SPOTLIGHT

Mistral: end-to-end embedded

Mistral Software is pitching itself as an end-to-end embedded product company. Its next generation PDA reference platform, code-named Sunada, will take it places, says Vinutha V

The Indian IT industry is best known for software services. But Mistral Software, based in Bangalore, is one among a handful of companies that has broken away from this mould and developed a PDA design that is being marketed globally.

When it was established in 1997, Mistral Solutions was a firm catering to systems integration, product sales and training in the embedded domain. In 1999, it spun off Mistral Software to focus on embedded hardware and software. In the same year, the company became an STPI unit.

“We started the company with 16 people…we were research-oriented in those days. We soon realised that the potential of our team in software services was considerable, so we began to emphasise on this,” says Anees Ahmed, president and chief executive officer of Mistral Software.

Mistral’s goal is to move from being a pure design house in the embedded space to a complete end-to-end product company that will offer solutions right from concept to finished product. By becoming an end-to-end product organisation, it wants to be a one-stop solution for all of a customer’s requirements. Currently, it offers several services in the embedded space: board design services, DSP (Digital Signal Processing), VLSI (Very Large Systems Integration), networking protocols, telecom and wireless. Mistral’s domain expertise spans digital consumer electronics, telecommunication, wireless, defence, aerospace, automotive, office automation, semiconductor, Internet appliance and industrial applications.

Business models

Sunada is our first major reference design for the international consumer electronics market Anees Ahmed President & CEO Mistral Software

Mistral is a source of both hardware and software engineering services. It has several business models including time and materials (T&M), fixed price contract, partner programmes, onsite support and offshore development. Most of the company’s business today is T&M, and a small portion is onsite. The company has partnerships with Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Wind River, Analog Devices, Mathworks Connections and Freescale Partners. Mistral develops applications around the products of these partners.

For defence, Mistral offers radar signal processing, multi-processing boards, DSP-based boards and data acquisitions. The products offered in the automotive electronics domain are for navigation and car infotainment. To cater to the consumer market, Mistral provides embedded designs for handheld and multimedia (MP3, jukebox, portable media player) devices. Its customers include the likes of Texas Instruments and Analog Devices. In India, Mistral has all Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Labs, Reliance, Bharti, Tata Telecom and Tata Power among its customers.

Sunada: a next-gen platform

Mistral is an OMAP (Open Mobile Applications Platform) Technology Centre, and recently announced a next-generation Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) reference platform, code-named Sunada. Its built around Texas Instruments’ OMAP5912 and OMAP1611 processors. Sunada is an integrated and customisable PDA design that illustrates the interface of multiple functions in a single device.

It provides multiple applications such as GSM phone, navigation, digital audio, gaming, video, Internet access, VoIP, camera and jukebox. It also supports four radio modules for GSM, GPS, WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity with a full resolution VGA display.

A built-in 2100 mAh

Lithium-ion battery with charger provides up to eight hours of MP3 song playback, two-and-half hours of movie playback, 2-4 hours of GSM call talk time, and 150-200 hours of standby time.

It can be used in many industries and product companies that want to design a next generation phone, PDA, gaming device, multimedia platform or any application-specific smart device. “Sunada is our first major reference design for the international consumer electronics market. We have invested $3,00,000 to develop the product,” discloses Ahmed. It took them six months to develop Sunada. Mistral will licence designs to companies with both software and hardware capabilities. Its price ranges from $200 to $400 for manufacturers. For end-users, products built on the Sunada platform are priced between $800 and $1,000.

More IP-based revenue by 2008

Currently, Mistral is working with many companies in the US, Asia and Europe. Ahmed says the firm is working with customers globally in designing handheld multimedia, communication, networking and smart electronic devices, enabling them to leverage the strong features of OMAP on WIN CE.NET platforms. A significant chunk of its business comes from design services and system integration.

Looking ahead, IP will be the company’s focus area. “We have been investing 15 percent of our total revenue on R&D and IP development over the last few years. We hope to reap the results and benefits of that investment over the next few years. We want to explore new opportunities in the international market with reference designs such as Sunada,” states Ahmed.

Mistral’s revenues are expected to be Rs 35 crore in 2004-05, up from Rs 21 crore in 2003-04. Of the projected turnover, 50 percent is expected from design, 40 percent from system integration, and the balance from IP licencing, which is expected to grow to 30 percent by 2007-08.

The company’s design centre at Bangalore employs 230 people. Mistral is now planning to set up a second design centre for which it is evaluating places such as Hyderabad, Kochi and Hubli. The second centre is expected by end-2005. “Growth is going to be very critical for the company, and hence we will focus on acquisitions and mergers both in the domestic and international markets. We are aiming for some big customers such as Sony, Hitachi and Panasonic,” concludes Ahmed.

vinutha@expresscomputeronline.com