The Lab. It has become a central point in my business pitch. The simple fact that a bunch of SW developers have a whole room dedicated to electron-microscopes, 3D printers, mechatronic devices in various stages of decomposition was, at least for me, a proof strong enough, to testify to our inclination towards HW related programming. Side note – Most of our development work is somehow connected to physical (real) product. This does not necessarily mean that it’s only embedded. In fact – the ratio between embedded and application, platform and cloud development is quite starkly in favor of the latter.
Alas it is not very easy to explain to an outsider why it is so important for us to have it here. I decided to dedicate more than one slide to the history of HW laboratory in Edhouse and why it is vital for our functioning as SW developers. In reality, you have about 30s – 1 min during the actual conversation with the customer to explain it, that complicates things. My humble opinion is, that is simply deserves more time.
For those of you who like facts, figures and longer text, I included detailed section in chronological order below. For skimmers – you can skip to the conclusion part at the end of this story. Enjoy!
As it is natural for almost everything, we started small. Back in 2007 we worked on software infrastructure projects for electron microscopy; we were just familiarizing with (FEI) software platform, also utilizing our skills in HW and electronics development. Back in those days, firmware was our daily bread. This basically went on for 6 (or so) years when we became comfortable enough to work even on functional HW prototypes, we used them for testing.
Logically, next step in that process for an outsourcing company would be – (oh yes) – to ask for the whole-damn device. And so, in the year of our Lord 2014 we were finally able to transport first SEM to our premises.
Why? This allowed us to save a lot of money during the integration and deployment process. And when I say money, I mean both our resources (time we could use elsewhere), and those of our customer (same logic applies). Once we had the device, we needed manpower to operate it – hiring system engineers to support the work of our development teams.
We built up sufficient expertise to use the SEM microscopes for testing of SW applications. This means we are now able to test and prototype software features against real hardware and use the apps precisely as the operators (end customers) use it.
First complex platform development project for Edhouse (yay!). Prisma E started in 2017 and later resulted in a new product – electron microscope with thermionic gun. Later the project was extended for integrated spectroscopy. Resulting product to which productization Edhouse contributed is ColorSEM.
Brand new product development started in 2020 with Edhouse as a key partner. We’re actively developing SW platform and work on the prototype of a microscope called Axia. The HW is newly engineered, which resulted in a lot of software work.
New system is meant to be easy to use, lightweight integrates spectroscopy as a standard. During the project we had 2-4 complete prototypes in the lab to support the software and system development and QA.
We’re taking over complete responsibility for software part of Axia program. Hiring additional roles to communicate with the end-users efficiently. Along with the development comes new demands on our expertise e.g. in particle analysis.
There is this theory called 70 20 10 model for Learning and Development. It says that individuals should obtain 70% of their knowledge from job-related experience, 20% from interactions with others, and 10% by dedicated events and courses.
I doubt that we established the lab with this particular theory in mind. However, I do believe that this is the single most valuable benefit it brings to Edhouse. teaches our developers new things. It creates an environment, where our developers can work in the same manner as they would at our customers’ location and learn the same way.
Sure, I can throw in couple of salesy terms like customer-centricity, low integration costs, reduced costs for transportation and shorter lead times. At the end of the day, the lab allows us to push the envelope of our knowledge. We’re able to say, yes, we’re a software development company, but … we also know our HW. And yes, electron microscopes are the major, most complex thing we have in our lab. But, it was only a beginning for us, we purposefully ask for *add your device* whenever we think it’s beneficial for the project.
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