Shortening the development and production cycle with the HighWire 400p/M DKV Developers Kit for VxWorks RTOS

Developers using common off-the-shelf (COTS) products face a daunting problem in getting their products to market.
To secure funding for a new product idea, developers will likely need to justify the investment with a working prototype. The boom times of the 90's are over--a good idea and a slide show are not enough to pry capital from today's more cautious investors. Typically, using a platform designed for rapid prototyping, developers will cobble together a working demo version of a product idea, and present it to investors (internal or external). If all goes well, the project is funded, and the developers can shift to production mode.

And that's when the problem occurs.
The rapid prototyping hardware platform used to develop the demo is rarely suited to the demands of production: Prototyping hardware is generally not deployable, and not available in the OEM volumes and pricing needed to make a profit on the venture.

And so, at this critical juncture, with a proven good idea, funding in hand, and a narrow window of opportunity to get the product to market profitably, the developer must now port the software developed on the prototype to deployable production hardware (even while that software is still being developed). With early production and late development efforts advancing in parallel, there is never a convenient time to merge the software with the production platform. Invariably, during the port to the production hardware, something in the software will break, resulting in stress, wasted effort and rework, and most importantly, risk--risk that the software will not work, or will not perform at required benchmark levels, that a competing product will get to market first, or, most likely, that the development effort to make it work will eat up any potential profit before the first unit is sold.

The HighWire 400p/M Developers Kit for VxWorks RTOS (DKV) gives developers a ready solution to this problem. Targeting the PCI single-board computer market, the HighWire 400p/M DKV addresses this problem by combining all the best features of prototyping boards and production hardware. With the HighWire 400p/M DKV, when the prototype works, you can proceed directly to production, on the same, already-proven hardware platform, with enormous benefits:

  • Reduced time to market
  • Fast start with known good environment
  • No need for port to production hardware
  • Reduced development cost
  • No need to develop beyond your value add
  • Reduced development risk
  • Proof of concept proves production hardware
  • Flexibility of PMC site allows easy integration of third party or user-developed modules.
  • Ability to leverage investment with derivative products

Development features

  • Known good hardware and environment
  • Tight integration with Wind River Tornado tools
  • a PMC site--the ultimate breadboard area
  • JTAG debugger port with VisionICE integration
  • Console ports and debug LEDs
  • Bus analyzer support through the PMC site

Production features

  • Field deployable
  • OEM pricing and availability
  • arrier grade hardware that passes certifications
  • ISO9000 design and manufacture

What you get with the HW400p/M DKVHW400p/M hardware platform

  • One board per kit
  • Pre-ported, full featured VxWorks 5.4 Board Support Package (BSP)
  • PMC site auto-discovery extensions
  • BOOTP, TFTP, FTP booting support
  • PCI host bridge support
  • Wind River Tornado Tools integration
  • Developer's interface dongle
  • Hardware reference manual
  • DKV Quick Start Reference Guide

Developer applications for the HighWire 400p/M DKV

  • Communications
  • Industrial control
  • Data acquisition
  • Test and measurement
  • COTS military
  • Storage using flash or disk PMC

 

HW400p/M product page

HW400p/M DKV product page

 

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