Chip vendors are finding themselves doing more and more of the software and system design for their customers. The days of providing just the ICs and some of the drivers are long gone.

According to Jerry McGuire, vice-president of Analog Devices' DSP division, "In some cases, we supply all the necessary software. To achieve that, we spend about 50% of our engineering resources on software design."

In addition, power has moved itself way up the charts as a performance specification, and in many cases, it's the number one selection criteria for OEMs. As such, the ADI designers now look at the entire system design, asking "how do I solve system-level problems." This forces them to look outside the space occupied by the DSP.

In many cases, the IC vendor that wins the socket is the one that's willing to do the most system-level and software design. That makes it more difficult for the OEMs to differentiate themselves. But in many cases, the just want to get the product out the door as quickly as possible.