Wiltshire Firm Celebrates 20 Successful Years

Cast your mind back to the turn of the millennium. Y2K was about to cause chaos, Westlife were riding high in the UK charts and a new company was about to enter the world of embedded technology.

On 4th January 2000 Sarsen Technology began life in a small office above a shop in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Unfortunately, that was before we had smart phones and digital cameras, so there is little to no evidence of the questionable fashion or hairstyles sported by the Sarsen team at the turn of the century...

Our very first order in February 2000 was from Thomson Marconi (now Thales Underwater Systems) for an Analog Devices Blacktip PCI card, and 20 years later we’re talking to some of the UK's biggest prime manufacturers about a wide range of technology; from embedded single board computers and FPGA based solutions to rugged MIL-STD-1553 hardware and high performance computing COTS technology.

It’s certainly never boring…

The portfolio of manufacturers we represent has also changed over the years. Aside from allowing us to expand our product line, our carefully selected partners have given us the opportunity to support applications in new sectors. We now successfully supply a range of solutions into markets that we had very little experience of back in 2000, including financial trading and cyber security.

Great relationships with customers, suppliers and colleagues have led to some great friendships too. Alongside the unique challenges that come with running a small business, there have been many opportunities to celebrate and share a lot of fun together over the last two decades.

We are extremely proud of our achievements over the last 20 years. Thank you to all Sarsen Technology staff, past and present, to all our loyal customers, and to the manufacturers we represent, for your highly valued support over the years.

We are really looking forward to the next exciting chapter in 2020!


Rogues Gallery **

**Not in chronological order (in case you couldn't tell)!

How to Build 5G Networks - Netcope Technologies

Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks are a significant topic in the acceleration of mobile networks.

Networks are gradually being upgraded with 5G equipment to replace existing 4G technologies. With this upgrade comes an expectation from users for a significant increase of network traffic data speed, but this creates a big challenge for operators... It's just not that easy to accelerate something twenty times!

Victor Puš, CTO Netcope Technologies, has written an easy to digest article about the specifics of building 5G networks.

Find out more about Netcope Technologies.


Article:

"Fifth generation mobile networks are a big theme of today. Users obviously hope for quicker data rates from 5G. There is a promise of up to 20 Gbps, which is about twenty times more than the theoretical speed of the current 4G networks.

On the other hand, telcos are scared of the costs of the upgrade of their networks. After all, to accelerate something twenty times is not that easy. At this point, public discussion is mostly led by new frequencies and about territorial coverage with the 5G signal. But equally, if not more difficult technical battle will be fought backstage, particularly about the aggregation of user traffic and its connection to the Internet from the telco network."

Rapid Growth Fuels X-ES Move to New Corporate Headquarters

To accommodate their continuing growth, the lovely people at Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) have moved to a fabulous new corporate headquarters in Verona, WI.

Completed in September of 2018, the combined office and manufacturing space is located at 9901 Silicon Prairie Parkway, approximately six miles from the company’s previous headquarters in Middleton, WI.

The new 126,200 sq. ft. facility is a significant upgrade from the 50,000 sq. ft. Middleton facility. The new building offers more office space and improved amenities for employees and customers, including more than twice the meeting space.

The design by KEE Architecture features a central atrium and clerestory windows that provide abundant natural light to offices and common areas. The building is situated on a green and open 13.8 acres, leaving ample room to grow as the company continues to expand.

Nearly half of the new facility is devoted to a state-of-the-art manufacturing space, where X-ES performs final product assembly, integration, and testing.

The 60,000 sq. ft. manufacturing area is temperature-, humidity-, and ESD-controlled, and as part of this expansion X-ES has acquired 165 new workbenches, six new thermal chambers for temperature testing, and one new shaker for shock and vibration testing.


To achieve ambitious goals for long-term energy savings, X-ES worked with the Wisconsin Focus on Energy Business Incentive Program to incorporate equipment and practices that reduce energy waste, such as network lighting controls and energy-efficient heating and cooling equipment. The estimated electricity savings over the life of the equipment is more than eight million kilowatt hours, and the estimated lifecycle natural gas savings equates to almost 49,000 gallons of gasoline.

If you'd like more information about X-ES please send us an email. 

Embedded World 2018 - Highlights from Nuremberg

From 27 February until the end of the day tomorrow the focus is once again on all things embedded.

The embedded technology community has joined together at the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre to shine a spotlight exclusively on the latest trends in the sector, with more than 1,000 exhibitors presenting state-of-the-art covering all aspects of embedded systems.

This year Mike Blee from Sarsen Technology is joining representatives from ECRIN Systems, VersaLogic and DAVE Embedded Systems to showcase all the latest and greatest innovations from these market leading companies.

ECRIN Systems www.ecrin.com	Hall 2 - Stand 449	This is the first time ECRIN Systems has exhibited at Embedded World. The new µONYX SWaP-C rugged system, based on the Intel Core i7 Skylake SoC will be on display, alongside their VPX COTS Boards, Mil-COTS and rugged systems. Embedded World will also be the first time visitors can see the brand new myOPALE modular system. myOPALE provides a simple solution for applications that need more I/O boards than can be fitted in a standard Industrial PC based on backplane PCB.
VersaLogic www.versalogic.com	Hall 3 - Stand 259	VersaLogic Corporation is the trusted name in embedded computer products. Featuring 5 to 10 year availability, -40 to +85° C operating temperature, MIL-STD 202G shock and vibration testing, and outstanding US-based support, VersaLogic products are ideal for critical applications that value ruggedness, reliability and long life. VersaLogic will be officially introducing their newest embedded computer product line at Embedded World. Built around ARM processors for low power, lower performance requirements using the COM Express form factor (95x125 mm), the EPC line offers designed in reliability and is validated to withstand extreme temperatures and high-impact/vibrations. The first board in the EPC family is the rugged Tetra (VL-EPC-2700)
DAVE Embedded Systems www.dave.eu	Hall 4 - Stand 481	DAVE Embedded Systems is a well-established Italian company, focussed on the design of highly complex miniaturised embedded electronic systems. This year DAVE Embedded Systems is celebrating their 20th anniversary, so join them at embedded world 2018 where they will be showcasing their past and present solutions with a new booth design. Their latest technology successes includes the Xilinx Zynq-based BORA SoM and their new range of single board computers.

Embedded World 2018 Photos:

DAVE Embedded - Hall 4 Stand 481

ECRIN Systems - Hall 2 Stand 449

Mike Blee from Sarsen Technology supporting DAVE

Intel Releases Xeon D Processor Family

Intel has just unveiled a new range of Xeon brand processors. The new processor family, known as Xeon D, are a series of system-on-chip server processors designed specifically for blade and high density server systems.

Intel rarely announce new integrated platforms, and the Xeon D has caused a bit of excitement in the industry. Hailed as the previously unoccupied middle ground between Xeon E3 and Atom SoCs, the Xeon D takes the best bits of both and slots neatly into the market for the low-end server market, prioritising efficiency and networking.
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Xeon D, also known as Broadwell-DE, combines up to eight high performance Broadwell desktop cores and the PCH onto a single die, reducing both down to 14 nm for power consumption/die area. Dual integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports natively support XAUI/KX4/KR to further enhance I/O capabilities, while reducing SWaP-C concerns. 24 PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 lanes, eight PCIe 2.0 lanes, six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four USB 3.0 ports, and four USB 2.0 ports provide many options for system expansion, connectivity, and storage. In addition to multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, the Xeon® D employs a Non-Transparent Bridge for PCIe to enable advanced connectivity options for multiprocessor systems.
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Alongside the announcement from Intel, Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. (X-ES) has introduced the XPedite7670 3U OpenVPX™ REDI single board computer module and its 6U VPX companion, the XCalibur4640, both based on the Intel® Xeon® D (formerly Broadwell-DE) processor family.

The XPedite7670 is a high-performance, 3U OpenVPX™ REDI, single board computer with support for up to 8 GB of DDR3-1600 ECC SDRAM. The XCalibur4640 extends the XPedite7670's functionality to a 6U VPX form factor with expanded capabilities. System memory capacity increases to 16 GB of DDR3-1600 ECC SDRAM and local storage increases to 128 GB of SLC NAND flash.

For more information on these brand new boards please contact the Sarsen Technology team on 01672 511166, or send us an email.

New YouTube Video Series from United Electronic Industries

Author - Laura Biddiscombe 

Now United Electronic Industries (UEI) has made it even easier to stay up-to-date with what they are up to, with regular vNews updates on their YouTube channel.

Each video will feature form factor and deployment options, applications, programming, screencasts, product releases, and hands-on demos. The new YouTube video series starts with a solutions overview, and will continue with updates in applications and programming.

Not only that, the new QuickTakes series features brief, fun, "selfie-style" how-tos and application demonstrations by UEI engineers — sure to inspire your thinking about application possibilities.

Here are the first QuickTakes in the series:

• How to control an aircraft throttle using UEI RVDT synchro board and display results via web browser
• How to take vibration measurements using the UEI spectrum analyzer and the ICP/IEPE board from UEI
• Real-time control using embedded Linux and a UEI programmable automation controller

For more information about products and solutions from UEI please contact Sarsen Technology by email - info@sarsen.net or give us a call on +44 1672 511166.

Are You Missing Out?

Author - Laura Biddiscombe

Here at Sarsen Technology we like to share.

We share all the latest product announcements, industry news and general excitement from the 12 manufacturers we work with in our monthly News Bytes email.

It's been going for over 3 years, and although it has evolved over time News Bytes still provides readers with a wide range of technology and solutions.

May's edition is released tomorrow - Thurs 29th May, so sign up now to receive the latest news, reviews and technical papers from the embedded industry.

Subscribe and see what you're missing...

www.sarsen.net

Everyone knows a ' Dave '..... But do you know THIS Dave?

Drum roll please……

Sarsen Technology has been named as the exclusive UK distributor for Dave S.R.L embedded modules!

Exciting times!!

Dave was founded in 1998 as an engineering services company, and has since established itself as one of the leading European companies for embedded solutions. This expands our already pretty extensive product portfolio, to include ARM-based CPU Modules and Turnkey Systems to customers across the UK and Ireland.

The latest product in the Dave line up is the Bora – A dual Cortex-A9 + FPGA CPU module, based on the recent Xilinx "Zynq" XC7Z010 / XC7Z020 application processor. Bora offers great computational power thanks to the rich set of peripherals, the Dual Cortex-A9 and the Artix7 FPGA inside.

We are looking forward to getting stuck in to some new opportunities – targeted towards low cost, high volume projects, Dave will allow us to boldly go where we may not have been able to go before...

A final word from the boss –
“We are excited to work with DAVE. We believe that the wide range of embedded modules from DAVE coupled with our market development expertise will mean that the DAVE embedded solutions will be a great success in the UK and Ireland. DAVE’s innovative ARM CPU modules and Zynq FPGA modules cut project development costs and improve time- to- market for our OEM customers in industrial, transportation, home automation, medical, networking, smart grid and telecom markets.”

For more information about the new relationship, or any of the Dave products please give us a call on +44 1672 511166, or drop us an email.

Sarsen By Numbers - Friday Facts from the Team at Sarsen Technology

12 – The number of years Sarsen Technology has been supplying embedded hardware solutions to our UK customers.

10 – The number of US-based manufacturers we currently represent.

5 – Exciting new board variants from VersaLogic released this year.

8 – Ways to contact us….
The obvious ones; email, phone and direct contact through the website.
The retro choice – fax and snail mail.
For the social butterfly – LinkedIn, Twitter or even a visit to the office here in Marlborough. We like visitors….

830 – The number of hits on our blog last month. We are actually very interesting….

3 – New COM Express modules from Extreme Engineering. For more info click here…

25 – days until Christmas!!!

5 – Twitter feeds from the team here at Sarsen.
@Laura_Sarsen
@Nigel_Sarsen
@Robbie_Sarsen
@Embedded_Tim
@Sarsen_Tech

24 – Current issue of NewsBytes, released today. There are lots of new technology releases from our manufacturing partners this month including OpenCL support for Altera Stratix V FPGA COTS boards, plus a new technical paper on "many-core" strategy written by Jeff Milrod, President of BittWare.

½ - The new S5-PCIe-HQ from BittWare is a half-length PCIe x8 card based on the Altera Stratix V FPGA. Check it out here.

2 – Number of times we have had cake in the office this week. Soon to be 3.

Have a great weekend!

There's more than one way to keep up with the latest news from Sarsen Technology.....

Social media is now de rigueur in the world of business, and never ones to be left behind we’re keeping up with the Joneses, and have a huge amount of information available every day, in a variety of formats, including Twitter and LinkedIn!

• To celebrate our 10^th anniversary in 2010, Sarsen Technology launched a brand new corporate image, including a new Sarsen logo. Alongside this we started ‘NewsBytes’; our company newsletter with updates on the latest products, events and news from the last month.
• LinkedIn – Here you can find our latest company updates, career opportunities, personnel changes, interesting articles and product information, as well as contact details for our office here in Marlborough, UK.
• Twitter – Check out the Sarsen Twitter feed for real time news and updates from the team. You can follow us here - @Sarsen_Tech. The Sarsen sales team also have individual Twitter accounts, each with a different flavour –

Laura Jeffs - @Laura_Sarsen

Nigel Norman – @Nigel_Sarsen

Robbie Burns – @Robbie_Sarsen

Tim Norris - @embedded_tim

• Our website www.sarsen.net is always being updated with new products and updates from our 10 US manufacturers.

And of course, if you're reading this then you've discovered our blog. It's a more relaxed format, so we might share some of our more social exploits - charity fundraising, achievements, staff party photos...... It's updated every week so stay tuned and who knows what you might see!

Each of these services give you a different insight into the world of Sarsen Technology, so follow us on Twitter, check out the blog, and subscribe to Newsbytes to make sure you aren’t missing out on anything!!

As they say, miss it, miss out......

Have a great weekend!!

March Edition of News Bytes now online

The March 2012 edition of News Bytes includes news stories on BittWare Anemone™ Co-Processor for FPGA Boards, The Low-Latency Summit for financial trading 2012, Wildcat PCI-104 SBC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor, MIL-COTS LCD Touchscreen Monitor With Sealed Keyboard, United Electronics Industries (UEI) to Exhibit at ITEC 2012, Conduant SNAP12 Optical FPGA Card, BittWare BittWorks II Release Notes and Electronic Engineering Journal: Reducing Power Consumption and Increasing Bandwidth on 28-nm FPGAs.

Link to the March News Bytes Newsletter:

Sarsen Technology web site homepage

Follow Sarsen_Tech on Twitter

You can follow all the news and updates from Sarsen Technology on our Sarsen_Tech twitter feed: Sarsen_Tech

December 2011 News Bytes from Sarsen Technology

The December 2011 edition of the Sarsen Technology News Bytes is now available online. This month we are featuring new embedded technology solutions based on Altera Stratix V FPGAs, rugged convection cooled systems for COM Express & XMC modules and high performance AMD Radeon 6760 GPU Graphics XMC hardware. December 2011 News Bytes The image is a reproduction of an original watercolour by Pat Thuysbaert, showing a Christmas scene in Avebury, Wiltshire. Website: www.patsartbox.co.uk

Marlborough News Online

The Sarsen Technology office is pictured right in the middle of the Marlborough News Online web site banner.

Oxygen Electronics on the BBC World News

On March 11th, 2010 President Barack Obama, at the annual Export-Import Bank's annual conference, reiterated his goal of doubling exports over the next 5 years. Oxygen Electronics, a time proven exporter, was interviewed and profiled on the BBC in response to this goal: BBC World News Report

Oxygen Electronics on the BBC World News

Oxygen Electronics' White Plains facilities were filmed this morning by the BBC as part of producing a piece to be aired on the BBC World on Thursday March 10th. The BBC is exploring President Obama's initative to double exports over the next 5 years through the eyes of Oxygen Electronics, an active exporter. Sarsen Technology is Oxygen's UK representative and more details can be found on the Oxygen Electronics Blog.