Venture Development Names Platinum & Gold Vendors of Single Board Computers & Embedded Motherboards

Venture Development Corporation, an independent market research and consulting firm, has named its year 2003 "Platinum" and "Gold" vendor rating awards in the categories of Single Board Computers (SBCs) and Embedded Motherboards.

Natick, Massachusetts - Venture Development Corporation, an independent market research and consulting firm, has named its year 2003 "Platinum" and "Gold" vendor rating awards in the categories of Single Board Computers (SBCs) and Embedded Motherboards.

These rankings comprise a portion of VDC's market research into these categories of merchant computer boards for embedded and real-time applications. Ratings were derived through the use of an impartial model, proprietary to VDC. This model took into account such factors as breadth of product line, on-line resources, trade association membership, ISO certification, etc., as well as user perceptions.

Users were first asked, via an on-line survey, to identify those non-product criteria that they considered most important in evaluating a vendor. These criteria included elements such as availability and delivery, price, and a variety of service and support factors. They were then asked to name up to five vendors from whom they had purchased SBCs or Embedded Motherboards, and to rate each of these vendors on the same non-product criteria, on a scale of one to four. This data was then aggregated and appropriately weighted to reflect the relative importance of the various criteria, and combined with other data indicated above.

"Platinum" status was awarded to the 5% of VDC-identified vendors in each category achieving the highest numerical value from the execution of the model. "Gold" status was awarded to the next 10% of these vendors. The model was adjusted and executed separately for each category.

"Platinum" and "Gold" Single Board Computer vendors are as follows:

VDC 2003 "Platinum" and "Gold"
Single Board Computer Vendors

Platinum Vendors
- Force Computers, Inc.
- Kontron AG
- Motorola Computer Group
- VMIC

Gold Vendors
- Advantech
- Intel EID
- Performance Technologies
- RadiSys Corporation
- SBS Technologies
- Synergy Microsystems
- Thales Computers
- Themis Computers

Award winners in the Embedded Motherboard category are as follows:

VDC 2003 "Platinum" and "Gold"
Embedded Motherboard Vendors

Platinum Vendors
- Force Computers, Inc.
- Motorola Computer Group
- VersaLogic Corporation

Gold Vendors
- Advantech
- American Predator Corporation
- Ampro Computers
- Intel EID
- Kontron AG
- RadiSys Corporation
- Thales Computers
- WinSystems, Inc.

"Because the model was heavily weighted toward user perception of non-product vendor selection criteria, those achieving platinum or gold status may feel comfortable that their firms are highly regarded in these respects by their customers," said Eric Gulliksen, Practice Director of Venture Development's Embedded Hardware Research Group. "Other vendors may wish to pay more attention to these factors."

ABOUT THE STUDY

This is part of a yearlong planning service "Year 2002-2003 Planning Service on Computers in Embedded and Real-Time Applications" which has the following deliverable reports:

Volume I: Embedded CPU Boards
Volume II: Next-Generation Platforms
Volume III: Utility and I/O Cards
Volume IV: Mezzanine Cards
Volume V: PC/104, PC/104-Plus Cards
Volume VI: Embedded CPUs and Chipsets
Volume VII: Global Embedded Market Overview and Outlook

Prices for the reports or report sections range from US$ 3,000 to US$ 36,200 for the entire service.

Major emphasis is placed on gathering data directly from decision makers at vendors that make these products, and firms that purchase the products. Extensive interviewing is done with both the vendors and users. In addition, an extensive mail survey is conducted with users whose names are obtained from their having attended related trade shows and by subscribing to appropriate trade journals.

This data is supplemented by secondary research for relevant information in technical and business literature, as well as government, trade association, professional society, corporate and industry reports.

ABOUT VDC

Founded in 1971, VDC is a technology market research and consulting firm that specializes in industrial and commercial electronics, computing, communications, software and power systems markets.

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To view the entire press release including charts go to:
http://www.vdc-corp.com/embedded/press/03/pr03-45.html

Report Availability:
http://www.vdc-corp.com/embedded/annual/02/br02-37.html

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For further information about "Year 2002-2003 Planning Service on Computers in Embedded and Real-Time Applications" or any other VDC service contact:

Eric Gulliksen, Embedded Hardware Practice Director, ericg@vdc-corp.com

Marc Regberg, Vice President, msr@vdc-corp.com

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