antidote to the 24/7 always-on lifestyle that we are supposed to follow these days.

I’d forgotten too how soft the mattresses and pillows are in the hotels in Germany (or at least the ones I usually stay in). I hope that my back is up to dealing with them, not to mention the long hours standing at the VIA booth at Embedded World. At least the show lasts only three days. I still have nightmares about spending seven and on at least one occasion eight days working on our stand at CeBIT. So much for the good old days!

Embedded World is nowhere near as large or glamorous as Mobile World Congress, which also takes place this week. But I do think it could be quite interesting this year as companies in the smart phone business seek to diversify as a result of the overall slowdown in that market. On the surface, the embedded market seems a good bet since it leverages many of the same core technologies. However, as we have learned over the past decade ourselves, making the transition can be quite a challenge because the market is driven by very different dynamics, such as a much greater need for customization and product longevity of seven years or more.

The ability to provide software as well as hardware customization services is becoming increasingly important too as customers look for a complete solution from a single supplier rather than having to spend precious resources managing multiple suppliers.

Tomorrow is set up day for the booth. The show itself starts on Tuesday. Please click here to learn more about the items we have on display, and if you’re going to the show please feel free to drop by our booth at #2–551 in Hall 2.