Rindert Schutten and Thomas Anderson
Synopsys

Today's submicron silicon technology is dramatically changing the nature of embedded device design. Today's embedded devices are much more complex, and they require a rapidly growing body of software to ensure their functionality and make them complete, sellable products.

The very nature of embedded systems requires that hardware and software work closely together. With a traditional sequential embedded device development flow, the hardware is developed first and the software second. For many embedded applications, this approach no longer offers competitive results.