Since my last blog on Edge Computing, I have been contemplating Lynx’s positioning with regard to safety or security. Are we providing security or safety? The short answer is that we provide both. But the slightly longer answer is more interesting.

The technology industry loves its buzzwords and acronyms. Every couple of years it seems there is something new that will cause a paradigm shift, that the world will be “turned upside down,” etc. Bill Gates once said, “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” One of the newer terms to appear is “Edge Computing.” Predictably, there are people forecasting seismic changes in the world order. To quote Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters: “Human sacrifice, dogs, and cats living together—mass hysteria.” The reality is less dramatic than a paradigm shift; namely that systems oscillate back and forth from centralized processing to distributed models. A year ago, Gartner placed Edge near the peak of the hype cycle. Really, all Edge Computing relates to is an understandable shift of the intelligence back nearer to where data is created.

The world has changed drastically since my last blog at the end of February. We had just returned from Embedded World, but of course today it’s all about webinars, video and additional technical content in lieu of physical tradeshows. I had planned to write about the world of Lynx marketing in the current (and hopefully soon-to-be post) COVID-19 era… Then Arun, my colleague that runs the engineering team, posted his blog about life in this new normal, so I felt I had to pivot to another theme...

As I sat down to pen my first blog entry for Lynx Software Technologies, I found myself naturally inclined to debate the merits and trade-offs of the latest technology advancement. Instead, based on some gentle prodding by Ian (our VP Marketing), I found myself reflecting on the operational challenges of working from home for the engineering organization. As we enter the 7^th week of involuntary isolation, the Lynx Engineering organization has stepped up to this challenge to ensure no loss of continuity for our customers who depend on the technology benefits, quality and timeliness of our deliveries. I wanted to share some stories from the trenches as we surmount challenges with communication, equipment handling and onboarding new hires while continuing to deliver industry-leading technology and products that are highly coveted within our customer base.

Ever since John Reardon issued this article in the COTS Journal in January, I have been thinking about how artificial intelligence will start to appear in the avionics industry. My time prior to joining Lynx was all spent in the technology industry focused on other markets like consumer, industrial and cloud infrastructure. While I think digital speakers aren’t particularly useful, it is an example of how machine learning is (audibly) impacting many people’s daily lives. There are far more useful-to-mankind examples underway in the field of healthcare where reams of old data can be examined to predict the onset of specific diseases.

I have now passed the ninety day tenure milestone at Lynx Software Technologies. I was reflecting today as to what the biggest surprise has been since joining from a marketing perspective. Somewhat obviously, the arrival and impact coronavirus has provided on physical events is by far and away the biggest challenge we have faced. My thoughts are, first and foremost, with any families with people that have been diagnosed with this disease. At a more mundane (i.e. not life and death) level, we attended a very different Embedded World 2020 and now face a period of uncertainty as to which events will go ahead and which will be canceled. Like many marketing teams, we now have two programs for each show; one assuming the event is held as planned, the other looking at how to repurpose content and demos to be sharable via other channels.