'Heed history's survival lessons

'Heed history's survival lessons

BY JOHN EAST President and Chief Executive Officer, Actel Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif.

The electronics industry is trying to "win" while reeling from the effects of the economic downturn, which often means getting more done with fewer resources. Here are some critical survival lessons:

- Study history. History tells us that technology is a cyclical-growth industry with a boom roughly every five years. Over the past 30 years, we've seen booms driven by mainframe and minicomputers; workstations and PCs; LANs, WANs and the Internet; and fiber, infrastructure and bandwidth. The trick is to plan for the next boom while leveraging precious resources-without the aid of a crystal ball or show producer.

- Strategize. Take an educated risk and start developing plans and products before the need or demand is apparent. This requires a solid understanding of the needs of your market and an adjustment in strategy to correspond to them.

- Create alliances. Companies should examine markets and individual projects with an eye to partnerships that will complement and supplement their core competencies, bringing them one step closer to victory. Alliances allow companies to focus on their strengths, adding value where they have the most expertise.

- Be creative. Last year's products will be obsolete in next year's marketplace. As a result, continue to invest in R&D. Substantial investment is critical to maintaining a strong technological position in the industry.

At Actel, we have studied history and believe that the next boom will be about interoperable connectivity. The most recent boom resulted in huge advances in area networks and infrastructure as well as the proliferation of interface standards used for connectivity. The next boom will require seamless and efficient communication and interfacing between devices and protocols. In preparation for that next boom, we must define and develop appropriate strategies and products.

As part of our strategy to become the ultimate survivor, we have formed and will continue to form alliances with intellectual-property companies, vendors of application-specific standard products and standards committees. Those alliances supplement and complement our strengths and expertise in field-programmable gate array technologies and interface applications. We will continue to invest in R&D with the expectation of intercepting the market with the right products at the right time.

Finally, we will maintain a lean and flexible position in order to ready ourselves to respond to emerging business opportunities at a moment's notice.