Decatur Electronics Case Study
THE CLIENT
Decatur Electronics has a 50-year history of delivering police radar and other traffic safety tools.
THE CHALLENGE
Decatur offers police radar and in-car digital video recorders (DVRs). When an existing, aging DVR product faced stiff competition and declining margins, Decatur's senior management knew the company faced a hard choice. They could either enter into an OEM relationship with a competitor in the marketplace or they could invest in developing an innovative product. From the perspective of senior management, the choice was between a lower-risk path that would lead to a less-differentiated product and lower margins, or a higher-risk path that, if successful, would lead to a unique product and higher lifetime margins.
THE SOLUTION
Decatur opted to pursue the higher-reward path while minimizing risk by turning to Cardinal Peak's proven expertise in successfully bringing differentiated products to market on time and on budget.
Cardinal Peak provided engineering consulting services to help Decatur bring the Digital Responder 4000—a ruggedized in-car digital video system for law enforcement—to market in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The system uses the latest web-based technologies, as well as H.264 video compression, AAC audio compression, and the mp4 file format.
Cardinal Peak's role spanned definition of high-level requirements for the product's hardware and software on through development of test plans to ensure a first-rate quality assurance (QA) process. In between, Cardinal Peak:
- Developed detailed technical specifications for the both the in-vehicle and back-office components of the system;
- Identified appropriate sub-system vendors;
- Coordinated and managed the design of the in-vehicle system chassis;
- Designed multiple boards for the system to handle compression, power, external inputs and more;
- Developed the embedded software for the in-vehicle component, based on a Linux platform; and
- Developed the Windows-based back office system management software.
RESULTS
Cardinal Peak's work on the project allowed Decatur Electronics to focus its efforts on other areas of the project knowing that Cardinal Peak would deliver a reliable solution. The development effort produced an end product that:
- Met budget objectives;
- Was out the door on a demanding schedule; and
- Is innovative and differentiated from the competition.
"Because we knew we could partner with Cardinal Peak, we were able to think of this new product development as a much more certain, lower-risk endeavor," said Brian Brown, CEO of Decatur Electronics parent company, Soncell N.A. "We completely trust Cardinal Peak to advise us on technology strategy, as well as to implement it. They are a dependable partner that ultimately makes us more competitive in the marketplace."
"Our relationship with Cardinal Peak is a deep partnering, and we are very happy with their work," adds Todd Cottle, Digital Responder 4000 project manager for Decatur Electronics. "They are extremely talented engineers, devoid of egos, and focused on getting the product out on time and on the right cost schedule."
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"We completely trust Cardinal Peak to advise us on technology strategy, as well as to implement it. They are a dependable partner that ultimately makes us more competitive in the marketplace."
Brian Brown, CEO, Decatur Electronics
