Advantech wins 2020 IoT and Embedded Technology Hardware Supplier Satisfaction Gold Award

Abstract: VDC Research recently awarded the "2020 IoT and Embedded Technology Hardware Vendor Satisfaction Award" to manufacturers whose embedded processors, motherboards/modules, and integrated systems/servers products and solutions have been publicly recognized by the industry. Advantech won the 2020 VDC Research IoT and Embedded Technology Hardware Vendor Satisfaction Gold Award for its high-quality boards & modules, systems and servers. The award was announced by VDC as part of their research report.

The award is based on supplier satisfaction ratings from VDC Research's Global IoT and Edge Engineering and Development Survey. Respondents included more than 700 project/product management and procurement decision makers such as CTOs, engineering and product managers, hardware engineers, and software developers from OEMs, system integrators, engineering services firms, and other organizations. Respondents rated only vendors from whom they purchased commercial computer hardware in a recent project.

The six highest-scoring vendors were awarded "Gold" status in the satisfaction ratings for each hardware category (processors, motherboards and modules, systems, and servers). The needs of many products in the market are unique, and there is a wide range of vendors and solutions that can effectively meet these needs. The award-winning vendors are mainly analyzed for vendors with a market penetration of at least 20 customer sample sizes.

Market uncertainty

Table 1: Likelihood of using existing suppliers for similar projects within three years from now

Overall, organizations sourcing third-party embedded and OEM hardware are very satisfied with the existing vendors in the ecosystem. More than 70% of respondents believe their company will continue to use existing hardware vendors in three years. However, not everyone is satisfied with the current product development and strategic direction of their technology vendors. Many question whether the solutions they have chosen will remain competitive with their future designs and products. Embedded processor, motherboard and system vendors are facing increasing pressure to provide greater (application-specific) support, capabilities/features, development/design tools and other resources to support emerging workloads such as 5G, AI/ML, autonomy, edge computing, software-defined architectures and virtualization. Technology innovation and competition in all industries are accelerating, and more embedded/OEM support is needed to create value.

2020 Gold Award Embedded Hardware Supplier

Product selection criteria vary

Figure 2: Product features, not price, are most important when choosing embedded and OEM hardware

While specific vendor support and capabilities are important, they mean nothing without the right hardware to meet design needs. While cost remains an important factor in hardware selection, greater support for software development and extended lifecycles can deliver tremendous value in reduced time to market, greater organizational flexibility, and future-proofing designs. The importance of software development tools and resources for product selection criteria for all types of hardware—semiconductors, boards/modules, and systems—has greatly increased. As OEMs and others acquire higher levels of integrated hardware and development platforms from third-party suppliers, they are able to focus more internal resources and R&D on true areas of differentiation that are typically hidden in software, analytics, and cloud design elements.

Times are still changing

Figure 3: Most important factors when considering suppliers of IoT components and entire solutions

The advent of the Internet of Things many years ago redefined industrial value creation and the need for embedded and OEM computing solutions. Embedded technology suppliers have been forced to evolve with the proliferation of connectivity and add new features, services and support. End-to-end security, in particular, has also become very urgent, and all leading technology providers are making acquisitions and expanding partnerships to reduce potential attack surfaces. Now, new cutting-edge workloads and technologies are forcing companies to re-evaluate the capabilities of their hardware suppliers in current and future projects with an eye on the next wave of IoT development. As OEMs, integrators and other engineering companies strive to remain competitive against the backdrop of shrinking project schedules, tight development budgets and more complex overall designs, choosing the right hardware partner is more important than ever.