Case Studies

Case Study: Increasing the Visibility of Your Products

However compelling a new product may be, it won’t succeed unless prospective customers know about it. Achieving customer awareness can be particularly challenging for small companies that lack multi-million-dollar marketing budgets, but it can also pose a challenge for established companies entering new markets. An effective way for technology providers to boost visibility of their products is through BDTI’s benchmarking and analysis services. BDTI publishes its respected independent benchmark Read more...

Case Study: Cool Algorithm, But Will It Fit in My Product?

Algorithms are the essence of digital signal processing; they are the mathematical “recipes” that transform signals in useful ways. Companies developing new DSP algorithms, or considering purchasing or licensing algorithms, often need to assess whether the algorithm will fit within their processing budget–and thereby within their cost and power consumption targets.    But estimating an algorithm’s processing load can be difficult if the algorithm has not already been carefully mapped onto Read more...

Case Study: Building Credibility for Multimedia Solutions

As multimedia systems grow in complexity, system and SoC developers increasingly rely on vendors to provide “solutions”—combinations of hardware and software that together implement complete multimedia functions such as audio and video compression and decompression. Vendors have responded by offering a growing number of such solutions. This has created a new challenge for system and SoC developers: vendors’ claims about the functionality and performance of their solutions are difficult to Read more...

Case Study: Creating High-Impact Product Launches

With the new year approaching, many marketing managers are readying new-product roll-outs for 2007.  One vital element of a product introduction is the briefing presentation–the pitch that will introduce customers, editors, and analysts to the new offering. How can you capture the attention of your audience and make your introduction stand out from the hundreds of others slated for early 2007?  BDTI reviews dozens of product introduction presentations every year.  In studying these Read more...

Case Study: Getting Good Feedback to Improve Products

To improve their products, technology providers need detailed, thoughtful feedback from users of their technology. Unfortunately, this feedback is often difficult to obtain. Typical users aren’t very motivated to provide detailed feedback; they’re interested in getting their product finished. When they run into a problem, they find the most expedient work-around and move on. They don’t have time to fully explore, document, and report on the problems that hinder their productivity, or to share Read more...

Case Study: Multi-Tiered Software Optimization

While nearly all signal processing applications require some degree of software optimization, some applications require a sophisticated, multi-tiered optimization approach in order to meet their performance goals.   To obtain the most efficient code, DSP software must be optimized at four distinct levels. First, the software architecture and data flow must be designed to take maximum advantage of the processor’s resources. Second, the appropriate data types must be selected—too big and you’ Read more...

Case Study: Benchmarks for Tools, Software Libraries, and More

System developers often rely on processor benchmarks to gauge system performance. However, the processor is just one of many components that determines overall performance. Fully understanding system performance requires careful analysis of many other elements, such as code-generation tools and third-party software libraries. Unfortunately, a host of factors can confound attempts to analyze these components. For example, it is difficult to prevent variations in programmer skill and style from Read more...

Case Study: Algorithm IP Companies Focus on the Algorithm

Companies that focus on DSP algorithm development are often at the cutting edge, delivering the ideas that drive new technologies.  For example, innovative compression, communications, and recognition algorithms have enabled numerous new products in recent years.  Unfortunately, it takes more than a great algorithm to be successful.  An algorithm is only as good as its implementation.  Without a well optimized implementation, even the best algorithm risks extinction in the marketplace. To Read more...

Case Study: Obtaining the Best Benchmark Results with the Least Engineering Effort

Benchmarks are used by processor vendors for a variety of purposes.  They are used internally for competitive analysis and new product development.  Externally they are used in presentations, articles, and marketing materials to credibly demonstrate the advantages of a processor.  In fact, sophisticated processor users increasing demand independently verified benchmark for use in their processor selection analyses.  Given the importance placed on benchmarks, processor vendors are well advised Read more...

Case Study: Custom Benchmarks

Even for established system designs that have had success using a particular processor, rapidly evolving application requirements and frequently changing processor offerings may necessitate a reevaluation of which processor best meets the product’s needs. The outcome of such a reevaluation can have profound and lasting effects on the future of the product; for example, whether it is competitive in terms of performance, energy efficiency, and cost. Unfortunately, system designers often have Read more...