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Let’s go beyond cheap new technology. If faster, better technology is being sold everyday for less, what is happening to technology of our recent past or even outdated technology? Think about how cheap technology that is past its “prime” can be. What is outdated garbage for the forward-looking computer industry may well be a giant leap forward for some other industry out there. Integrating old technology into completely new areas can have just as much of an innovative effect as lowering the cost of brand new stuff. Older technology is limited compared to the newest gadgetry, but if it never existed in an industry in the first place, then the integration of it may as well be a revolution.
A great example of this type of innovation can be seen in the company Microchip Technology and the man in charge, Steve Sanghi.(14) Sanghi’s company thrives by using technology straight out of the 1970s. He and his company use microcontrollers as their primary product for innovation. Microcontrollers are slow, rudimentary chips that the likes of Intel and AMD have more or less abandoned for years. They are on par with some of the slowest laptop chips available on the consumer market. However, Microchip continues to find ways to make profitable businesses with them. Sanghi has taken this type of chip that most people would view as junk and has implemented it in places outside of the realm of computers to create waves. While the other chipmakers focus on producing super chips where one component runs all the functions, Microchip focuses on multitudes of less advanced chips, each controlling a small function within the overall scheme of the operations. Sanghi has used microchips in such products as the Segway scooter, the Adidas-1 running shoe, the Tesla roadster and the underwater LED display at the Wynn casino in Las Vegas. Each product is as different as the next, yet they all have similar, modest processing needs. These products didn’t need the fastest, most advanced processor in the world. Adidas-1 running shoes, for instance, needed a processor to soften of stiffen the shoe based on the impact with the ground. While any modern chip would suffice, the price would not. A simple microcontroller based on technology from 30 years ago does the trick. This tactic brings technology never seen before to the shoe industry, while keeping the price tag in line with what consumers might shell out for such a device. While Sanghi’s competitors look for the next implication of Moore’s law, he looks to industries that were never influenced by such a law. He creates innovation with outdated technology in industries that have rarely seen its influence. Sanghi is a great example of how a unique perspective on innovation with technology can have a profound effect in industries people never saw coming. Using old technology in new places can be as equally entrepreneurial as trying to predict the technological landscape of the future.
14 Parks, Bob. “Tiny Chip, Giant Ambition.” Business 2.0; Oct. 2006, pp. 98-103.
A great example of this type of innovation can be seen in the company Microchip Technology and the man in charge, Steve Sanghi.(14) Sanghi’s company thrives by using technology straight out of the 1970s. He and his company use microcontrollers as their primary product for innovation. Microcontrollers are slow, rudimentary chips that the likes of Intel and AMD have more or less abandoned for years. They are on par with some of the slowest laptop chips available on the consumer market. However, Microchip continues to find ways to make profitable businesses with them. Sanghi has taken this type of chip that most people would view as junk and has implemented it in places outside of the realm of computers to create waves. While the other chipmakers focus on producing super chips where one component runs all the functions, Microchip focuses on multitudes of less advanced chips, each controlling a small function within the overall scheme of the operations. Sanghi has used microchips in such products as the Segway scooter, the Adidas-1 running shoe, the Tesla roadster and the underwater LED display at the Wynn casino in Las Vegas. Each product is as different as the next, yet they all have similar, modest processing needs. These products didn’t need the fastest, most advanced processor in the world. Adidas-1 running shoes, for instance, needed a processor to soften of stiffen the shoe based on the impact with the ground. While any modern chip would suffice, the price would not. A simple microcontroller based on technology from 30 years ago does the trick. This tactic brings technology never seen before to the shoe industry, while keeping the price tag in line with what consumers might shell out for such a device. While Sanghi’s competitors look for the next implication of Moore’s law, he looks to industries that were never influenced by such a law. He creates innovation with outdated technology in industries that have rarely seen its influence. Sanghi is a great example of how a unique perspective on innovation with technology can have a profound effect in industries people never saw coming. Using old technology in new places can be as equally entrepreneurial as trying to predict the technological landscape of the future.
14 Parks, Bob. “Tiny Chip, Giant Ambition.” Business 2.0; Oct. 2006, pp. 98-103.
