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3 Cloud-Powered Shifts in Consumer Electronics Design

Embedded Advisor | Saturday, October 24, 2020

Cloud solutions are helping consumer electronics designers with faster and more precise scalability.

FREMONT, CA: The pace of change in consumer electronics is accelerating with the cloud's intervention. Cloud computing has emerged strongly into the consumer electronics design domain too. The adoption of the cloud has already led to multiple shifts in consumer electronics design. A few of them are discussed below.

• Virtual Prototyping

A consumer electronics company would traditionally spend much on the development of a prototype. Prototype development has been one of the expensive aspects of consumer electronics product design due to its highly iterative nature leading to long development cycles. In addition, the cost associated with this method is higher. But now, the cloud takes over by enabling engineers to run more simulations faster, thereby helping designers better validate a design before developing the physical prototype. Known as virtual prototyping, this process saves both time and money.

• Sophistication and Connectivity

IoT-enabled consumer devices have considerable value in the consumer electronics market. However, they are slower to emerge in consumer electronics because they generally require small and sophisticated parts. Designing such a consumer product demands the kind of robust computing capacity. It is no wonder that recent breakthroughs in the design of more complex, connected devices have been powered by advanced cloud technology. As cloud-based simulations become the industry standard, more consumer electronics companies will be able to design complete parts and the futuristic consumer electronics devices successfully.

• Democratization of Technology

On-premise computing tools dominated the consumer electronics industry. The cost involved in purchasing and maintaining the hardware required for complex simulations and the software licensing and renewal charges are overwhelming for the industry. These cost dynamics have made it challenging for smaller companies to compete in the consumer electronics industry. The availability of cloud-based technologies has allowed smaller companies to enter the market as emerging competitors. Cloud has no long development cycles, and it significantly reduces the cost associated with hardware and IT maintenance. This made technology applications more available to even smaller companies.