Siemens
Wind River Helps Siemens Cut Engineering Costs in Half and Beat Time-to-Market
Siemens Industrial PC chooses VxWorks to power its high-performance industrial PCs
“With VxWorks we don’t have to develop or maintain our own operating system, so we can accelerate our time-to-market and roll out our products much faster than ever before. In fact, we were able to release our product four months ahead of schedule.”
—Anton Sauter, Product Manager SIMATIC IPC, Siemens Industrial PC Group
THE OBJECTIVE
Siemens is a market leader in industrial PCs. The company’s high-performance computers operate in extremely demanding environments, often directly on the plant floor. Siemens PCs needed a real-time operating system (RTOS) in order to execute tasks requiring determinism, fast response times, and safety. Until recently, the company used a homegrown RTOS, but it was difficult and costly to maintain. Siemens concluded it could eliminate a number of steps in development and save significant sums by replacing its in-house system with a proven commercial RTOS.
HOW WIND RIVER HELPED
Siemens concluded it could eliminate a number of steps in development and save significant sums by replacing its in-house system with a proven commercial RTOS. After exhaustive research, the Siemens Industrial PC Group determined that VxWorks® was the best choice of all the commercial RTOS options available—a proven solution with a long track record of success.
THE RESULTS
Safety and security were key deciding factors. Wind River® and VxWorks are proven in applications where safety, security, and reliability are critical, such as aerospace and defense. And Wind River software enjoys optimal compatibility with Intel® hardware, Siemens’ chip of choice. With VxWorks, Siemens cut engineering costs by 50% compared to its homegrown system and released its product four months ahead of schedule.
