According to a soon-to-be-released updated report RG-229R Future of Embedded Systems Technology from Business Communications Company, Inc. (www.bccresearch.com), the worldwide embedded systems market was estimated at $45.9 billion in 2004. Expected to growth at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 14% over the next five years, this market will reach $88 billion by 2009.

An embedded system is a special-purpose computer system built into a larger device. An embedded system is required to meet very different requirements than a general-purpose personal computer. Two major areas of differences are cost and power consumption. Since many embedded systems are produced in the tens of thousands to millions of units range, reducing cost is a major concern. Embedded systems often use a relatively slow processor and small memory size to minimize costs. The slowness is not just clock speed. The whole architecture of the computer is often intentionally simplified to lower costs.